africom related-news clips 11 oct 2011

8/3/2019 AFRICOM Related-News Clips 11 Oct 2011

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United States Africa CommandPublic Affairs Office11 October 2011

USAFRICOM - related news stories

Good morning. Please find attached news clips related to U.S. Africa Command andAfrica, along with upcoming events of interest for October 11, 2011.

Of interest in todays clips: Libyas forces say they have cornered Qadhafi loyalists inSirte, while other reports focus on the search for missing weapons in Libya. The NATOSecretary General declared Operation Unified Protector a success against the backdrop ofthe financial crisis, stating, We could not have carried out this operation without the

unique and essential assets from the U.S.

Two articles analyze the United States ongoing drone wars, with one focused onSomalia as the latest front.

In the Horn of Africa, Kenya has established six patrol bases near the border withSomalia following the recent kidnapping of two tourists in Lamu, while the AfricanUnion Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) says it has driven Al-Shabaab out of its laststronghold in Mogadishu.

In Central Africa, the American government is building up military and diplomaticpressure on the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and pin-pointed Central African Republicas the likely present location of Joseph Kony, citing senior Washington and AFRICOMofficials as well as top UPDF generals attending counter-LRA discussions at the U.S.Mission in Kampala.

U.S. Africa Command Public AffairsPlease send questions or comments to:[email protected] (+49-711-729-2687)

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Top News related to U.S. Africa Command and Africa

Libya forces corner Gaddafi loyalists in Sirte (Reuters)http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/10/11/uk-libya-idUKTRE7962FQ20111011\11 October 2011By Rania El Gamal and Tim Gaynor
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/10/11/uk-libya-idUKTRE7962FQ20111011/http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/10/11/uk-libya-idUKTRE7962FQ20111011/http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/10/11/uk-libya-idUKTRE7962FQ20111011/mailto:[email protected]


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SIRTE, Libya -- Libyan transitional government forces said they had cornered MuammarGaddafi loyalists in the centre of the deposed leader's hometown on Monday, wheredesperate civilians were still trying to flee the fierce street fighting.

The Promise of a Pro-American Libya (Wall Street Journal)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203388804576613293623346516.html?mod=googlenews_wsj6 October 2011By John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Mark Kirk, and Marco RubioLast Thursday we arrived in Tripoli to the promise of a free Libya. We saw a city that issurprisingly secure and orderly. We visited al-Jdeida prison and spoke freely withdetaineesa testament to the commitment of the Transitional National Council (TNC) todemocracy, transparency and the rule of law. At the end of the day, we walked throughMartyrs' Square, where Libyans cheered and thanked America and our NATO allies.

U.S. Expands Search for Weapons in Libya (ABC News)

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-expands-search-weapons-libya/story?id=1470486910 October 2011By Brian Ross, Matthew Cole and Lee FerranThe U.S. government has expanded its search for thousands of dangerous, unaccountedfor weapons in Libya to the tune of several million dollars and new search teams, a StateDepartment spokesperson said.

U.S. officials: Libya may have lost anti-aircraft missiles (USA Today)http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-10-09/libyan-portable-missiles-missing/50713752/110 October 2011By Jim MichaelsPortable anti-aircraft missiles may have already been smuggled outside Libya's borderseven as the United States races to help account for thousands of the weapons stockpiledby the regime of Moammar Gadhafi, U.S. officials say.

Libya operation success despite economic crisis: NATO chief (AFP)http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/10/10/171093.htmlBy AFPBUCHAREST -- NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Monday said thatthe Alliances operation in Libya was a success despite the financial crisis forcinggovernments to reduce defense spending.

Panetta Visits Military Bases in Italy (defense.gov)http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=655917 October 2011By Cheryl PellerinAmerican Forces Press ServiceNAVAL AIR STATION SIGONELLA, ItalyOn his way home from a week-long tripto countries in the Middle East and NATO headquarters in Belgium, Defense Secretary
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203388804576613293623346516.html?mod=googlenews_wsjhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203388804576613293623346516.html?mod=googlenews_wsjhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203388804576613293623346516.html?mod=googlenews_wsjhttp://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-expands-search-weapons-libya/story?id=14704869http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-expands-search-weapons-libya/story?id=14704869http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-10-09/libyan-portable-missiles-missing/50713752/1http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-10-09/libyan-portable-missiles-missing/50713752/1http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-10-09/libyan-portable-missiles-missing/50713752/1http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/10/10/171093.htmlhttp://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/10/10/171093.htmlhttp://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=65591http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=65591http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=65591http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/10/10/171093.htmlhttp://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-10-09/libyan-portable-missiles-missing/50713752/1http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-10-09/libyan-portable-missiles-missing/50713752/1http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-expands-search-weapons-libya/story?id=14704869http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203388804576613293623346516.html?mod=googlenews_wsjhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203388804576613293623346516.html?mod=googlenews_wsj


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Leon E. Panetta made stops today at two military bases in Italy to thank U.S. and NATOtroops for their service.

Panetta spills a little on secret CIA drones (AP)http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/panetta-spills-_-a-1196326.html

7 October 2011By Lolita BaldorThe Associated PressNAVAL AIR STATION SIGONELLA, ItalyThere was a time when U.S. officialswouldn't breathe a word about the CIA's clandestine use of Predator drones.

Drone Wars: Somalia becomes the latest front (GlobalPost)With rise of Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab, Somalia becomes sixth and newest theater in

US drone war.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/111007/drone-wars-somalia-al-shabaab-cia

10 October 2011By Tristan McConnellMOGADISHUA popular pastime among journalists visiting Mogadishu is to stare upinto the inky, star-pricked sky at night to try to spot the surveillance drones that buzzoverhead. Usually, they are pretty hard to see.

A hint of deterrence in U.S. drone-war strategy (Washington Post)http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-hint-of-deterrence-in-us-drone-war-strategy/2011/10/04/gIQAeg71LL_story.htmlBy David IgnatiusHeres the trickiest counterterrorism puzzle for U.S. policymakers: How do you stop al-Qaeda from attacking the American homeland without getting bogged down in protractedwars against insurgents?

Kenya sets up bases to fight Somali raiders (Daily Nation)http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Kenya+sets+up+bases+to+fight+Somali+raiders+/-/1056/1252650/-/qms956/-/9 October 2011By Galgalo BochaKenya has established six patrol bases near border with Somalia following the recentkidnapping of two tourists in Lamu. The bases at Manda, Shella, Kiwayu and Kipuniwill comprise personnel from different security agencies in what analysts see as anattempt to assure of the governments ability to contain Somali raids at the Coast.

