United States Africa Command Public Affairs Office 4 May 2012 USAFRICOM - related news stories

Good morning. Please see below today's news review for May 4, 2012. Of interest in today's clips: -Rival Sudans agree to AU roadmap - have until next Tuesday to restart stalled negotiations -Tuareg uprising in Mali threatens neighboring Niger - ECOWAS leaders discuss role of Mali military in transition -ECOWAS readies sanctions against Guinea-Bissau -Dozens killed by attackers in Nigeria - Four African presidents invited to G8 food security talks U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs Please send questions or comments to: publicaffairs@usafricom.mil DSN (314) 421-2687 or commercial +49-(0)711-729-2687

Headline Rival Sudans agree to AU roadmap

Date 05/04/2012

Outlet Aljazeera

Sudan has endorsed the African Union's (AU) roadmap to avert an all-out war with South Sudan, though it insisted on retaining the right to self-defence. Earlier on Thursday, South Sudan said it had accepted the AU's seven-point roadmap that called for a ce...

Sudan, S.Sudan say border quiet after AU ultimatum

05/03/2012

Reuters

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan and South Sudan's armies, who have been clashing along their disputed border for weeks, said on Thursday the frontier was calm after both accepted a U.N.-backed African Union plan to cease fire. The crisis between the former civ...

West African Leaders Discuss Role of Mali Military 05/04/2012 in Transition

Voice of America

More than one month after Mali's coup, the role of the military government in Mali's transition to constitutional order has yet to be determined, according to West African leaders meeting in Dakar, Senegal on Thursday. In a summit on the post-coup situati...

Tuareg uprising in Mali threatens neighbour Niger

05/03/2012

Reuters

TCHINTABARADEN, Niger (Reuters) - In the weeks since a sudden Tuareg revolt split Mali in two, officials in neighbouring Niger have been desperate to stop the Sahara uprising from spreading across their border.

In N. Mali, Islamists flex muscles, banning booze,

05/03/2012

Associated Press

uncovered women and whipping violators

BAMAKO, Mali -- In one town in northern Mali a man has been whipped for drinking alcohol. In another, pictures of unveiled women have been torn down. In a third, traditional music is no longer heard in the streets. While government soldiers were fighting ...

West Africa: ECOWAS readies targeted sanctions 05/03/2012 against Guinea-Bissau Junta

Africa Online

Lagos, Nigeria - Targeted sanctions, including a travel ban and an asset freeze, are to be imposed on the Junta in Guinea-Bissau 'in the next couple of days', after talks aimed at returning the country to constitutional order failed in Banjul. 'We are now ...

Dozens killed by attackers in 05/03/2012 Nigeria

Aljazeera

At least 34 people have been killed by armed men after an attack on a cattle market in northeastern Nigeria, an emergency source says. "Thirty-four bodies were deposited at the hospital," the official said, adding that the toll is likely to climb. Emergenc...

SANDF has 2,100 soldiers deployed on peacekeeping operations

05/03/2012

defenceWeb

The South African National Defence Force has approximately 2 100 soldiers deployed on peacekeeping and peace building initiatives, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and the Central African Republic. Lindiwe Sisulu, Minister of Defence and Mil...

Obama invites African leaders to G8 food security talks

05/04/2012

Reuters

May 3 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama has invited four African leaders to join the G8 leaders' summit at Camp David later this month for a session on food security, the White House said on Thursday. Those invited to participate are Benin's Presiden...

Germany: 4 men charged over al-Qaida terror plot

05/04/2012

Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) -- Four men were charged Thursday with membership in a terrorist organization for allegedly planning to carry out an al-Qaida attack in Germany. The group's leader - 30-year-old Moroccan national Abdeladim El-Kebir - was also accused of undergo...

Will Charles Taylor ever face 05/03/2012 justice for crimes in Liberia?

Christian Science Monitor

Monrovia, Liberia -- The guilty verdict handed down last week in the trial against Charles Taylor for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone was lauded by the international community and human rights groups as a victory for inter...

A war that's bigger than Afghanistan

05/03/2012

Washington Post Online

The most striking sentence of President Obama's eloquent speech to the nation Tuesday night came very near the end: "This time of war began in Afghanistan, and this is where it will end." Would that it were so. Would that it were so that the Sept. 11 atta...

United Nations News Centre 05/03/2012 - Africa Briefs

United Nation News Service

- Secretary-General concerned over worsening situation in Guinea-Bissau - Impunity remains a concern in Burundi despite progress on human rights UN official - DR Congo: UN envoy concerned about possible sexual violence amid latest fighting

News Headline: Rival Sudans agree to AU roadmap | News Date: 05/04/2012 Outlet Full Name: Aljazeera

