United States Africa Command Public Affairs Office 12 April 2012 USAFRICOM - related news stories

Good morning. Please see today's news review for April 12, 2012. This e-mail is best viewed in HTML. Of interest in today's report: -$3.9 Billion Pledged to Prevent E. Africa Famines. -Somalia PM Says Shabaab is Fleeing North. -Extremism in Post Qadhafi Libya. -Algeria's First President Dies at age 96. -MV-22 Osprey Crashes during Military Exercise

U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs Please send questions or comments to: publicaffairs@usafricom.mil 421-2687 (+49-711-729-2687) Headline Mali: UN Security Council tasks Mali military junta on ECOWAS pact Date 04/11/2012 Outlet Africa Online

New York, US -The UN Security Council on Tuesday urged the military junta who seized control of the government in Mali to immediately implement the agreement signed last week with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which provides a ser...

AU urges Khartoum, Juba to withdraw troops

04/11/2012

Africa Report

The African Union on Wednesday urged the two Sudans to withdraw troops that may have strayed into the other's territory, as border tensions between the two continue to mount.

Mali's new president to take office Thursday

04/11/2012

Africa Review

By STEPHANE BARBIER and SERGE DANIEL Mali's Parliament speaker will be sworn in as interim president on Thursday, ending a brief period of military rule that saw Tuareg rebels and Islamists seize half of the west African country.

UN seeks $1bn to ease refugee crisis

04/11/2012

Africa Review

By PETER NG'ETICH The United Nations requires about $1 billion to deal with the refugee crisis in Somalia and Sudan. The funds will be ploughed into life-saving responses, internally displaced persons/returnees and cholera preparedness, among other thi...

Fears grow of widening Sudan war

04/12/2012

BBC News

A second day of fighting between Sudan and South Sudan in their disputed border regions has prompted international concern that the conflict might develop into outright war. The African Union says it is deeply alarmed

by the clashes over oilfields, and ca...

Congo's 'Terminator': Kabila calls for Ntaganda arrest

04/12/2012

BBC News

President Joseph Kabila has said ex-rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda, wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes, must be arrested. But Gen Ntaganda must be tried in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the president says. Mr Kabila had previo...

Boko Haram desperate as war on terrorism nears end

04/12/2012

Daily Trust

Written by Francis Okeke, & Ronald Mutum Spokesperson of the State Security Services, (SSS) Marlyn Ogar, in Abuja today described recent Boko Haram activities as desperate measures by a sinking terrorist group whose end is near. Ogar stated this at t...

Algeria's first president Ben Bella dies aged 96

04/12/2012

France 24

REUTERS - Ahmed Ben Bella, Algeria's first president after the country became independent from France half a century ago, has died following an illness, state media reported on Wednesday. He was 96 and died at his family home in the Algerian capital, a...

In Egypt's military, a march for change

04/12/2012

Reuters

By Marwa Awad (Reuters) - On a warm Wednesday morning last October, around 500 Egyptian army officers based at the Air Defence Institute on the outskirts of Alexandria staged a mini revolt. According to a lieutenant colonel with direct knowledge of the...

MV-22 Osprey Crashes during Military Exercise

04/12/2012

US Africa Command

Apr 11, 2012 -- An MV-22 Osprey operating from the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) crashed in a Royal Moroccan military training area southwest of Agadir, Morocco, while participating in the bilateral Exercise African Lion. Four U.S. Marine Co...

News Headline: Mali: UN Security Council tasks Mali military junta on ECOWAS pact | News Date: 04/11/2012 Outlet Full Name: Africa Online News Text: New York, US -The UN Security Council on Tuesday urged the military junta who seized control of the government in Mali to immediately implement the agreement signed last week with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which provides a series of steps to restore constitutional order in the country. In a statement, made available to PANA in NewYork, the members of the Council reaffirmed the need 'to uphold and respect the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Mali and reject categorically any declarations to the contrary'. It also demanded 'an immediate cessation of hostilities in the north of Mali by rebel groups'. The Council condemned all violence against humanitarian workers after reports that seven Algerian diplomats were abducted in the town of Gao in northern Mali last week. It called for the immediate release of all abductees and renewed its call to all parties in Mali to seek a peaceful solution through appropriate political dialogue. In addition, it reaffirmed its support for efforts made by ECOWAS and its mediator, the President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore, as well as by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa, Said Djinnit, and by the African Union, to initiate concrete steps to restore peace and security and protect the sovereignty of Mali.