Somalia: We have no better brother than Turkey (Suna Times)http://www.sunatimes.com/view.php?id=141510 October 2011By Farah AliMOGADISHU -- Over 300 Somali university and high school students accompanied bythe minister of higher education of the Transitional Government of Somalia landed at
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/panetta-spills-_-a-1196326.htmlhttp://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/panetta-spills-_-a-1196326.htmlhttp://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/111007/drone-wars-somalia-al-shabaab-ciahttp://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/111007/drone-wars-somalia-al-shabaab-ciahttp://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/111007/drone-wars-somalia-al-shabaab-ciahttp://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-hint-of-deterrence-in-us-drone-war-strategy/2011/10/04/gIQAeg71LL_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-hint-of-deterrence-in-us-drone-war-strategy/2011/10/04/gIQAeg71LL_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-hint-of-deterrence-in-us-drone-war-strategy/2011/10/04/gIQAeg71LL_story.htmlhttp://www.nation.co.ke/News/Kenya+sets+up+bases+to+fight+Somali+raiders+/-/1056/1252650/-/qms956/-/http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Kenya+sets+up+bases+to+fight+Somali+raiders+/-/1056/1252650/-/qms956/-/http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Kenya+sets+up+bases+to+fight+Somali+raiders+/-/1056/1252650/-/qms956/-/http://www.sunatimes.com/view.php?id=1415http://www.sunatimes.com/view.php?id=1415http://www.sunatimes.com/view.php?id=1415http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Kenya+sets+up+bases+to+fight+Somali+raiders+/-/1056/1252650/-/qms956/-/http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Kenya+sets+up+bases+to+fight+Somali+raiders+/-/1056/1252650/-/qms956/-/http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-hint-of-deterrence-in-us-drone-war-strategy/2011/10/04/gIQAeg71LL_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-hint-of-deterrence-in-us-drone-war-strategy/2011/10/04/gIQAeg71LL_story.htmlhttp://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/111007/drone-wars-somalia-al-shabaab-ciahttp://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/111007/drone-wars-somalia-al-shabaab-ciahttp://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/panetta-spills-_-a-1196326.html


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stanbul Atatrk Airport on Wednesday morning, flying on a Turkish airline, Atlasjet,after being awarded a scholarship to study in Turkey. Thank you Kimse Yok Mu (IsAnybody There) for your scholarships awarded to Somali students and for welcomingthem to Turkey.

Somalia Islamists al-Shabab 'driven out of Mogadishu' (BBC)http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15246093By the BBCAfrican Union (AU) troops say they have driven Islamist al-Shabab militants out of theirlast stronghold in the north of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.

Al-Shabab and Somalia's 'far enemy' (Al-Jazeera)Al-Shabab has withdrawn from Mogadishu, but the country is shattered from years of

civil war and US military actions.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/10/201110295152925137.html9 October 2011

By Glen JohnsonAbdullahi walks slowly past makeshift stalls in a crowded Mogadishu market, dragginghis right leg as he does so. He is in his 50s and unemployed, reliant on overseasremittances sent by his daughter to survive. In 2007, he was shot by al-Shabab (Youthmovement). The bullet blew a hole through his right leg, just below his groin.

Uganda: U.S. Intensifies Search for Kony (All Africa)http://allafrica.com/stories/201110070105.html7 October 2011By Tabu Butagira, The Monitor (Uganda)KAMPALAThe American government is building up military and diplomaticpressure on the LRA and pin-pointed Central African Republic as the likely presentlocation of Joseph Kony, the rebels' elusive leader.

Prize or Not, Liberian Faces Tough Race to Keep Office (NY Times)http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/08/world/africa/prize-or-not-liberian-faces-tough-race-to-keep-office.html?_r=1&ref=africa8 October 2011By Adam NossiterMONROVIA, LiberiaThe day began in this battered seaside capital with shouts anddrumming for a leading Liberian politicianbut not the one honored with a NobelPeace Prize on Friday.

Flying in Africa still pricey despite busier skies (AFP)http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iVSbgMB5dyM0xQ72qcZXlBOSb6ww?docId=CNG.c38debb933cc768bc9730a901d9e5e4a.d1By Justine GerardyCAPE TOWNIt has never been easier to fly to Ouagadougou, Juba or Maputo butAfrica's increasingly busy skies are still among the most expensive in the world.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15246093http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15246093http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/10/201110295152925137.htmlhttp://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/10/201110295152925137.htmlhttp://allafrica.com/stories/201110070105.htmlhttp://allafrica.com/stories/201110070105.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/08/world/africa/prize-or-not-liberian-faces-tough-race-to-keep-office.html?_r=1&ref=africahttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/08/world/africa/prize-or-not-liberian-faces-tough-race-to-keep-office.html?_r=1&ref=africahttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/08/world/africa/prize-or-not-liberian-faces-tough-race-to-keep-office.html?_r=1&ref=africahttp://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iVSbgMB5dyM0xQ72qcZXlBOSb6ww?docId=CNG.c38debb933cc768bc9730a901d9e5e4a.d1http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iVSbgMB5dyM0xQ72qcZXlBOSb6ww?docId=CNG.c38debb933cc768bc9730a901d9e5e4a.d1http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iVSbgMB5dyM0xQ72qcZXlBOSb6ww?docId=CNG.c38debb933cc768bc9730a901d9e5e4a.d1http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iVSbgMB5dyM0xQ72qcZXlBOSb6ww?docId=CNG.c38debb933cc768bc9730a901d9e5e4a.d1http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iVSbgMB5dyM0xQ72qcZXlBOSb6ww?docId=CNG.c38debb933cc768bc9730a901d9e5e4a.d1http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/08/world/africa/prize-or-not-liberian-faces-tough-race-to-keep-office.html?_r=1&ref=africahttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/08/world/africa/prize-or-not-liberian-faces-tough-race-to-keep-office.html?_r=1&ref=africahttp://allafrica.com/stories/201110070105.htmlhttp://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/10/201110295152925137.htmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15246093


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UN News Service Africa Briefshttp://www.un.org/apps/news/region.asp?Region=AFRICA

(Full Articles on UN Website)

Rwanda and UN refugee agency agree to step up repatriation efforts7 OctoberThe United Nations refugee agency and Rwanda today announced steps tospeed up a solution for tens of thousands of Rwandan refugees, one of the lasting legaciesof the genocide in which extremist Hutus killed some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutusin the African country in 1994.

Top UN officials praise gains of African development partnership7 OctoberThe President of the General Assembly today praised the African initiativecreated to enhance the continents economic growth, development and participation in the

global economy, saying it has contributed significantly towards the socio-economicprogress achieved over the past decade.

UN opens refugee camp in Ethiopia as violence continues in troubled Sudanese state7 OctoberThe United Nations refugee agency has opened a new camp in westernEthiopia as hostilities in Sudans Blue Nile state continue to drive thousands to flee thecountry.

Africas pace towards development slow and uneven, despite gains UN6 OctoberAfricas overall progress towards achieving the internationally agreed targetsto eradicate extreme poverty and accelerate social development has been slow andgenerally insufficient to meet the 2015 deadline, the United Nations says in a new reportunveiled today, noting, however, that there have been small gains.

Central African Republic: UNICEF responds to deadly cholera outbreak6 OctoberThe United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) is distributing emergencysupplies and has dispatched experts to the Central African Republic (CAR) to deal withan outbreak of cholera that has already claimed 14 lives.

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Upcoming Events of Interest:

TOPIC: The Democratic Republic of Congos Pivotal 2011 National ElectionsWHAT: Much is at stake as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) prepares for apivotal round of national elections on November 28. While violence and security issueshave marred the countrys recent history, multi-party elections in 2006 produceddemocratic gains and this round of elections may push the DRC even closer to becominga vibrant democracy. However, questions remain as to how the elections will affect thecountrys major challenges, including a rapidly growing population, low job growth, and
http://www.un.org/apps/news/region.asp?Region=AFRICAhttp://www.un.org/apps/news/region.asp?Region=AFRICAhttp://www.un.org/apps/news/region.asp?Region=AFRICA


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the lingering threat of authoritarianism.PARTICIPANTS: Keynote Speaker Maria Otero, Under Secretary of State forDemocracy and Global Affairs, U.S. Department of State; Panelists -- Mvemba P.Dizolele, Duignan Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Stanford Universitys HooverInstitution; Anthony W. Gambino, Independent Consultant and Former USAID

Mission Director to the DRC; John Mukum Mbaku, Nonresident Senior Fellow,The Brookings InstitutionWHEN: Friday, October 14, 2011, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PMWHERE: Falk Auditorium, The Brookings Institution, 1775 Massachusetts Ave., NWWashington, DCMORE INFORMATION:http://www.brookings.edu/events/2011/1014_drc_elections.aspx