News Text: Sudan has endorsed the African Union's (AU) roadmap to avert an all-out war with South Sudan, though it insisted on retaining the right to self-defence. Earlier on Thursday, South Sudan said it had accepted the AU's seven-point roadmap that called for a cessation of hostilities. Based on the seven-point roadmap, the two countries have until next Tuesday to restart stalled negotiations and three months to reach an agreement. The AU is trying to get the two sides to again negotiate the countries' shared border, citizenship matters and oil revenue sharing. The UN Security Council on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution threatening Khartoum and Juba with sanctions if they failed to silence the guns and resume talks within two weeks, endorsing the AU's deadline of May 8. The Sudanese Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Thursday accepting the AU plan as well as the UN resolution. But with its reference to self-defense, the Sudanese statement also implied possible continued conflict. The statement said Sudan wished the other side would fully commit to stopping hostilities and would withdraw its troops from disputed areas so that Sudan could do the same. The foreign ministry also said Khartoum was committed to a long-standing peace with the South and hoped Juba would cooperate with the AU and Security Council decisions. Stranded people The AU's plan also calls for Sudan and South Sudan to withdraw troops from contested areas and resume talks with the aim of resolving all outstanding disputes. Neither can afford a protracted, full-blown conflict but distrust runs deep between them, especially after the South gained independence from its northern neighbour last July under a 2005 peace deal that ended two decades of civil war. The breakaway left tens of thousands of South Sudanese stranded as foreigners in Sudan. Sudan's government initially gave them until April 8 to get the right papers or leave. The Sudanese government issued a May 5 departure deadline for up to 12,000 South Sudanese stuck in the port of Kosti, hoping to leave by Nile barge. But Khartoum then halted river traffic because it said South Sudan was using it to transport weapons to rebels. The May 5 deadline prompted an outcry from the United Nations and the International Organisation for Migration. The government said late on Wednesday the South Sudanese now had until May 20 to leave.
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News Headline: Sudan, S.Sudan say border quiet after AU ultimatum | News Date: 05/03/2012 Outlet Full Name: Reuters - Washington DC Bureau News Text: By Yara Bayoumy KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan and South Sudan's armies, who have been clashing along

their disputed border for weeks, said on Thursday the frontier was calm after both accepted a U.N.-backed African Union plan to cease fire. The crisis between the former civil war foes has raised fears of a return to all-out conflict and that prompted the AU to issue an ultimatum for both to stop fighting with the Security Council threatening sanctions if they did not comply. "There are no military operations at the border. There is an atmosphere of guardedness and watchfulness," Sudanese army spokesman Al-Sawarmi Khalid said on Thursday. "The situation has been quiet for the last two days. The Sudanese army has not announced a formal ceasefire, but the fronts are quiet." Philip Aguer, South Sudan's army (SPLA) spokesman, also said the frontier, along which clashes between rebels backed by Khartoum and by Juba have also broken out, was calm. "It has been quiet on the border for the last 48 hours," he said. After several rounds of failed talks to resolve disputes over oil exports, border demarcation and citizenship, the tensions escalated during the past month into fighting along the ill-defined, 1,800 km (1,200 mile) frontier. At one point South Sudan, which seceded and declared independence from Sudan last year, seized a disputed oilfield in Sudan, before withdrawing under international pressure. Khartoum's warplanes have bombarded several areas in the oil regions of the South's Unity state. Sudan has denied carrying out specific air strikes, but has reserved the right to use aerial attacks to defend territory. The conflict has halted nearly all oil production in both countries, the lifeline of their respective economies. MUTUAL PLEDGES TO SEEK PEACE South Sudan said it had accepted the AU's seven-point roadmap that called for a cessation of hostilities, while Sudan said it had assented to the plan "in principle". Sudan said it had confidence in the AU's mission and that it was committed to cooperating with it. The foreign ministry also said Khartoum was committed to a long-standing peace with the South and hoped Juba would cooperate with the AU and Security Council decisions. Both countries deny the other's allegations of supporting rebel forces. The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution threatening Khartoum and Juba with sanctions if they failed to silence the guns and resume talks within two weeks, endorsing the AU's deadline of May 8. The AU's plan also calls for Sudan and South Sudan to withdraw troops from contested areas and resume talks with the aim of resolving all outstanding disputes. Neither can afford a protracted, full-blown conflict but distrust runs deep between them, especially after the South gained independence from its northern neighbour last July under a 2005 peace deal that ended two decades of civil war.