The Council also reiterated its 'serious concern' over the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country, and expressed deep concern at the increased terrorist threats in the north due to the presence among the rebels of members of the terrorist group Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and extremist elements. Last month, rebel Malian soldiers took control of the country and announced the dissolution of the government led by President Amadou Toumani Toure. The country is also dealing with renewed fighting in the north between government forces and Tuareg rebels, which has uprooted more than 200,000 people since January. The Tuareg rebels last week declared northern Mali an independent state called Azawas.
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News Headline: AU urges Khartoum, Juba to withdraw troops | News Date: 04/11/2012 Outlet Full Name: Africa Report News Text: The African Union on Wednesday urged the two Sudans to withdraw troops that may have strayed into the other's territory, as border tensions between the two continue to mount. Ethiopian peacekeeping forces are currently in Abyei region to demilitarise the area/Photo/Reuters The AU also wants the two sides to cease aerial bombardment and the harbouring and supporting of rebel forces and movements from the other states. Clashes between Sudan and South Sudan escalated following a failure of the two sides to reach an oil revenue agreement in last week's negotiations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Despite having reached an agreement on border demarcation and citizenship issues, Khartoum and Juba were unable to reach any consensus on oil issues, particularly on revenues to be paid by South Sudan for using Sudan's infrastructure to export its oil. The two sides traded accusations on who instigated cross border incursions and attacks that have claimed dozens of civilian lives. It was reported earlier that troops from South Sudan had moved into Heglig, an oil-rich border town claimed by Sudan, and fear is growing over the possibility of a full blown war between the two sides. South Sudan's army reportedly seized Heglig, located about 100 kilometres to the east of the disputed region of Abyei, whose fate was left unresolved when South Sudan seceded from Sudan last year Ethiopian peacekeeping forces are currently in Abyei region to demilitarise the area, based on the agreement reached between the two sides, and are being supported by the UN and the International community. The AU, which has been mediating over the conflict, has called for both parties to abide by previous agreements and to continue negotiations and to resolve their differences. "The African union calls upon Sudan and South Sudan to implement without delay the tasks detailed in the 18 September 2011 decision of the joint political and security mechanisms, which inter alia establishes the joint border verification and monitoring mission JBVMM - and to implement the provision of the UN security resolution 2024 of 14 December 2011, which

mandates the UN interim security forces for Abyei to support JBVMM," said the AU.
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News Headline: Mali's new president to take office Thursday | News Date: 04/11/2012 Outlet Full Name: Africa Review News Text: By STEPHANE BARBIER and SERGE DANIEL Mali's Parliament speaker will be sworn in as interim president on Thursday, ending a brief period of military rule that saw Tuareg rebels and Islamists seize half of the west African country. The Constitutional Court formally approved the weekend resignation of President Amadou Toumani Toure, who was ousted in a March 22 coup by junior officers demanding more resources to combat the rebel offensive. In certifying that the presidency had been vacated, the court said in a ruling that the speaker, Dioncounda Traore, will be "the interim president of the republic". A source close to the constitutional court said the swearing-in would take place on Thursday at 0900 GMT, restoring civilian rule in the troubled state, which is also facing an escalating humanitarian crisis in the north. The 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) hit the junta with tough sanctions after the coup, while a motley crew of rebel factions took advantage of the political chaos and seized strategic towns across the north, including legendary Timbuktu. In exchange for lifting the sanctions ECOWAS forced the junta to accept a transition deal that called for Traore to become the civilian head of state charged with organising elections in one of the world's poorest countries. ECOWAS also obtained from the junta "an agreement in principle" to release nine members of the former regime arrested during the coup, including at least five ministers, perhaps as soon as Thursday, Ivory Coast's minister for African integration, Adama Bictogo, told AFP. Tuesday's court ruling stated that a vote must be held within the next 40 days. Toure was not a candidate in elections that had been scheduled for April 29, which were cancelled following the coup. An interim prime minister will also be appointed to head "a government of national unity", according to the terms of the ECOWAS deal.
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News Headline: UN seeks $1bn to ease refugee crisis | News Date: 04/11/2012 Outlet Full Name: Africa Review News Text: By PETER NG'ETICH The United Nations requires about $1 billion to deal with the refugee crisis in Somalia and Sudan. The funds will be ploughed into life-saving responses, internally displaced persons/returnees and cholera preparedness, among other things.