TOPIC: Libya in Transition: The Significance of U.N. Resolution 1973 and Democracyin the Middle East and North Africa

WHAT: The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and the United Nations Associationof the National Capital Area (UNA-NCA) invite you to an event to assess the effort toestablish democratic rule in Libya, the role of the U.N. resolution in that effort, and theimportance of the transition and resolution to democracy efforts throughout the region.PARTICIPANTS: Victoria K. Holt, panelist (invited), Deputy Assistant Secretary,Bureau of International Organization Affairs; Laith Kubba, panelist, Senior Director,Middle East and North Africa, National Endowment for Democracy; Manal Omar,panelist, Director of Iraq, Iran, and North Africa Programs, United States Institute ofPeace; Ted Piccone, panelist, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director, Foreign PolicyThe Brookings Institution.WHEN: October 19, 2011; 10:00-NoonWHERE: U. S. Institute of Peace, 2301 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC20037MORE INFORMATION: If you have any questions about this event, please contact AnilVarghese [email protected]://www.usip.org/events/libya-in-transition-the-significance-un-resolution-1973-and-democracy-in-the-middle-east-and-

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New onwww.africom.mil

AFRICOM Commander Highlights Priorities, Concerns at CSIS Strategy Talkhttp://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7308&lang=06 October 2011By Danielle SkinnerU.S. AFRICOM Public AffairsWASHINGTON, D.C.During a military strategy forum October 4, 2011, GeneralCarter F. Ham, commander of U.S. Africa Command, emphasized the importance of
http://www.brookings.edu/events/2011/1014_drc_elections.aspxhttp://www.brookings.edu/events/2011/1014_drc_elections.aspxmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.usip.org/events/libya-in-transition-the-significance-un-resolution-1973-and-democracy-in-the-middle-east-and-http://www.usip.org/events/libya-in-transition-the-significance-un-resolution-1973-and-democracy-in-the-middle-east-and-http://www.usip.org/events/libya-in-transition-the-significance-un-resolution-1973-and-democracy-in-the-middle-east-and-http://www.usip.org/events/libya-in-transition-the-significance-un-resolution-1973-and-democracy-in-the-middle-east-and-http://www.africom.mil/http://www.africom.mil/http://www.africom.mil/http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7308&lang=0http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7308&lang=0http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7308&lang=0http://www.africom.mil/http://www.usip.org/events/libya-in-transition-the-significance-un-resolution-1973-and-democracy-in-the-middle-east-and-http://www.usip.org/events/libya-in-transition-the-significance-un-resolution-1973-and-democracy-in-the-middle-east-and-mailto:[email protected]://www.brookings.edu/events/2011/1014_drc_elections.aspx


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strengthening African military capabilities to address some of Africa's current securitychallenges while preventing future ones.Read the entiretranscriptor watch thevideoon www.africom.mil.

South African Army Soldiers visit U.S. Army Africa

http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7310&lang=06 October 2011By Rich BartellU.S. Army Africa Public AffairsVICENZA, Italy, Oct 6, 2011Chief Warrant Officer Charles Laubscher and MasterChief Warrant Officer Ketshwerebothata R. Boikanyo from the South African Army tookpart in a U.S. Army Africa command visit September 26-29, 2011.

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FULLTEXT

Libya forces corner Gaddafi loyalists in Sirte (Reuters)http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/10/11/uk-libya-idUKTRE7962FQ2011101111 October 2011By Rania El Gamal and Tim Gaynor

SIRTE, Libya -- Libyan transitional government forces said they had cornered MuammarGaddafi loyalists in the centre of the deposed leader's hometown on Monday, wheredesperate civilians were still trying to flee the fierce street fighting.

The protracted battle for Sirte has raised concerns that civilian casualties could breedlong-term hostility and make it hard for the National Transitional Council (NTC) to unitethe vast North African state once the fighting is over.

"Gaddafi's forces are cornered in two neighbourhoods near the sea, an area of about 2-kmsquare, but there is still resistance," Abdul Salam Javallah, commander of NTC unitsfrom eastern Libya, told Reuters on the front line of their attack.

"We are dealing with them now with light weapons because there are still familiesinside," he said.

Shortly after he spoke, a group of three women, three small children and two malecivilians emerged from a house on the front line. They were searched by the rebels andhurriedly got into a car and drove off waving the V-for-victory sign.

Another family of three women and one man, stopping at a checkpoint as they fled Sirte,said they had been trapped in their house by the fighting.

"We didn't know where the strikes were coming from. Everyone is being hit all day andall night. There is no electricity and no water. There is nothing. There is not one
http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7306&lang=0http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7306&lang=0http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7306&lang=0http://csis.org/event/military-strategy-forum-general-carter-f-ham-commander-us-africa-commandhttp://csis.org/event/military-strategy-forum-general-carter-f-ham-commander-us-africa-commandhttp://csis.org/event/military-strategy-forum-general-carter-f-ham-commander-us-africa-commandhttp://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7310&lang=0http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7310&lang=0http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/10/11/uk-libya-idUKTRE7962FQ20111011http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/10/11/uk-libya-idUKTRE7962FQ20111011http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/10/11/uk-libya-idUKTRE7962FQ20111011http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7310&lang=0http://csis.org/event/military-strategy-forum-general-carter-f-ham-commander-us-africa-commandhttp://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7306&lang=0


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neighbourhood that hasn't been hit," said one of the women who gave her name as UmmIsmail.

NTC commanders say they are using only light weapons, but government tanks have alsomoved into road intersections and pounded Gaddafi positions, while pick-up trucks

mounted with heavy weapons as well as foot soldiers darted out of cover to fire wildly upahead.

At times, NTC units came under fire from their own side, a hazard becoming more acuteas the poorly coordinated groups of government volunteers attacking from the east andwest close in on one another.

Most of the NTC forces attacking Sirte are from other towns and do not have much helpfrom the inside as they did they when they captured the capital Tripoli on August 23 andended 42 years of one-man rule by Gaddafi after six months of civil war.

Gaddafi's men fight for their lives

Many civilians from Sirte are also fighting alongside the remnants of Gaddafi's army inthe belief the outsiders will commit atrocities once they capture the city of 75,000 people,which Gaddafi built into a lavish second capital.

"Gaddafi's troops know their way around," said one government fighter in a brief lull inthe fighting. "We don't know the city. We don't even know what's in the next street."

Gaddafi is believed to be hiding in the desert to the south.

NTC forces have struggled to take Sirte and a few other bastions of Gaddafi loyalists,which has impeded efforts to set up effective government nationwide and restart oilproduction, the lifeblood of the Libyan economy.

Several Libyan analysts also say they are worried fault lines are opening up between theIslamist-run Tripoli Military Council, which has nominal control over the capital and isalso believed to be backed by Qatar, and groups loyal to interim Prime MinisterMahmoud Jibril, a Western-trained technocrat.

The interim government sent out text messages on Monday urging their fighters to reportto military bases and join the national army.

Concern is rising in the capital about potential conflict among armed groups thatconverged on Tripoli in August and have stayed on to demand stakes in a futuregovernment.

NTC forces in Sirte took three important landmark buildings on Sunday -- the mainhospital, the university and the opulent Ouagadougou conference centre, built to host thesummits of foreign dignitaries that Gaddafi was fond of staging.


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"Eighty percent of Sirte is now under our control," said Omar Abu Lifa, a commander ofgovernment forces attacking Sirte from the west.

NTC forces have repeatedly claimed to be on the point of victory in Sirte, only to suffer

sudden reversals at the hands of tenacious enemies fighting for their lives, surrounded onthree sides and with their backs to the sea.