The breakaway left tens of thousands of South Sudanese stranded as foreigners in Sudan. Sudan's government initially gave them until April 8 to get the right papers or leave. The Sudanese government issued a May 5 departure deadline for up to 12,000 South Sudanese stuck in the port of Kosti, hoping to leave by Nile barge. But Khartoum then halted river traffic because it said South Sudan was using it to transport weapons to rebels. The May 5 deadline prompted an outcry from the United Nations and the International Organisation for Migration. The government said late on Wednesday the South Sudanese now had until May 20 to leave.
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News Headline: West African Leaders Discuss Role of Mali Military in Transition | News Date: 05/04/2012 Outlet Full Name: Voice of America News Text: Dakar, Senegal -- More than one month after Mali's coup, the role of the military government in Mali's transition to constitutional order has yet to be determined, according to West African leaders meeting in Dakar, Senegal on Thursday. In a summit on the post-coup situations in Guinea-Bissau and Mali, the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, called for another review of the role of Malian soldiers who continue to wield power in Mali, despite the existence of a civilian transitional government. The meeting was the second such summit in a week, as West African leaders wrestle with military governments in Guinea-Bissau and Mali that analysts say have defied the regional body's decisions, throwing off track efforts to return to constitutional order. The military government in Mali, which this week withstood attacks by soldiers loyal to the ousted president, has yet to step aside, despite the installation of a civilian transitional government. At Thursday's meeting, West African leaders reiterated their call on the military to avoid actions that could disrupt the country's transition. One such official was ECOWAS head Kadr Dsir Ouedraogo. In this respect, he says, ECOWAS leaders call on the mediator, in collaboration with Mali's interim government, to review the role of Mali's junta in the transition and make recommendations to ECOWAS. During the reading of the final communiqu, Mali's interim president, Dioncounda Traor, intervened to point out that it should include that the review would be done "in respect of" a framework agreement signed by the junta and ECOWAS April 6. That agreement was vague on the junta's role, but coup leaders have insisted that under the accord, the junta would continue to influence the transition process. Traor told reporters after the meeting that more time was needed to clarify the junta's role in the transition. He says it's not as if we can take a magic wand and tackle something like this overnight. He says we have to give it the time necessary in order to avoid errors. It remains to be seen what influence the junta could have concerning a possible deployment of ECOWAS troops in Mali.

At Thursday's meeting, West African leaders said ECOWAS should prepare a military force to be deployed "as soon as Malian authorities officially request it." But the junta for weeks has come out strongly against the proposition of ECOWAS troops on Malian soil. On Guinea-Bissau, where soldiers ousted the interim leader April 12 just ahead of a run-off presidential election, ECOWAS has recommended that the national assembly resume office and vote for a new speaker, who would then become president of the transition. Guinea-Bissau's junta had rejected an earlier call by West African leaders to bring back interim president Raimundo Pereira to lead the process. The West African heads of state also called for the deployment of a regional military force in Guinea-Bissau to oversee the withdrawal of an Angolan technical assistance mission, ensure the security of the transition and help with security sector reform.
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News Headline: Tuareg uprising in Mali threatens neighbour Niger | News Date: 05/03/2012 Outlet Full Name: Reuters News Text: By Nathalie Prevost TCHINTABARADEN, Niger (Reuters) - In the weeks since a sudden Tuareg revolt split Mali in two, officials in neighbouring Niger have been desperate to stop the Sahara uprising from spreading across their border. If history is a guide, Niger has reason to be nervous. Since the first of several uprisings nearly a century ago by the indigo-turbaned nomads - who live in the vast desert spanning northern Mali and Niger - both countries have tended to be simultaneous battlegrounds. Now, weeks after rebels swept across Mali's north in the wake of a coup in the capital, residents and officials in Niger - home to the region's largest Tuareg population - say Mali's outcome will determine whether unrest leaps the frontier. "The populations in northern Mali and northern Niger are virtually the same in this zone. Of course there are risks," said Mohammed Anacko, a former Nigerien Tuareg rebel leader, now head of the regional council in Agadez. "Our concern is how this (situation in Mali) will be managed. The way in which it is managed will determine what spillover there is in Niger," he added. Tuareg fighters have rebelled in the Sahara five times since 1916, mostly over complaints about the region's poverty and about being sidelined by a centralised government situated hundreds of kilometres (miles) away. This latest uprising in Mali marked a shift - instead of fighting guerrilla-syle warfare with rusty rifles, Tuareg units now bristle with weapons, vehicles and soldiers spilling across the Sahara from Libya's war last year. The main Tuareg rebel group in Mali, MNLA, declared an autonomous desert homeland called Azawad after brazenly seizing northern towns in March and early April, putting it in control of about two-thirds of Malian territory.

They also swept in with them other Islamist groups and smugglers, complicating efforts to resolve the conflict and raising the regional stakes for stability. Keeping them from crossing the border is important for Niger, saddled with a perennial food shortage and refugees from other regional conflicts, while at the same time trying to maintain investor interest in its resources. Unlike Mali's north, where oil and mineral wealth are still largely untapped, northern Niger already hosts fully-operational uranium mines, including projects run by French nuclear power giant Areva and China National Nuclear Corporation. Northern Niger's Agadez region was also once a hot spot for European tourists seeking a taste of the desert, but travel has dried up since the last Tuareg rebellion inflamed both Mali and Niger from 2007 to 2009, and since an increase in kidnappings by al Qaeda-linked gunmen. SHARED DESTINY With few other opportunities, young residents of northern Niger are increasingly targets for recruitment by bandits, smugglers, or an armed rebellion, officials said. "What worries the youth is underemployment," said Saadick Idrissa, an NGO worker in Tchintabaraden, where the government was hosting a conference on Niger's north. "For us, it is essential to address economic development." Karim Alkassoum, an unemployed 22 year-old in Tchintabaraden, hinted at the temptation to join the fighting across the border. "I would take any work that I can find," he said. "But if I was given the chance, I would go to Mali," he added, without explaining what he would do when he got there. Residents in the area have little faith the government will solve their problems of poverty and unemployment. "They will do nothing. They will go back to Niamey to their air conditioners," said Mohamed Yacoubou, an unemployed 19-year-old in Tchintabaraden, of government officials. Niger has so far done a better job than Mali of managing the flow of fighters and weapons out of Libya that accompanied the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi and handed Malian rebels the firepower to rout government forces. Niger officials also say their country has better integrated its ethnic groups over its history than Mali, where the Tuareg are mainly restricted to the impoverished north and efforts to bring them into the army failed to stick. "You can see that the problems are not the same," said Alkache Akhada, a Tuareg, and deputy director of the Nigerien cabinet. "You have Tuareg in every region of Niger, and this is not the case in Mali. In Niger, there is an ethnic mixing." Nonetheless, the stunning pace of Mali's collapse has rattled authorities in Niamey. They are now in the uncomfortable position of wanting to help Mali put down its Tuareg uprising, without stoking lingering Tuareg complaints in Niger. "We must (...) ensure that our population does not fall victim to the influence of these confused groups and factions. We have a culture to protect. We have national unity to protect. In this sense we can not remain indifferent to what is happening at our door," said Prime Minister Brigi Rafini.