In Somalia, the UN is grappling with internally displaced people and refugees who fled to Daabab in Kenya while in Sudan it faces problems of returnees following the creation of the new state of South Sudan. A report by the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) says the money will also ease hunger caused by a drought in Somalia. It says about 2.5 million people will need food aid if the long rains fail. Still in crisis The UN and Qatar will host a regional conference where UN emergency relief coordinator Valerie Amos will appeal for help from governments and humanitarian players. A third of the Somali population is still in crisis and the number may grow if rains fail, the report says. It adds that last year's famine resulted in the arrival of more than 150,000 refugees in Daadab a third of the camp's current population. It has about 444,480 refugees.
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News Headline: Fears grow of widening Sudan war | News Date: 04/12/2012 Outlet Full Name: BBC News News Text: A second day of fighting between Sudan and South Sudan in their disputed border regions has prompted international concern that the conflict might develop into outright war. The African Union says it is deeply alarmed by the clashes over oilfields, and called on both sides to exercise the utmost restraint. Sudan has pulled out of negotiations with South Sudan. The fighting is the worst since South Sudan seceded in July last year. South Sudan has seized the town of Heglig, which is internationally recognised as Sudanese territory, though South Sudan disputes this. Sudan has complained to the United Nations and the AU about South Sudan's "aggression". The parliament in Khartoum called for a "mobilisation and alert" of the people. After talking to President Salva Kiir of South Sudan, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he had suggested an immediate summit between the two countries to build confidence and reaffirm that dialogue was the only solution. UN Security Council members and the AU urged the Southern forces to withdraw immediately from the disputed oilfields. The US condemned South Sudan's seizure of Heglig, saying it was "an act which goes beyond self-defence and has increased tensions between Sudan and South Sudan to dangerous levels".

'Destruction' Sudan relies on the Heglig oilfields for a sizeable part of its budget, and has vowed to use "all legitimate means" to retake them, warning of "destruction" in the South. Rahmatullah Mohamed Osman, the under-secretary at Sudan's foreign ministry, acknowledged that it would not be possible to continue pumping oil as long as South Sudan controls Heglig. Mr Osman said there would be an economic impact on Sudan, but not necessarily in the short term. The country does have other oilfields. The BBC's James Copnall, in Khartoum, says many of the underlying problems between the two countries have not been resolved, with little progress in negotiations over the border, citizenship and oil - despite the optimism at the time of South Sudan's independence nine months ago. A presidential summit, which was to have been held in South Sudan's capital, Juba, at the beginning of April, has been postponed indefinitely because of the recent violence. A senior Sudanese official, Ibrahim Ghandour, says South Sudan's actions mean reconciliation efforts are now off the agenda. "We cannot talk about peace while there is an aggression," he said. "If they want peace, they have to pull their forces from the territory of Sudan." 'Self-defence' But South Sudan's military spokesman, Col Philip Aguer, says his forces are simply acting in self-defence. "We pursued them up to Heglig," he said. "We think this is our right. "We have never aggressed anybody. We have never crossed into the territories of the Republic of Sudan." He accused Sudan of carrying out air raids. In a statement, the African Union called upon both countries to resolve this and all other outstanding issues "in a peaceful way in accordance with the overriding principle of establishing two viable states in Sudan and South Sudan". Correspondents say Sudan, having lost most of its oil when the south seceded, will not tolerate losing any more.
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News Headline: Congo's 'Terminator': Kabila calls for Ntaganda arrest | News Date: 04/12/2012 Outlet Full Name: BBC News News Text: President Joseph Kabila has said ex-rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda, wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes, must be arrested. But Gen Ntaganda must be tried in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the president says.