In just one field hospital to the east of the city, doctors said they had received 20 deadand 87 wounded over the last two days from fighting. There were many more casualtieselsewhere.

One man, a student, who had escaped from the centre of the city, said he had watchedfrom a rooftop on Sunday as Gaddafi soldiers destroyed 10 government pick-up trucks.

"Their morale is very high," said Salam Awad. "They are prepared to fight to the death."

NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil said his men had reached Sirte city centre, while theonly other major town in the hands of Gaddafi loyalists, Bani Walid in the interior desertto the south, was also under siege from no fewer than five sides.

"I think and I hope, with the help of God, the liberation of these two towns will becompleted by the end of this week. God willing," he told a news conference in Tripoli onSunday.

Sirte holds symbolic significance because Gaddafi turned it from a fishing village into asecond capital. He built opulent villas, hotels and conference halls to house theinternational summits he liked to stage there.

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The Promise of a Pro-American Libya (Wall Street Journal)http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203388804576613293623346516.html?mod=googlenews_wsj6 October 2011By John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Mark Kirk, and Marco Rubio

Last Thursday we arrived in Tripoli to the promise of a free Libya. We saw a city that issurprisingly secure and orderly. We visited al-Jdeida prison and spoke freely withdetaineesa testament to the commitment of the Transitional National Council (TNC) todemocracy, transparency and the rule of law. At the end of the day, we walked throughMartyrs' Square, where Libyans cheered and thanked America and our NATO allies.

We also observed many of the serious challenges that remain. We spoke with some of the28 militias that are still deployed across Tripoli. We saw the enormous task of rebuildinga country after 42 years of tyranny and seven months of war. And we visited a hospital
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where we met a few of the 60,000 Libyans who have been wounded in this conflict andwill require significant future carea population that is still growing amid the ongoingfighting in Sirte and Bani Walid.

In short, the Libyans we met want to build a secure, prosperous and democratic nation

that rejects violent extremism, allies itself with America and our allies, and promotes thepeaceful ideals of the Arab Spring. It is in our national interest for Libya to consolidatethe gains of its revolution, and in the critical months ahead we must deepen our supportfor the Libyan people.

People demonstrate in favor of the National Transitional Council in Tripoli earlier thismonth.

The most meaningful support the U.S. could provide at this time is to help Libya care forits many wounded citizens. From our visit to the hospital, it is clear that Libya does nothave the capacity to care for such a large number of wounded, many requiring advanced

treatment and prosthetics. Indeed, this is such a priority that the TNC told us they wouldbe willing to draw on the more than $150 billion in Libya's frozen assets to reimburse theU.S. for the costs of this humanitarian assistance. To this end, we should considerdeploying a hospital ship, such as the USNS Comfort, to Libya or Malta. Another optioncould be to transport Libyans in need of advanced care to U.S. medical facilities inEurope.

We can also help Libya lay the foundation for sustainable security. This requiressafeguarding the immense stockpiles of weapons and dangerous materials that existacross the country. It also requires bringing Libya's many militias under the TNC'scivilian authority, and working toward their demobilization, disarmament andreintegration into Libyan society. We and our allies should encourage this peacefulprocess as much as we can, and oppose external efforts to pick winners who wouldadvance factional or ideological interests through force.

Many Libyans recognize that they need a new civilian-led national army and police force.The TNC has asked the U.S., perhaps together with our Arab partners, to help train thisnew security force. American involvement in a small training mission could help Libyabuild a professional security force that contributes to national unity and forms the basis ofour future security cooperation. Here, too, the TNC offered to reimburse the costs of ourefforts.

American support is also important for Libya's democratic transition. The TNC wants tocooperate with the U.S., especially with our nongovernmental organizations, in themonitoring of national elections (which could be held soon), the drafting of aconstitution, and the development of civil society.

Another area where we can play a vital role is in helping Libya reform its justice system.That the TNC invited us into al-Jdeida prison is evidence of its commitment to treatingdetainees humanely, with maximum transparency. Yet we continue to hear credible


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reports that Libyan militias are mistreating and taking revenge against detainees,especially African migrants. American assistance could help Libyans achieve their goalof creating a transparent and accountable system to deliver equal justice.

Finally, now is the time to expand our economic ties with Libya and help the Libyan

people take part in a more open regional economic order. This could include reactivatingand building upon our existing Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, workingtoward the goal of a bilateral free trade agreement, helping Libya meet the requirementsfor accession to the World Trade Organization, and gradually turning the "no-fly zone"over Libya into a "pro-fly zone" that fosters civilian air travel.

Americans have had their disagreements over the U.S. intervention in Libya, but thesources of those disagreements are now fading into history. What remains is an enormousopportunity for the U.S. to build a partnership with a democratic and pro-American Libyathat contributes to the expansion of security, prosperity and freedom across a pivotalregion at a time of revolutionary change. This is a worthy goal that should unite

Democrats and Republicans, Congress and the president, America and our allies. Libyanswill build their own nation. But they desire and deserve our support. And it is in ourinterest to help them succeed.

Mr. McCain is a Republican senator from Arizona. Mr. Graham is a Republican senator

from South Carolina. Mr. Kirk is a Republican senator from Illinois. Mr. Rubio is a

Republican senator from Florida.

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U.S. Expands Search for Weapons in Libya (ABC News)http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-expands-search-weapons-libya/story?id=1470486910 October 2011By Brian Ross, Matthew Cole and Lee Ferran

The U.S. government has expanded its search for thousands of dangerous, unaccountedfor weapons in Libya to the tune of several million dollars and new search teams, a StateDepartment spokesperson said.

"I'm frankly not in a position to speak to the sort of volume and scope of their success atthe moment, but we are very, very committed to this effort," State Departmentspokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters.

Nuland said there are a total of nine Libyan search teams currently active in the war-tornnation, all with a single American representative. The U.S. government had initially putforward $3 million to assist in the effort to track down the weapons -- which couldinclude thousands of shoulder-fired surface-to-air rocket launchers -- but has nowincreased its investment to $10 million.

READ: Nightmare in Libya: Thousands of Surface-to-Air Missiles Unaccounted For
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Last month, White House spokesperson Jay Carney told reporters the U.S. had a singlegovernment official, as well as five contractors, on the ground to deal with the weaponscrisis.

Though Libya had an estimated 20,000 man-portable surface-to-air missiles before thepopular uprising began in February, Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Shapiro toldABC News in September the government does not have a clear picture of how manymissiles they're trying to track down.

U.S. government officials and security experts have for weeks been concerned some ofthe thousands of heat-seeking missiles, along with smaller arms, could easily end up inthe hands of al Qaeda or other terror groups.

"Matching up a terrorist with a shoulder-fired missile, that's our worst nightmare," Sen.Barbara Boxer, D.-California, a member of the Senate's Commerce, Energy and

Transportation Committee, said in September.

The missiles, four to six-feet long and Russian-made, can weigh just 55 pounds withlauncher. They lock on to the heat generated by the engines of aircraft, can be fired froma vehicle or from a combatant's shoulder, and are accurate and deadly at a range of morethan two miles.

Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch first warned about the problem after a trip toLibya more than six months ago. He took pictures of pickup truckloads of the missilesbeing carted off during another trip just a few weeks ago.

"I myself could have removed several hundred if I wanted to, and people can literallydrive up with pickup trucks or even 18 wheelers and take away whatever they want," saidBouckaert, HRW's emergencies director. "Every time I arrive at one of these weaponsfacilities, the first thing we notice going missing is the surface-to-air missiles."

Nuland said Friday it's too early to tell if the U.S. will expand the search beyond the nineteams in the future.