Unlike the Malian capital Bamako, which is far from Tuareg areas, Niger's seat of power Niamey is just 450 km (275 miles) from Gao, a Malian town awash with both local and foreign gunmen. Kidnappers have already struck there, taking two Frenchmen from a bar in the heart of Niamey early last year. As a result, Niger has been the most vocal of Mali's international partners and neighbours in calling for a robust response to the security void in Mali's north. West African bloc ECOWAS has said it plans to send a force of more than 3,000 troops to Mali to help oversee its transition back to democratic rule after its April coup, though the junta which took power there has bristled at the idea. It remains unclear what role, if any, such a force might play in the Tuareg-controlled north. Fighting between the Tuareg rebels and an international force in Mali could provide the perfect excuse for the rebellion to cross borders into Niger, and possibly other neighbours, Anacko said. "If international, or regional, opinion opts for a military solution, inevitably there will be repercussions in Niger and the broader Sahel... simply because it will generalise the conflict," he said.
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News Headline: In N. Mali, Islamists flex muscles, banning booze, uncovered women and whipping violators | News Date: 05/03/2012 Outlet Full Name: Associated Press News Text: BAMAKO, Mali In one town in northern Mali a man has been whipped for drinking alcohol. In another, pictures of unveiled women have been torn down. In a third, traditional music is no longer heard in the streets. While government soldiers were fighting each other this week for control of the capital in Mali's southwest corner, Islamist fighters were asserting control over the Texas-sized northern half of the country. The Islamists, some of whom are foreigners, are imposing strict religious law, setting up a possible showdown with Tuareg nationalist rebels who say they want a secular state and who seized northern Mali in March alongside the Islamists. In the fabled city of Timbuktu, whose winding alleyways lined with mud homes fill with sand blown in from the Sahara, pictures of unveiled women have either been torn down or covered over with black paint, according to El Hadj Baba Haidara, a member of the Malian parliament for the city. The Islamists have also cut the signal for national TV broadcasts to the city because they consider the women not properly covered and don't approve of the music the station plays, Haidara said. No one came come here and tell us how to practice Islam, Haidara said. Timbuktu has been Islamic since the 12th century and we have our own way of doing things. Down the road from one of Timbuktu's mosques, whose wooden doors are decorated with metal crescents and stars, Islamists have made their base at a bank. A sign at the entrance says Islamic Police in Arabic and French. Residents have been given a phone number to report serious crimes and other emergencies, but widescale patrols haven't been deployed to enforce Shariah, at least not yet.

But punishments are being meted out. On Monday in Gao, one of the three biggest cities in north Mali, two men caught smoking hashish were given 30 lashes in front of the police station, according to Hama Dada Toure, a teacher in Gao. One man who had allegedly beaten his pregnant wife was given 10 lashes and ordered to pay her. Toure said a flexible tree branch is used in the whippings, the blows delivered with less than full force. The Islamists make the person being punished say Allahu Akbar. La illah illa-Allah meaning God is great. There is no God but God each time the branch strikes them. The last to be punished that day in Gao were two men who had been fighting. One man had been cut in the fight and the other was told that when the injured man recovered he would be able to inflict the exact same cut on his enemy. In Kidal, another of the three main cities in Mali's north, residents say that the Islamists have banned traditional Tuareg festivities where drums are played all afternoon and into the night. Tuareg culture is done for here, mourned Jean Pierre Tita, a resident of the town. It's Islamic culture that is going to take over now. Tita said the Islamists have been preaching on the streets, as well as in mosques and at funerals. In a region where residents generally practice a moderate form of Islam, many are having trouble adapting to the new rules. We're not used to them, said one resident of Gao who asked for anonymity for fear of reprisals. He said many young women have been staying at home since the Islamists started patrolling the streets on the lookout for those who are not in line with Shariah precepts. Many young girls are scared of the Islamists and they are not used to going out totally covered up. They don't even have the right clothes to cover themselves properly so they prefer to say at home, the resident said. Most people are against the new rules but some young men who were already very religious are happy with the imposition of Shariah. Some have even joined the Islamists. In all three cities, the Islamists have attacked businesses selling alcohol, smashing bottles of beer and spirits. Residents say it's no longer possible to buy alcoholic beverages. One of the groups that is imposing strict Islamic law, Ansar Dine Arabic for Supporters of Islam was formed at the end of last year and joined the Tuareg rebel group in chasing government forces out of the north a month ago. The Tuareg rebels declared independence for north Mali, but Ansar Dine (pronounced AN-sar deen) now says that it is against north Mali becoming independent. Western diplomats in Bamako, the capital, say Ansar Dine has links with an even more hardline militant Islamic group, Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which has kidnapped Europeans and attacked government forces in Mali and beyond. Senior leaders from AQIM have been seen openly in towns in north Mali since Ansar Dine gained some control of them. Diplomats say that fighters sometimes move between the two groups. Islamist fighters from other countries have been descending on northern Mali in the chaotic aftermath of the military coup in the capital in March that deposed the president. The vast area has become a potential haven for terrorists in a part of the Sahara bristling with heavy