Mr Kabila had previously refused to call for the arrest of the man known locally as "The Terminator". The ICC indicted him five years ago, for allegedly recruiting child soldiers during DR Congo's bloody five-year war. 'Judged in Goma' President Kabila held emergency meetings with top army officials in the east of the country, following the defections earlier this month of hundreds of Congolese troops. The soldiers, loyal to Gen Ntaganda, were integrated into the national army in 2009. However, people in and around the town of Goma, where the troops are based, blame them for persistent unrest - including looting and rape - since the formal end of the war in 2003. "I want to arrest Bosco Ntaganda because the whole population wants peace," Reuters news agency reports Mr Kabila as saying. "He has committed crimes in North Kivu and Goma... He will be judged in Goma," he said. Last month the chief prosecutor at the ICC called for Mr Ntaganda's immediate arrest, after the court convicted another former Congolese rebel leader, Thomas Lubanga, of similar offences. The ICC says Gen Ntaganda used child soldiers for fighting in Ituri, in north-eastern Congo, from 2002 to 2003. He is also wanted for murder and rape. The former rebel's exact whereabouts remains unclear. He is reported to have left the Goma area, taking with him heavily armed soldiers. Some reports put the number of defectors as high as 600. They are reported to have taken vehicles, weapons and ammunition. BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut says the implication of the defections is clear: if attempts are made to arrest Gen Ntaganda, there will be trouble. A Congolese army spokesman said that any act of indiscipline would be punished.
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News Headline: Boko Haram desperate as war on terrorism nears end | News Date: 04/12/2012 Outlet Full Name: Daily Trust News Text: Written by Francis Okeke, & Ronald Mutum Spokesperson of the State Security Services, (SSS) Marlyn Ogar, in Abuja today described recent Boko Haram activities as desperate measures by a sinking terrorist group whose end is near. Ogar stated this at the opening ceremony of a three day security consciousness workshop for Department Security Officers (DSOs) of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), stressing that despite feelings that there is no end in sight, terrorist attacks will soon end in Nigeria.

She said, Once you are getting to the end of any war, you tend to see issues that will frighten you a little bit and you begin to feel like there is no end in sight, but I want to say authoritatively that we are moving forward, and very soon, if everybody continues to come on board we will definitely see an end to this war that is affecting everybody. According to her, the President is strengthening security agencies through the acquisition of modern day technology to combat terrorism, but of course, despite all the equipment you have, you must have human input, without human input your technology comes to nothing. That is why there is need for us to continue to ensure that Nigerians are educated to be more conscious of their environment so that they can identify intruders within their locality; so technology alone cannot overcome this current battle that we are facing. On Nigeria's collaborations with other countries, she said after the 9/11 in America, the whole world became a global village; there was a lot of interaction, collaborations security wise, there is no country, no institution that can fight the war on terror or any other war alone. Earlier in her address while declaring open the work shop, Engr. Ester Gonda, the Permanent Secretary, Special Services Office (SSO) in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), said the nonchalant way Nigerians handle security in the country cannot continue. She told participants that government is planning adequate security measures for MDAs within Abuja. The DSOs through their respective MDAs are expected to provide basic security measures such as CCTV, Walk through metal detectors, scanners, and parcel/letter bomb detectors."
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News Headline: Algeria's first president Ben Bella dies aged 96 | News Date: 04/12/2012 Outlet Full Name: France 24 News Text: REUTERS - Ahmed Ben Bella, Algeria's first president after the country became independent from France half a century ago, has died following an illness, state media reported on Wednesday. He was 96 and died at his family home in the Algerian capital, according to the state-run news agency. The son of peasant farmers who grew up near Algeria's border with Morocco, Ben Bella was one of the leading figures in the war for independence from France after World War Two, and spent several years in French prisons. When France relinquished control of Algeria in 1962, Ben Bella became president but he was unseated three years later in an internal coup by Houari Boumediene, a fellow independence fighter who took over as head of state. Ben Bella subsequently spent years in jail and exile before returning to Algeria in 1999. His death coincides with the 50th anniversary of Algerian independence, a date which many Algerians see as bitter-sweet because they feel the aspirations of the country's founding fathers, embodied by Ben Bella, have not been fully realised.