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U.S. officials: Libya may have lost anti-aircraft missiles (USA Today)http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-10-09/libyan-portable-missiles-missing/50713752/110 October 2011By Jim Michaels

Portable anti-aircraft missiles may have already been smuggled outside Libya's borderseven as the United States races to help account for thousands of the weapons stockpiledby the regime of Moammar Gadhafi, U.S. officials say.
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"We have reports that they may have in fact crossed borders," Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told USA TODAY.

Rogers says al-Qaeda would like to get its hands on the weapons, which fit in the trunk of

a car and can take down a commercial jet.

Missiles like those have been used in attacks on 40 aircraft, causing 28 crashes and morethan 800 deaths since 1975. Under Gadhafi, Libya had stockpiled about 20,000 of themissiles, called Man Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS).Not all are missing, says the State Department, which is working with Libya's transitionalgovernment to account for the missiles.

"We believe that thousands of MANPADS were destroyed during NATO operationsbecause weapons bunkers were a major target," said Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretaryof State for political-military affairs.

Many missiles are also under the control of forces loyal to the transitional governmentthere, and others are too old to work, the State Department said.

The sale of MANPADS is tightly controlled, but they have sometimes wound up in thehands of terrorists who used them to take down airliners in Georgia and Sri Lanka.

Most of Libya's stockpiles are SA-7s, a shoulder-fired missile that targets a heat sourceon an aircraft."There are some worrying indicators that some MANPADS, type non-specific, have leftthe country," said Gen. Carter Ham, head of U.S. Africa Command.

Shapiro cautioned the government doesn't have "firm reporting" that the missiles havecrossed Libya's border but intends to "ramp up" the effort to account for the missiles. "It'scertainly something that we're very concerned about," he said.

Rogers said the administration's pledge to not deploy troops in Libya made thegovernment hesitant to deploy Americans to track the missiles until recently. "I havesome concerns that we may be a little bit late," he said.

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Libya operation success despite economic crisis: NATO chief (AFP)http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/10/10/171093.htmlBy AFP

BUCHAREST -- NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Monday said thatthe Alliances operation in Libya was a success despite the financial crisis forcinggovernments to reduce defense spending.
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We conducted the operation Unified Protector successfully against the backdrop of theglobal financial crisis, Rasmussen told legislators from NATOs 28 member states andpartners gathered in Bucharest for the 57th Parliamentary Assembly.

I am very satisfied with the way the operation has been conducted, it is an example of

solidarity, he added.

Rasmussen stressed that the air war in Libya has also taught members important lessons:First, that despite economic challenges, European allies with Canada and partners in theregion provided the majority of assets and that is a clear response to an often heardAmerican request for more European responsibility within NATO.

But he stressed that the other lesson that needed to be learned was that allies need toinvest more in critical fields such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. That iswhat we have to focus on.

We could not have carried out this operation without the unique and essential assetsfrom the US. This is no breaking news that we need help from the U.S., that is theessence of the alliance and not a weakness," he insisted.

NATOs chief pleaded in favor of the concept of smart defense, crucial according tohim in this period of austerity.

Smart defense can only work if it is done together, it is not an excuse to reducebudgets, he said, adding that the alternative would be less defense.

On Saturday, NATO lawmakers urged governments not to cut defense spending, warningthat this could damage security.

NATOs Director of Force Planning Frank Boland warned that the Alliance was facing aserious situation in terms of burden sharing.

He stressed that the U.S. share in NATOs defense spending had risen to 77 percent upfrom 61 percent a decade ago, while 18 of the 28 allies had cut defense spending since2008.

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Panetta Visits Military Bases in Italy (defense.gov)http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=655917 October 2011By Cheryl PellerinAmerican Forces Press Service

NAVAL AIR STATION SIGONELLA, ItalyOn his way home from a week-long tripto countries in the Middle East and NATO headquarters in Belgium, Defense Secretary
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So thank you very much for the service youve provided, thank you for this mission,the secretary added. All the countries of NATO owe all of you great thanks for yourservice. In some small way, you have contributed to keeping our country and our worldsafer and more secure for our children.

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Panetta spills a little on secret CIA drones (AP)http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/panetta-spills-_-a-1196326.html7 October 2011By Lolita BaldorThe Associated Press

NAVAL AIR STATION SIGONELLA, ItalyThere was a time when U.S. officialswouldn't breathe a word about the CIA's clandestine use of Predator drones.

Now it seems that the veil is lifting, at least a bit.

Defense Secretary Leon Panettaa former CIA directoris occasionally weaving theCIA's unmanned aircraft into his remarks.

On Friday, he joked to an auditorium full of troops at a base in Naples, Italy, that"obviously I have a helluva lot more weapons available to me in this job than I had at theCIA." Then he added, as an aside, "Although the Predators aren't that bad."

And at a stop at Sigonella air station a short time later, he was ticking off the attributes ofthe coalition forces there who have been participating in the Libya operation.

Standing in front of a Global Hawk surveillance drone, he observed that the troops haveused the unarmed aircraft in missions over Libya, as well as the armed Predators. Andthen he added that the Predators were "something I was very familiar with in my lastjob."

During Panetta's tenure at the CIA, the use of armed drones to target insurgents,particularly inside the borders of Pakistan, escalated and expanded. And just last week, aCIA Predator was used in a strike in Yemen to kill U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, akey al-Qaida figure in the Arabian Peninsula.

The CIA's use of drones to strike militants in Pakistanlargely those who are involvedin launching attacks against U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistanhas drawn sharpcriticism from Islamabad and cries that the missions violate the country's sovereignty.

At no time did Panetta mention any of the countries or CIA operations where the droneswere usedsaying only that he finds them to be a key weapon.
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Drone Wars: Somalia becomes the latest front (GlobalPost)With rise of Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab, Somalia becomes sixth and newest theater in

US drone war.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/111007/drone-wars-somalia-al-shabaab-cia10 October 2011By Tristan McConnell

MOGADISHUA popular pastime among journalists visiting Mogadishu is to stare upinto the inky, star-pricked sky at night to try to spot the surveillance drones that buzzoverhead. Usually, they are pretty hard to see.

That is, until August, when the drones began to rain down from aboveliterally.

Eyewitnesses in the capital described at least one and maybe two observation dronescrashing into the city in mid-August. The debris was swept up and whisked away bysoldiers from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), and no officialcomment was ever made.

It is unclear who was operating the aircraft. But four small, hand-launched Raven droneswere part of a recent $45 million package of U.S. military equipment earmarked forAMISOM, a delivery that also included body armor and night-vision equipment.

Complete coverage: The Drone Wars

Larger observation drones launched from the U.S. base at Camp Lemonier in Djiboutihave been flying sorties over Somalia for years and, for a while, unarmed long-rangeReaper surveillance drones were launched from the Seychelles to keep an eye on Somalipirates.

Then, this summer, the armed drones arrived.

Somalia, the most troubled country in the horn of Africa, has now become the sixth andnewest theater in U.S. President Barack Obamas expanding drone war, which will beserviced by new U.S. bases in Ethiopia, which neighbors Somalia, and in the Seychelles.Leaked diplomatic cables and anonymous officials speaking to the Washington Postsuggest the bases will be used to target Al Qaeda affiliates in both Yemen and Somalia.

The first attack came on June 23, when a series of drone strikes, in quick succession, hitclose to Kismayo in the far south of Somalia. The port city is a stronghold of Al Shabaab,the Al Qaeda-linked insurgent group that is based in
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News agencies and Somali radio reported missiles striking a convoy of Shabaab fighters,a training camp a few miles south of Kismayo, and another target close to the airport.Local residents said that helicopters landed shortly afterward, to take away the bodies.