weapons looted from Libya. Witnesses in northern Mali and those who have fled to neighboring Niger say they have seen fighters from Algeria, Mauritania and Nigeria. Another group that is less well known than AQIM, and may be a spinoff from that group, is the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, which has also been bringing Shariah law to north Mali. The Tuareg rebel group, which is called the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad, or NMLA, wants the foreign fighters gone. We've asked the armed groups who are not from here to leave, said Albachar Ag Hamadou, a member of the NMLA. As for other armed fighters, soon we will tell them to put down their arms and submit themselves to our authority. It is unclear whether the Tuareg nationalists have the firepower to make the Islamists submit to that authority if they don't do so willingly.
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News Headline: West Africa: ECOWAS readies targeted sanctions against Guinea-Bissau Junta | News Date: 05/03/2012 Outlet Full Name: Africa Online News Text: Lagos, Nigeria - Targeted sanctions, including a travel ban and an asset freeze, are to be imposed on the Junta in Guinea-Bissau 'in the next couple of days', after talks aimed at returning the country to constitutional order failed in Banjul. 'We are now compiling the list of individuals who will be hit by the sanctions,' a source close to the regional Contact Group on Guinea-Bissau, which met at the ministerial level in the Gambian capital on Sunday, told PANA in Lagos Wednesday. 'They will include members of the Military Command behind the 12 April coup, members of the group called The Forum as well as members of the opposition parties who were railroaded into the so-called transitional government,' the source said. The list of those to be affected will not be closed 'since we can always add the name of anyone seen to be obstructing efforts to return Guinea-Bissau to constitutional order,' the source added. Ahead of the imposition of the targeted sanctions, ECOWAS is consulting with its international partners, including the African Union (AU) and the United Nations, to ensure effective enforcement. The organization has already slammed Guinea-Bissau with economic, financial and diplomatic sanctions, effective midnight on 29 April. The measures - against the country and the Military Command - include the freezing of the assets of Junta members and their associates in ECOWAS member states, freezing of Guinea-Bissau's accounts at the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), freezing of all financial assistance to Guinea-Bissau, as well as travel ban on all Military Command and others on the sanctions list. Other sanctions include closure of all borders of ECOWAS member states with Guinea-Bissau and the country's suspension from participation in all sporting and cultural events within the ECOWAS space.

At their extraordinary summit in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, last Thursday, West African leaders had threatened to impose 'targeted sanctions' on members of the Military Command and their associates, as well as diplomatic, economic and financial sanctions on Guinea Bissau, if they fail to accede to all demands by the regional bloc within 72 hours. The demands include the immediate and unconditional release of Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior, Interim President Raimundo Pereira, and any other persons illegally detained by the Junta. Both Gomes Junior and Pereira were released last week. The leaders also demanded the immediate restoration of constitutional order to allow for the completion of the electoral process, which was truncated by the coup. They also established the Contact Group, chaired by Nigeria and also comprising Benin, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea, Senegal and Togo, to coordinate the follow-up on the implementation of the Decisions of Summit on Guinea-Bissau. The leaders are due to meet at another emergency summit in Dakar, Senegal, Thursday (3May) to deliberate on the situation in Guinea-Bissau and Mali.
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News Headline: Dozens killed by attackers in Nigeria | News Date: 05/03/2012 Outlet Full Name: Aljazeera News Text: At least 34 people have been killed by armed men after an attack on a cattle market in northeastern Nigeria, an emergency source says. "Thirty-four bodies were deposited at the hospital," the official said, adding that the toll is likely to climb. Emergency workers say the attackers used explosives in the attack on Wednesday night in the city of Potiskum. The attack was believed to be in reprisal for an incident earlier in the day, when a gang sought to rob the market but was fought off by traders who caught one of the attackers, police said. The man who was caught was doused in petrol and a tyre was placed around his neck before he was burnt to death, according to police and residents. "A group of gunmen armed with around 20 explosives and assault rifles attacked the Potiskum cattle market," Toyin Gbadegesin, a police spokesman, said. "They threw explosives and shot indiscriminately, setting fire to the market, killing lots of livestock and wounding many people, mostly cattle dealers." Higher toll expected Officials said the toll was likely to be more than 50 dead because families were also burying relatives' bodies without bringing them to the hospital. Residents described a terrifying scene at the market usually crowded with traders, with scores of cattle burnt, the market razed and dozens of people killed.