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News Headline: In Egypt's military, a march for change | News Date: 04/12/2012 Outlet Full Name: Reuters News Text: By Marwa Awad (Reuters) - On a warm Wednesday morning last October, around 500 Egyptian army officers based at the Air Defence Institute on the outskirts of Alexandria staged a mini revolt. According to a lieutenant colonel with direct knowledge of the protest, the men were angry about the punishment given to a fellow officer by his superiors. After refusing to train, the officers demanded to meet either Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of Egypt's military and in effect the country's acting president, or his second in command. They wanted to meet the commanders, they said, to make the case for better treatment. "Their reasoning was: Egypt is having a revolution and they too have demands," the lieutenant colonel said. The rebellion, unreported before now and confirmed by three other officers in the unit, lasted several days. As Egyptians were calling for quicker and deeper change - demands directed at the military council that runs the country - at least one part of the country's military was itself split. The popular protests that ousted Hosni Mubarak last year were rooted in the yawning gap between rich and poor, and the desire to get rid of a leader about to enter his fourth decade in power. The wealth in Egypt was, and is, controlled by a small and often uniformed elite. To most Egyptians, Mubarak, a career officer in the air force, was both symbol and cause of those inequities. As in the country, so in the barracks. Over the past six months, more than a dozen serving or recently retired mid- and lower-ranking officers have said they and their colleagues see Egypt's revolution as their own chance to win better treatment, salaries, and improved conditions and training. They are tired, they said, of a few very top officers becoming rich while the vast majority of officers and ordinary soldiers struggle. As the military and the Muslim Brotherhood both press their own candidates ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for May and June - former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman entered the race as the army's choice last week and Khairat al-Shater, the Brotherhood's deputy, two weeks ago - the tensions in the lower ranks shed light not only on the country's most powerful institution but on Egypt itself. "Military ranks struggle like the rest of Egyptians because, like Egyptian society, the wealth of the military is concentrated at the top and does not trickle down. You have to reach a specific rank before wealth is unlocked," one major said. Tantawi, his Chief of Staff Sami Annan and other top commanders have moved to contain the officers' frustration, holding regular meetings with military units in an attempt to boost morale and assure soldiers that their salaries will be raised and their concerns addressed, military leaders and mid-ranking officers who have attended the meetings said. That seems to have placated the disgruntled officers, who say they will hold off on pushing their demands further until the ruling military council hands over power to an elected civilian government. But they insist they need real change.

"We have a moral obligation to remain steadfast and support the process," one colonel said, echoing a widely held view. "But when we return to our barracks ... commanders will have to address our demands." FACTORIES AND LAND Numbering at least 468,000 men - officials refuse to give the exact number saying it could hurt national security - Egypt's combined army, air force, air defense command, navy and paramilitaries make up the largest military force in the Arab world. More than half of those in uniform are conscripts. Senior military officers have dominated Egypt's politics and large chunks of its economy since seizing control in a 1952 coup. Just as Mubarak did, Tantawi presents Egypt's armed forces as a bulwark against the spread of Islamism and potential chaos. The military, one general said, is the "only competent and long-standing institution" capable of maintaining bilateral relationships with other countries. Western diplomats mostly agree with that assessment. One of the keys to the military's power is its grip on business, which was strengthened after Egypt's 1979 peace deal with Israel. Under that accord, the military had to shrink its forces. But instead of sacking hundreds of thousands of men, commanders opened factories to employ them. Those plants now produce everything from components for ammunition to pots and pans, fire extinguishers, and cutlery. The military also runs banks, tourism operations, farms, water treatment plants, a petrol station chain, construction firms, and import companies. Businesses owned solely by the military are exempt from tax, and often built on the backs of poorly paid conscripts, who make between $17 and $28 a month, although they are fed by the army and receive basic medical help. "A conscript goes into the army less for training, and more for working in one of the military factories or business schemes," said Ahmed Naggar, an economic analyst at the Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. Khalil Kandil, chairman of the Chamber of Metallurgical Industries, said the armed forces enjoy another big advantage: "Who is asking the military factory to pay back its investments and to pay taxes and to pay for natural gas and electricity? They can keep losing (money) for years." Opposition politicians and many ordinary Egyptians want the military's budget and economic and land holdings to be made public. But senior military figures want to protect their position and argue that Egypt's new constitution must shield the military from the instability of political change. Analysts say the military establishment is likely to retain significant powers, no matter who wins the two-round presidential election. Disentangling the military from Egypt's economy and institutions could take years. Zeinab Abul Magd, economy professor at Oberlin College in the United States, estimates the military controls about a third of the entire economy. Egypt's land planning authority says the armed forces have de facto control over all unused land in Egypt, or about 87 percent of the country. Civilian projects almost always need military consent in case there is a risk to national security. Retired senior officers often hold powerful positions in civilian institutions; an Egyptian official said this practice will continue. AMERICAN DOLLARS Arab International Optronics (AIO) sits on the outskirts of Cairo, a beautiful garden at its entrance. The factory, a joint venture between the military, which owns 51 percent of the firm,