Details are sketchy and hard to verify but a U.S. military official confirmed in the

Washington Post that at least one drone struck the area, adding that two unnamedShabaab leaders had been targeted.

The target may have been Ibrahim al-Afghani, a senior Shabaab commander and head ofthe groups finances. He has not been heard from since the June strikes, and intelligencesources suspect he may havebeen wounded or even killed. Afghanis death, however,reported on local radio, has not been confirmed.

In September, local residents reported several more strikes, again targeting areas close toKismayo. They said the attacks hit a Shabaab training camp. A Shabaab fighter,meanwhile, claimed to have shot down one of the U.S. drones. As ever, there has been

neither confirmation nor denial from the United States.

The attacks are the latest in a series of setbacks al Shabaab has endured in recent months.Infighting and military losses have undermined the organizations effectiveness, as hasSomalias ongoing famine, which some Somalis at least partly blame on the militantgroup. Its reputation took a major hit locally when it refused international aid agenciesaccess to some famine-stricken regions.

Several senior commanders, including Fazul Abdullah Mohamed, East Africas Al Qaedachief, have been killed in recent months, and Shabaab withdrew from Mogadishu,Somalias capital, in early August.

But the terrorist organization remains a threat. Most recently, it claimed responsibility fora massive truck bomb that exploded on Oct. 4 in Mogadishu, killing at least 65 people.

The Somali government has limited abilities to battle the militants on its own. It has beenquick to welcome U.S. drones as the newest weapon in the battle against Shabaab.Independent observers, however, are more cautious.

It is a sign of things to come, said Stig Jarle Hansen, a Somalia researcher at theNorwegian University of Life Sciences. Drones are a way for the Obama Administrationto have a light footprint inside Somalia without committing any troops. But Im not surethey will be effective.

Peter Pham, Africa director at the Atlantic Council in Washington, said that growinglinks between Somalias Shabaab and Yemens Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP)were a factor behind the decision to use the drones.


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Somalia is moving up the priority list because of developments within Somalia and nextdoor in Yemen. There are increasingly close ties, and therefore Somalias strategicimportance has increased. With that has come the dedication of resources, Pham said.

He doubted that the use of drones in Somalia would escalate as dramatically as they have

in Pakistan, blaming a lack of good on-the-ground intelligence and the relatively smallnumber of high value targets.

David Shinn, a former U.S. ambassador in the Horn of Africa, was also skeptical.

Theres a debate being had over the utility of drone attacks in Somalia, he said. Theydont get you that far, and the targets are not as valuable as in other areas, such asPakistan.

While the drones are new to Somalia, targeted assassinations are not.

In May 2008, Aden Hashi Ayro, then the head of al Shabaab, was killed in a U.S. missilestrike in the central Somali town of Dusamareb. Then, in September 2009, U.S. SpecialForces flying in on helicopter gunships killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a man wanted forhis involvement in the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. His body waspicked up close to the town of Barawe and whisked away for DNA analysis.

(Fazul Abdullah Mohameds death in June was more about luck than design. The alQaeda terrorist took a wrong turn in Mogadishu and was shot dead by government troopsmanning a roadblock.)

Success has not, however, been the norm. Locals resident have accused the United Statesof killing civilians in botched air strikes in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

There is so far no evidence that the drone strikes in recent months have been effective inkilling senior Shabaab leaders, and analysts warn of a blowback if civilians arewounded or killed in the attacks.

Maybe the footprint is not as light as somepeople would like to make out, Jarle Hansensaid.

What the U.S. is doing with drones in Somalia and elsewhere is full of pitfalls, saidDaveed Gartenstein-Ross, director of the Centre for the Study of Terrorist Radicalizationat the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank.

In Somalia our intelligence on the ground isnt great, so youll end up killing not justShabaab operatives but clan leaders, sub-clan leaderspeople who you dont want tokillas well as civilians, which creates the potential that the U.S. will be seen as anenemy by all sides, he warned.


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In addition Shabaab, has shown a remarkable ability to regenerate when leaders arekilled. Jarle Hansen points out that the killing of Ayro in 2008 was little more than alocal setback. Another commander quickly replaced the Shabaab leader.

The bigger problem is not simply how to defeat Shabaab, but how to rebuild Somalia as a

functioning state. For that, the U.S. itself admits that it will need more than militaryhardware.

Drone strikes can be a useful as a tactic but not in place of a strategy, and in Somalia wedont actually have a strategy, said Gartenstein-Ross.

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A hint of deterrence in U.S. drone-war strategy (Washington Post)http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-hint-of-deterrence-in-us-drone-war-strategy/2011/10/04/gIQAeg71LL_story.html

By David Ignatius

Heres the trickiest counterterrorism puzzle for U.S. policymakers: How do you stop al-Qaeda from attacking the American homeland without getting bogged down in protractedwars against insurgents?

One answer would be to establish deterrence in the long war against Islamic extremism,like the standoff that developed between the United States and the Soviet Union duringthe Cold War. The Soviets were obviously a far bigger adversary, but the basic logic isthe same: Both sides have deadly weapons, but if you dont shoot at us, we wont shoot atyou.

The Obama administration hasnt declared any such neo-deterrence strategy, but you cansee the outlines of one emerging in the administrations unannounced targeting policy forarmed Predator drones, which have been Americas deadliest weapon against al-Qaeda.

The latest illustration of the drones precision power came in Fridays attack on Anwaral-Awlaki, a leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The strike over northernYemen, which followed days of silent surveillance, killed Awlaki and Samir Khan, theeditor of an al-Qaeda online magazine called Inspire. Both were U.S. citizens.

But in recent weeks a subtle limit has emerged in drone policy: Despite calls by someU.S. officials for drone attacks against the training camps of AQAP and al-Shabab, theal-Qaeda affiliate in Somalia, neither has been targeted. Thats a deliberate policydecisionaimed partly at preventing the spread of a Taliban-style insurgency to newtheaters, such as Yemen and Somalia.

The United States claims it has legal authority for such so-called signature strikes ontraining camps of al-Qaeda affiliates, under both the congressional Authorization for Useof Military Force passed in September 2001 and the international law of self-defense.
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This broad legal authority for targeting was outlined by John Brennan, the White Housecounterterrorism chief, in a Sept. 16 speech at Harvard.

But as a matter of policy, Brennan and other top officials have decided (for now) againstsuch strikes in the new battlegrounds, in part to prevent an ever-widening war that fosters

the very Islamic insurgency we want to contain. Indeed, officials say there havent beenany signature strikes against camps (as opposed to individuals) outside Pakistans tribalareas, where al-Qaedas core leadership is based.

A senior administration official explains the policy this way: If individuals target us, ifthey are in the chain of command for attacks against Americans, then the United Stateswill authorize direct action putting such individuals on the capture or kill list thattriggers a drone attack. But, the official cautions, We dont want to get involved in adomestic confrontation inside Yemen or Somalia, or increase anti-U.S. sentiment inthose places.

There is a deterrence formula implicit in this policy: So long as Somalias al-Shababremains an insurgent movement fighting the Transitional Federal Government, the UnitedStateswhile supporting the Somali authoritieswont use drones. That weapon isreserved for those who directly threaten the United States.

Al-Shabab can increase the danger to themselves if they attack us, or engage in actionsdesigned to hurt our people, says the official. We can act in self-defense, but also tosend the message that if you threaten us, you do so at your own peril.

This calibrated approach has reassured key U.S. allies, such as Britain, that have largeMuslim immigrant populations and were worried about the blow-back from U.S.campaigns against al-Qaeda affiliates. There was concern that it was a blanketapproach, concedes the U.S. official.