One resident said firefighters were at the scene on Thursday morning searching water wells out of fears that residents had fallen in and drowned while trying to flee. Residents crowded a local hospital to determine if their relatives were among the dead. Gangs often seek to provoke panic at markets, forcing traders to flee so they can steal their wares.
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News Headline: SANDF has 2,100 soldiers deployed on peacekeeping operations | News Date: 05/03/2012 Outlet Full Name: defenceWeb News Text: The South African National Defence Force has approximately 2 100 soldiers deployed on peacekeeping and peace building initiatives, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and the Central African Republic. Lindiwe Sisulu, Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, provided the information in reply to a parliamentary question posted by V M Manzini of the Democratic Alliance in March. The SA National Defence Force (SANDF) is deployed on Peacekeeping duties in a number of Peace Missions in several capacities, Sisulu stated. These Include United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) Field Peace Missions, Bilateral Peace Building missions and dedicated Standby Forces to be deployed as part of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Standby Force, which is a component of the AU Standby Force. The SANDF is the primary contributor to South Africa's Peacekeeping and Peace building initiatives and presently has an average of more than 2 300 soldiers, specialists and experts on mission, deployed on external peacekeeping activities since the termination of our extensive involvement supporting the peace process in Burundi. South Africa's current deployment includes 1 242 SANDF members with the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). This includes an Infantry Battalion, Engineering Company, Aviation Unit with three Oryx medium transport helicopters, Specialist Staff Officers and Military Observers. In addition, a small team of specialists is assisting the DRC Government and Armed Forces with Security Sector Reform (SSR) activities as part of a bilateral assistance agreement. Specific mandated tasks have included verification, security patrols, contributing to security for humanitarian assistance, protection of civilians, humanitarian personnel and human rights defenders under imminent threat of physical violence, support to the Government of the DRC in its stabilization and peace consolidation efforts, according to Sisulu. At present there are 814 SANDF members deployed with the African Union/United Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID). This includes an Infantry Battalion, Specialist Staff Officers and Military Observers. Specific mandated tasks have included the protection of civilians under imminent threat of violence, contributing to security for humanitarian assistance, monitoring and verifying implementation of agreements, assisting an inclusive political process, contributing to the promotion of human rights and the rule of law. The SANDF currently has a peace building contingent of 43 military specialists assisting the government of the Central African Republic (CAR) with professional development of their armed forces as part of post conflict reconstruction and development support to Rule of Law development in the CAR through the presentation of more than 20 professional development

training courses as authorized through a bilateral assistance agreement between South Africa and CAR. Since 2007, 1306 members have been trained on 29 courses. This includes many specialities such as Infantry, Intelligence, Artillery, Medical, Special Forces, Logistics, Driving and Maintenance, Leadership and Staff Officers. The defence department noted other successes in the CAR, including refurbishment of base infrastructure in Bouar and Bangui and the effective support of the democratic electoral process through delivery of ballot material and support to the IEC in CAR during 2011. The SANDF has been involved in more than 15 peace support operations, involving the deployment of around 2 500 military personnel. Deployment areas for these operations have included the DRC, Burundi, Sudan, Cte d'Ivore, Liberia, Nepal, CAR, the Comoros, and Mozambique.
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News Headline: Obama invites African leaders to G8 food security talks | News Date: 05/04/2012 Outlet Full Name: Reuters News Text: May 3 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama has invited four African leaders to join the G8 leaders' summit at Camp David later this month for a session on food security, the White House said on Thursday. Those invited to participate are Benin's President Yayi Boni, Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Ghana's President John Mills and Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete, White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement. They will join Obama and the leaders of France, Britain, Italy, Germany, Canada, Japan and Russia at the presidential retreat in rural Maryland to discuss food security concerns in Africa on May 19, the second day of the G8 meeting. The United Nations' food price index, which measures monthly price changes for cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, fell slightly in April but remains relatively high, with soybean and rice prices poised to increase.
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News Headline: Germany: 4 men charged over al-Qaida terror plot | News Date: 05/04/2012 Outlet Full Name: Associated Press News Text: BERLIN (AP) -- Four men were charged Thursday with membership in a terrorist organization for allegedly planning to carry out an al-Qaida attack in Germany. The group's leader - 30-year-old Moroccan national Abdeladim El-Kebir - was also accused of undergoing training at a terror camp in the lawless Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, federal prosecutors said. El-Kebir allegedly recruited and indoctrinated the group's other members, whose last names weren't provided in line with German privacy laws. A 32-year-old German-Moroccan, Jamil S., is accused of being responsible for helping produce explosives, while 20-year-old German-Iranian national Amid C. and 27-year-old German citizen