and France's Thales, was founded in 1987 and makes and upgrades military equipment such as thermal imagers and tanks. It exports to Britain, France, Germany, Libya, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, makes enough money to fund itself, and employs 400 staff, most of them trained abroad. Staff benefits include free transport, free meals and half of the cost of annual haj pilgrimages. "The company was founded when technology was hard to get from abroad because of political constraints on Egypt," AIO boss Major General Nabil Amer said in December, referring to limitations on imports and technology set by the 1979 peace deal. "Most of AIO's revenue is spent on military research and the development department." Military leaders point to businesses like AIO as proof that the $1.3 billion in military aid Egypt receives every year from the United States is not enough for the country to keep up with rivals such as Israel and Saudi Arabia. Many soldiers feel the U.S. money benefits American arms manufacturers and forces Egypt to buy outdated weaponry. Egypt, they say, needs to be able to make its own money to advance. Military leaders boast that their businesses help the country. Mahmud Nasr, Tantawi's assistant on financial affairs, said the army has given the state 12 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.99 billion) since early last year. "The armed forces will not allow any interference into its business projects. This is a matter of national security," said Nasr. Now that the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist parties control the assembly that is drafting a new constitution, the military is determined to protect its role. "Previously the military budget was subject to specific laws and was not in any constitution," said General Mamdouh Shahine, who is responsible for legal affairs on the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which has run Egypt since Mubarak's ouster. "But now we want to bring it under the new constitution to ensure stability. By adding budgetary clauses to the constitution, I am simply asserting a reality that has existed for a long time. What is the problem with that?" The aid rankles civilian leaders as well. In 2009, according to a U.S. embassy cable obtained by WikiLeaks, Egypt's then prime minister Ahmed Nazif met U.S. officials to ask for $50 million in development funds. But he knew the government was also asking for military funding. "I sometimes feel like I am competing with Field Marshall Hussein (Tantawi) and he is winning," Nazif, who was given a suspended jail sentence for corruption after Mubarak fell, told embassy officials. "A SYSTEM OF PATRONAGE" The spark for the soldiers' rebellion in Alexandria was a brutal episode in Cairo. On October 9 last year, a group of Coptic Christians converged on Cairo's television station to protest at the burning of a church. In a neighborhood called Maspero, the protesters clashed with soldiers; about 25 civilians were killed. The army says soldiers were also killed in the violence. The lieutenant colonel with direct knowledge of the rebellion at the Air Defence Institute said one officer and 22 soldiers died. Those who survived were seriously injured and some were disabled, according to a source at the military judiciary. Among other things Air Defence Institute officers demanded was financial compensation for the families of those dead. Money has long been the cause of frustration in the lower ranks of Egypt's military.