I asked the Obama administration official about the due process problem. On whatbasis does the United States issue what amounts to a death warrant against an Americancitizen, such as Awlaki? The official answered that reviews are conducted by an inter-agency committee of lawyers, and also by a committee of deputies of all key departmentsand that strike orders require unanimous agreement. Thats only partly reassuring; amore rigorous legal process would be better, such as the secret court that rules on foreign-intelligence requests for search warrants.

Whats good about the evolving drone policy is that it recognizes the need for limits. Wedont have enough drones to kill all the enemies we will make if we turn the world into afree-fire zone. And theres something important in the hint of a deterrence strategy: Thisis how wars end in the part of the world where al-Qaeda arosethrough a balance ofmutual restraint that makes a de facto truce possible, even between the most bitterenemies.

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Kenya sets up bases to fight Somali raiders (Daily Nation)http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Kenya+sets+up+bases+to+fight+Somali+raiders+/-/1056/1252650/-/qms956/-/9 October 2011

By Galgalo Bocha

Kenya has established six patrol bases near border with Somalia following the recentkidnapping of two tourists in Lamu.

The bases at Manda, Shella, Kiwayu and Kipuni will comprise personnel from differentsecurity agencies in what analysts see as an attempt to assure of the governments abilityto contain Somali raids at the Coast.

Lamu West district commissioner Stephen Ikua said on Sunday Kenya was stepping upsea patrols to guard our border territories and visitors and Kenyans should feel secure

whenever they are around.

Reports at the weekend said a speedboat suspected to be transporting pirates towards theKenyan territory was bombed by foreign naval forces patrolling the Gulf of Aden.

Abandoned firearms

Local security sources said the attack was carried out near Ras Kamboni.

The pirates were in shallow waters when they were spotted by foreign naval forces onpatrol in the area.

They sped off to the mainland and abandoned their firearms and the boat in waters, saidthe Kenyan security officer.

A spokesman for the Department of Defence said the Kenyan military was not involvedin the operation.

There are many foreign forces patrolling the Somali coast as a result of an increase inpiracy incidents maybe one of them was involved in the attack, a spokesman at DoDsaid.

The government last week set up a central command to coordinate security operations onthe Kenya-Somalia border.

The control centre will link police and military operations in securing the border on land,sea and air.

A senior security officer told the Nation the idea was mooted after it was realised that nosingle agency could detect and repel foreigners on its own.
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The proposed command centre would operate round the clock, but no decision had beenmade whether it will be hosted by the Navy or Army.

The Lamu tourist abductions have adversely affected tourism in Lamu, with hoteliers

reporting massive cancellations.

Britain and France have advised their citizens against travelling to the island aftersuspected Somali bandits abducted Frenchwoman Marie Dedieu, 66.

Yet to demand ransom

The Kiwayu raid led to the closure of the exclusive resort, rendering dozens of employeesjobless.

It is believed Ms Tebutt in being held in Somalia, though her captors are yet to demand

any ransom.

There are reports that French elite forces may be used to rescue Ms Dedieu, who wasdisabled and ailing.

A source at Frances defence ministry told the Daily Telegraph of Britain that its forcesbased in Djibouti were involved in the search for Ms Dedieu.

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Somalia: We have no better brother than Turkey (Suna Times)http://www.sunatimes.com/view.php?id=141510 October 2011By Farah Ali

MOGADISHU -- Over 300 Somali university and high school students accompanied bythe minister of higher education of the Transitional Government of Somalia landed atstanbul Atatrk Airport on Wednesday morning, flying on a Turkish airline, Atlasjet,after being awarded a scholarship to study in Turkey. Thank you Kimse Yok Mu (IsAnybody There) for your scholarships awarded to Somali students and for welcomingthem to Turkey.

Families and parents are very happy that the Turkish government has provided such anopportunity to their children. Many Somalis in the country and the diaspora appreciatethis and, in fact, everyone is happy to see such a large number of Somali studentsreceiving a scholarship.

One student said before his departure to Turkey: This is an unforgettable moment forme, my parents and every one of the students. I was hopeless before Turkey turned itsattention to my country, but now Im so happy and my future is so bright.
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On Sept. 2, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozda confirmed that 500 Somalistudents would study at universities in Turkey in the upcoming academic year.

The number of scholarships offered by Turkey in Somalia is very large and one could

only rarely come across such a high number of grants in award programs of othergovernments for students from other countries.

All Turkish agencies and aid workers in Somalia are truly doing a magnificent job.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan -- a pragmatic and true leader of Turkey,and a role model of the next generation -- landed in the worlds most dangerous airportand paid a visit to a country where famine and drought are killing its people. Mr.Erdoan, along with his wife and children, five Cabinet ministers, members of his Justiceand Development Party (AK Party), doctors and aid workers, walked through the streetsof the words most violent capital city and met with hundreds of thousands of people in

need who lost everything in the ongoing drought and famine.

Erdoan was the first head of state to officially visit the war-torn country since 1991. Hishistoric visit was a glimmer of hope for the Somali people.

In half of his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York two weeksago, Mr. Erdoan talked about Somalias problems and called on world leaders to helpthe Somali people.

Extending our sincere gratitude to the people of Turkey for their helping hand, we believethere is no better brother than Turkey today.

The Turkish government is providing more than TL 500 million in aid to Somalia.Thanks are due to the Prime Ministrys Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate(AFAD) and other charity organizations for collecting this money from our brothers andsisters in Turkey.

Somalia has for the past 20 years been neglected by the globe, but today we have a bigbrother (Turkey) who is ready to prove to us that everything is possible. This is not thefirst time Turkey is helping Somalia, as history tells us that this is the third major timeTurkey has saved the Somali people.

Thanks to Erdoan for having the courage to see with his own eyes the humanitariancrisis in Somalia and the words of encouragement.

A picture of him, Emine Erdoan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutolu holdingseverely malnourished children in Somalia will be an unforgettable gesture. Remarkably,he said, Dont worry, the Turkish people are with you.


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Gen Mugisha told the BBC: "[Transitional Federal Government of Somalia] forces,supported by Amisom (the African Union Mission in Somalia) - we have managed topush out al-Shabab from Mogadishu main city. As I am talking to you, we control thewhole of Mogadishu main city, yes."

Amisom spokesman Lt Col Paddy Ankunda said the objective had been to push the al-Shabab forces out of mortar range of civilians.

"The outer north and eastern fringes of the city must still be cleared, but key ground andbuildings are no longer under the control of the extremists," he said.

A former pasta factory used by al-Shabab as an operations centre had been captured, headded.

Al-Shabab still has a presence in the outlying district of Daynile, a BBC reporter in

Mogadishu says.

"It has been a big achievement to remove [al-Shabab] from the city, and put an end to thefighting that disrupted so many lives," said Lt Col Ankunda. "But the challenge is now toprotect civilians from the sort of terror attack we saw last week."

Al-Shabab said it carried out a bomb attack last week which killed more than 80 people.

The al-Qaeda-linked group retreated from most of Mogadishu in August, following anoffensive by Amisom, but analysts had predicted that without a front line, theorganisation was likely to begin carrying out more bombings, including suicide attacks.

Al-Shabab said both the August pullout and Monday's loss of ground were tacticalmoves.

"Allowing the Amisom troops to come to the pasta factory was just a trap planned earlierso that they spread out their troops," an al-Shabab official told AFP news agency.

Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991 - the weaktransitional government and Islamist militias are competing for control of the country.