Halil S. are alleged to have had mostly logistical tasks. Halil S. is also accused of trying to pursue the plot after the other three men were arrested in the western German cities of Duesseldorf and Bochum on April 29, 2011. After evading authorities for several months he too was arrested in Bochum on Dec. 8, 2011. Prosecutors said the "Duesseldorf Cell" was part of a plan by al-Qaida leaders to recruit and train jihadists to carry out terror attacks in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. "According to the results of the investigation, the accused planned to conduct a spectacular terror attack in Germany," prosecutors said in a statement. "However, they had not yet selected a specific target for the attack." The men remain in custody.
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News Headline: Will Charles Taylor ever face justice for crimes in Liberia? | News Date: 05/03/2012 Outlet Full Name: Christian Science Monitor News Text: By Clair McDougall Monrovia, Liberia -- The guilty verdict handed down last week in the trial against Charles Taylor for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone was lauded by the international community and human rights groups as a victory for international justice. But many, both inside and outside of Liberia, are questioning when those responsible for atrocities committed during the nation's brutal civil war, among them Taylor, will have their day in court. More than 250,000 were killed in the course of the war, which destroyed the nation's infrastructure. The lack of justice for the victims of the Liberian conflict is shocking, said Brima Abdulai Sheriff, director of Amnesty International Sierra Leone. The government of Liberia must end the reign of impunity by enacting the necessary legislation and acting on its duty to investigate and prosecute alleged perpetrators. The Special Court for Sierra Leone in the Hague found Mr. Taylor guilty of aiding and abetting crimes including murder, terrorism, rape, sexual slavery, and mutilations committed by rebel forces during Sierra Leone's civil war. The 11-year conflict, which ended in 2002, killed more than 50,000, and left many traumatized and maimed. Taylor's defense counsel has 14 days to appeal the case. A sentence is scheduled to be delivered at the end of the month. Experts in international law expect that his sentence will be less severe because the prosecution was unable to prove allegations that Taylor had command and control over the rebel Revolutionary United Front. Counselor Tiawan Gongloe, a human rights lawyer who was severely tortured under Taylor's orders when he criticized the government in 2002, said the verdict was a victory for human rights and sent out a warning message to key players in Liberia's civil war that like Taylor, their time too would come. His conviction is the beginning of the end of impunity in Liberia because now the big man syndrome' in Liberia is going to end and no one will feel that he or she is above the law, Mr. Gongloe says. People will know that whatever happens in the sub-region that there is a day

for accountability and this will serve as a deterrent for all other leaders after Taylor. But unlike Sierra Leone, which, with the support of the United Nations, established a hybrid domestic and international court in 2002 to prosecute key players in its devastating civil war, the government in Liberia has yet to take action and prosecute key players in the war. Liberia should follow Sierra Leone's example so that Liberian victims can also see justice done, says Elise Keppler, a senior counsel with the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch. Like many African nations emerging from war, Liberia had a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The final report was released in 2009 and recommended that 120 people be tried for war crimes and 50 people be barred from politics for 30 years. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf -- who won this year's Nobel Peace Prize for her role in reconciliation in postwar Liberia -- was listed in the latter category for sending money to Taylor early on in the war in order to, in her own words, challenge the brutality of President Doe's regime. Liberian civil society activist Aaron Weah says that while there were many problems with the TRC, the indictment of powerful members of the political establishment, such as Ms. Sirleaf and the controversial ex-warlord Sen. Prince Johnson, has been the main reason the report appears to have been shelved and its more punitive recommendations ignored. The prospects seem very remote, but it is only because of the prevailing political will, Mr. Weah says. If there is a change of regime, the conversation might change and the space could be opened up for prosecution and we could be involved in a new round of investigations. But others argue that the recommendations of the TRC were unlikely to be implemented because they were deeply flawed and because the report did not build up a case as to why certain people should be prosecuted or banned from politics. In 2011 the Supreme Court found the TRC's recommendations to be unconstitutional because the commission violated the rights of individuals to due process. While international rights groups are calling for the Liberian government to act, not everyone agrees that prosecutions are the way forward in Liberia, a nation the remains divided along the ethnic lines that defined the war and the rebel factions that took part in it. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee, who led a women's prayer movement to end the war in 2003 and who is now the head of the Liberian Reconciliation Initiative, argues that prosecutions could fuel ethnic tensions. Liberia's peace still remains fragile and is maintained by the United Nations Mission in Liberia and its force of 8,000 UN peacekeepers. If you decide to indict Prince and use the retributive kind of justice for prosecution, especially in Liberia, you need to think about how you will quell some of the riots and demonstrations that will come as a result of this, Gbowee said in an interview before the verdict. The question is, should we allow him to go free because of fear of that? The answer is no I do not support impunity. But the other question is, when? Not now. But not everyone agrees with Gbowee. Peterson Sonyah, 36, is a survivor of the St. Peter's Lutheran Church massacre that claimed over 600 lives, the majority of them from Gio and Mano ethnic groups, and committed by members of the Armed Forces of Liberia in 1990, under the leadership of the then-president Samuel K. Doe. Sonyah now heads the Liberian Massacre Survivors Association (LIMASA). Sonyah recounts laying still under a church pew as Doe's men shot people dead or chop them to pieces with cutlasses. His father was hit in the leg and later bled to death. He wants the government to act now.