"The army is the richest institution in Egypt, yet a large group of officers feel disenfranchised," said a retired general in Cairo. The wealth, he said, "is concentrated in about 15 percent of the army's officer corps, upper ranks, who remain loyal through a system of patronage." Elite officers can make millions of dollars, according to junior officers, get access to special clubs and seaside resorts and retire into cushy corporate jobs or political positions. A low- to mid-level officer gets about 2,500 pounds ($414) a month before bonuses, about the same as a Cairo taxi driver. There are also problems with training, which four senior officers said was evident in the poor handling of tanks and armored personnel carriers on the streets during last year's protests. At Maspero, inexperienced soldiers in charge of armored carriers injured protesters inadvertently, one recently retired general responsible for devising training systems for the military said. The protesters in Alexandria also wanted the chain of command to be decentralized, so they could respond more immediately in a crisis. Low-level officers say the high command has allowed all those grievances to fester. The unspoken rule, said the lieutenant colonel, dictates that soldiers "stay away from politics or organized religion, don't outshine your commander, don't think about improving the system." After attending an operation on January 17 that combined units of the three main branches of Egypt's Second Field Army - air defense, air force and infantry - Tantawi defended the military's training methods, and promised salary increases. "What we saw today in the drill of the accuracy of fire and efficiency in performance reflects the high capacity the armed forces have achieved." "TIME TO SPEAK OUT" To get its way in the new Egypt, the military will need to rely on the Islamist parties, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which now control parliament. It has kept up a strong intelligence network to ensure the Brotherhood does not infiltrate military ranks, according to mid-ranking officers. While most soldiers and officers are religious, the military does not allow religious organizations to set up within its ranks. Leaders of the Brotherhood have stressed the need to work with the military. But the Brotherhood's decision to enter the presidential race worries the military leadership. Senior Brotherhood figures have also said they will amend the new constitution before the end of the current parliamentary period. In the army-run International Medical Centre where former president Mubarak has been held during his trial, a major's cell phone rings with the melody of a popular song that honors the people who died in Tahrir Square last year. "My country, my country, I love you my country," the lyrics go. "When you are in the seat of power for so long, you cease to have a vision to make things better," the major says. Officers with knowledge of the military council say it could be reshuffled after the election. But don't expect a revolution. "It is like an in-house replacement, like what happens on a board of directors who offer their CEO a retirement package," the general said. Could mid- and low-ranking officers attempt a takeover? Insiders doubt it. "You must remember that at the end of the day, the army is patriotic," said the colonel. "Many

of the rank and file refuse to rebel because they feel the country depends on them and they are the last institution standing. They want change but they would rather wait until a civilian government is formed." Last year, as the protests gathered pace, Ahmed Shouman, a Cairo-based major, handed in his weapons and joined the crowds demanding an end to Mubarak's rule. Shouman was tried for quitting his army unit without permission, found guilty but then pardoned. He returned to Tahrir Square last November. "It is time we spoke out against the wrong and corrupt," he told Reuters then. "We must stop being afraid. The military council does not represent the rest of the army. I call on the military council to step down." Shouman was re-arrested two months ago for "actions that harmed the armed forces" including talking to the media and criticizing the military. A military court sentenced him last week to six years in prison.
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News Headline: MV-22 Osprey Crashes during Military Exercise | News Date: 04/12/2012 Outlet Full Name: US Africa Command News Text: Apr 11, 2012 An MV-22 Osprey operating from the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) crashed in a Royal Moroccan military training area southwest of Agadir, Morocco, while participating in the bilateral Exercise African Lion. Four U.S. Marine Corps personnel were on the aircraft at the time of the incident. Two personnel died as a result of their injuries sustained in the crash. The two other personnel were severely injured in the crash and are being medically evacuated for further treatment. The MV-22 Osprey was assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 261 based at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) New River, NC. The squadron was operating from the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) at the time of the incident. The Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) with the embarked 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), are participating in Exercise African Lion, a bilateral exercise conducted with Royal Moroccan military forces. The annual exercise is scheduled to be conducted April 8-17, 2012, in a designated military training area southwest of Agadir, Morocco. Exercise African Lion is a bilateral, theater security cooperation exercise led by U.S. Marine Forces Africa and is conducted annually between the U.S. military and the Kingdom of Morocco to further develop joint and combined capabilities. The exercise will focus on building capacity, capability, and interoperability in the following areas: field and aviation training, humanitarian civic assistance, amphibious landings, intelligence capacity building, and command post and peace support operations. The cause of the incident is under investigation. For more information on the incident, please contact HQMC, Division of Public Affairs at 703614-4309 or ontherecord@usmc.mil.
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