"There should be prosecutions because maybe some people will think that they can go back again into the bushes and wage war on the Liberian people, he says. If people face justice they will not go back to what they did again. International human rights advocates like Keppler argue that prosecutions will play an important role in Liberia turning a page on its dark history, and establishing faith in the rule of law. From Human Rights Watch's perspective, trials, for the gravest crimes and human rights violations committed are essential to making a serious break from the past, giving redress to the victims and the rule of law, she says. War crimes and crimes against humanity cannot be forgotten and cannot be forgiven, certainly not by those who committed them, or by successor governments, says Geoffrey Robertson QC, who was president of the UN's war crimes court in Sierra Leone and is the author of "Crimes Against Humanity: The Struggle for Global Justice." Robertson says government support would be necessary if a country such as Liberia were to initiate prosecutions for war crimes. Without commenting on the present Liberian government, I would say in general it would require a government to ask the United Nations for assistance in establishing an independent tribunal, says Mr. Robertson. It would be a good idea to make that a hybrid tribunal in which the majority of judges are appointed by the UN and a minority of deputy prosecutors coming from Liberia that would engage the Liberian lawyers and investigators by making sure that the majority of the court was unbiased and unaffected by the obvious prejudice that would arise from having had their friends or relatives killed. Given the state of Liberia's legal system, which often fails to serve justice even in cases involving minor crimes, most agree international legal and technical support would be required. Counselor Gongloe agrees that international support would be needed but argues that alleged perpetrators should be tried in county courts in the places where they are accused of committing the worst crimes so that victims can see justice done. But Gongloe argues that civil society and the members of the political establishment will need to push for prosecutions in Liberia. Sierra Leoneans got justice because they wanted justice, Gongloe said. They put justice at the front line in the search for peace. Liberians did not. The majority of the outspoken people were not advocating for justice. Gongloe says this is in part a result of the outcome of the war that saw Taylor become a democratically elected president who was able to influence public opinion through patronage. But Gongloe is optimistic that with Taylor behind bars and his influence declining, the push for justice in Liberia will begin.
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News Headline: A war that's bigger than Afghanistan | News Date: 05/03/2012 Outlet Full Name: Washington Post News Text: By William Kristol The most striking sentence of President Obama's eloquent speech to the nation Tuesday night came very near the end: This time of war began in Afghanistan, and this is where it will end.

Would that it were so. Would that it were so that the Sept. 11 attacks marked the beginning of a period whose end is soon approaching. The president thinks this, and the American people would like it to be so. It's an attractive view, with the great political merit of offering hope of a relatively early and clear end to this time of war. And it's not an intellectually incoherent view: The 9/11 attack was launched by al-Qaeda based in Afghanistan. Our war aim has been and is to destroy al-Qaeda and prevent the use of Afghanistan as a base for future attacks. When we've achieved this objective, the war will end. But what if the reality is that, from Pakistan in the east to Tunisia in the west, and most visibly now in places such as Iran and Yemen and Somalia and not just in Afghanistan we are at war with political Islamism, a movement whose ability to find state sponsors and enablers is not limited to just one country or two? This isn't a pleasant reality, and even the Bush administration wasn't quite ready to confront it. But President George W. Bush did capture the truth that we are engaged in and had no choice but to engage in a bigger war, a global war on terror, of which Afghanistan was only one front. There are, of course, problems with global war on terror as a phrase and an organizing principle. But it does capture what we might call the big view of 9/11 and its implications. It would be wonderful if Obama's view of 9/11 and its implications were correct. But if it's not going to be true that Afghanistan is where this time of war ... will end even if Afghanistan is pacified and we're no longer fighting there then the American people should know that. This doesn't mean we need to be deploying troops and fighting ground wars all around the globe. After Korea and Vietnam, we conducted the rest of the Cold War without major combat operations. But that time of war didn't end after the armistice in Korea or the retreat from Vietnam. Unfortunately, the war in which we are engaged won't end with peace in, or withdrawal from, Afghanistan.
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News Headline: United Nations News Centre - Africa Briefs | News Date: 05/03/2012 Outlet Full Name: United Nation News Service News Text: Secretary-General concerned over worsening situation in Guinea-Bissau 3 May Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep concern that despite the international community's calls for the restoration of civilian rule in Guinea-Bissau, the military junta there remains in power while the country's security and socio-economic situation deteriorates. Impunity remains a concern in Burundi despite progress on human rights UN official 3 May Burundi is making progress in improving it human rights record, but impunity remains a challenge, a senior United Nations official said, stressing that the envisaged establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission will be a real test of country's commitment to upholding human rights. DR Congo: UN envoy concerned about possible sexual violence amid latest fighting 3 May A top United Nations official has voiced her concern about the latest wave of fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), especially in areas that have previously witnessed sexual violence committed against civilians by members of armed groups.
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