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Al-Shabab and Somalia's 'far enemy' (Al-Jazeera)Al-Shabab has withdrawn from Mogadishu, but the country is shattered from years of

civil war and US military actions.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/10/201110295152925137.html9 October 2011By Glen Johnson
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Abdullahi walks slowly past makeshift stalls in a crowded Mogadishu market, dragginghis right leg as he does so. He is in his 50s and unemployed, reliant on overseasremittances sent by his daughter to survive. In 2007, he was shot by al-Shabab (Youthmovement). The bullet blew a hole through his right leg, just below his groin.

Like many Somalis, Abdullahi is a casualty of the conflict between Somalia'sTransitional Federal Government (TFG) and al-Shabab. He says he supports the TFG butdoes not know whether it can succeed. "But it has to," he says. "Look at the roads, look atthe rubbish: This is what 20 years of no government does. We cannot have another 20years of war."

An uneasy sense of peace has hung over Mogadishu since al-Shabab's withdrawal fromthe capital on August 6.

Most analysts explain the withdrawal by pointing to rifts that emerged within theorganisation when attempting to articulate who it should be fighting: Should it fight the

'near enemy' or the 'far enemy' - should it be national or international in its focus, part ofthe global jihad or not?

Compounding the organisation's problems was pressure from other armed groups -notably the Sufi-oriented Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa - and a drying up of remittances fromthe Somali diaspora.

Nearby a man organises second-hand clothes into piles, laid out in heaps on the street.Men tinker away at old watches and clocks, while trying to sell parts from cellularphones.

According to William Reno, of Northwestern University, al-Shabab placed emphasis onideology at the expense of political pragmatism, while fighting on too many fronts atonce.

"They've overplayed the ideological hand and annoyed enough people so that, in the end,the communities they control turn against them and start to look to other people," Renosaid.

Reno, who has extensive experience throughout Africa, thinks that in some ways al-Shabab pursued the sensible alternative when trying to figure out how to unitecommunities, which was to use religion. "But", he adds, "in trying to articulate a religiousidea they are too ideological. So they are insensitive to the political calculations andcompromises they have to make."

Al-Shabab's ideological persuasion is Takfiri: An ultra-conservative interpretation ofscripture in which the killing of apostates or the Kafr (unbeliever) forms the coreconceptual basis. Additionally, un-Islamic cultural practice is banned and a strict versionof Sharia enforced.


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In 2008, for example, Asho Duhulow, a 13-year-old girl, was raped by three armed men.She took her case to a Kismayo court administered by al-Shabab and identified herassailants. The men were released but Asho charged with adultery.

She was taken to a local sports ground, buried up to her neck and stoned to death.

According to reports, al-Shabab armed men opened fire on persons who attempted tointervene, killing one.

Everyday jihad?

However, Somalia does not have a history dominated by Islamic extremism.

Political Islam emerged in the 1960s as the Muslim Brotherhood ideology spread throughthe Horn of Africa, while Egypt's famous al-Azhar University funded religious schools inMogadishu.

In the mid-1970s, former President Siyad Barre introduced a new family law, ostensiblypromoting gender equality as part of his agenda of 'Scientific Socialism' - throughgranting women equal rights in the area of inheritance.

According to Abdurahman M Abdullahi, in an essay titled Women, Islamists and theMilitary Regime in Somalia, the law enraged Somalia's religious leaders who saw it as asecular assault on Islam at the level of the family.

In 1984, al-Ittihad al-Islamiyya emerged as a composite of two other groups and morphedinto a armed group in 1991, but suffered a series of stinging defeats in the mid-to-late1990s.

In the early 2000s, the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) formed - its basis being an ad hoccollection of Islamic courts that had administered justice in Somalia following thecollapse of Siyad Barre's regime. By 2006, the UIC was seriously challengingMogadishu's warlords and took control of the capital in June, bringing stability butenforcing a strict form of Sharia law.

The UIC was unacceptable to both Ethiopia and the US. In December 2006, Ethiopia -acting as a crude proxy for the US - formally launched strikes against the movement andquickly overwhelmed it.

Al-Shabab, the UIC's youth wing emerged. Led by Sheikh Aden Hashi Ayro, theorganisation began waging war against the TFG and soon controlled much of south andcentral Somalia.

A shaky peace

Some of the people perched behind temporary stalls are from Bakara market, which hadbeen closed by the TFG as it sought to secure Mogadishu after al-Shabab's withdrawal.


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One storekeeper says he feels like he is on holiday, but does not think the peace will lastlong.

"Shabab was making problems for the people. It was better they leave us ... [but] thesepeople are from Bakara. At day they come here and sell, at night they fight with the

government."

Others claim that al-Shabab cannot regroup, while expressing concerns about whether theTFG will act responsibly - the TFG is notoriously corrupt and there are doubts overwhether a western-style centralised system of governance is relevant, or can be effective,in the context of a clan-based Somalia.

Everyone agrees, however, that further US involvement in the country would shatter thetemporary peace.

As Abdullahi puts it: "We need help now, but then they [the international community]

should leave."

However, recent reports that the US is expanding its capabilities throughout the Horn ofAfrica, while unsurprising, do not bode well, and could threaten Mogadishu's shakypeace, while strengthening al-Shabab's international factions.

It is clear that the US is at war in both Yemen and Somalia. How it manages those warswill determine the damage to the region.

The US' Somalia and Yemen strategy seems similar to its Pakistan strategy: By targetingleadership figures, operational inefficiencies emerge over time and hinder the ability ofjihad networks to carry out attacks.

The networks then potentially fragment as disagreements over how to counter emerge,amid an overall environment of rotating leadership - probably characterised bycompetition between potential leadership figures. Efficacy is lowered and the threatbecomes localised, rather than global.

The thing about that is it really lacks an end game.

As the civilian casualties mount - and they do - the likelihood of normal people aligningthemselves with America's targets increase.

And so in the end, expanded US engagement gives al-Shabab's international factions apropaganda boost and could swing the balance in its favour when healing basic riftswithin the group.

Because the proof is there for everyone to see: We should have focused on the 'farenemy'.


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Uganda: U.S. Intensifies Search for Kony (All Africa)http://allafrica.com/stories/201110070105.html7 October 2011

By Tabu Butagira, The Monitor (Uganda)

KAMPALAThe American government is building up military and diplomaticpressure on the LRA and pin-pointed Central African Republic as the likely presentlocation of Joseph Kony, the rebels' elusive leader.

This newspaper has learnt of intensified US-led activities that peaked this week withAFRICOM head, Gen. Carter Ham, declaring in Washington on Tuesday they will "in thevery near future" increase the number of American military advisers and trainers to helpAfrican countries combat the rebels. The US has already trained a battalion of Congolesegovernment forces and is reported to be in talks with Kinshasa to offer military training

to another.

In Kampala, US Ambassador Jerry Lanier, for two days ending Wednesday, hostedenvoys from Central African Republic and South Sudan in a closed-door meeting withUganda's Chief of Defence Forces, Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, to hammer out what isbelieved to be a final push to eliminate LRA threat and its leaders.

Uganda, DRC and South Sudan are the original tripartite partners that jointly launchedthe December 2008 military offensive, code-named Operation Lightning Thunder, whichhas significantly diminished the capability of LRA and resulted in the killing or captureof many of its top commanders.

Kony and his band of mainly abducted fighters terrorised much of northern Uganda from1987 until August 2005 when the UPDF flushed them out and they fled to eastern DRC,but spread out later to unleash mayhem across parts of South Sudan and Central AfricanRepublic.

Invisible Children, an American NGO that works to highlight LRA atrocities and assistvictims, says the rebels have this year alone killed around 140 civilians and abducted 600,justifying why immediate action is necessary to further disable the rampaging group andend its brutality against unarmed civilians.

Senior Washington and AFRICOM officials as well as top UPDF generals KatumbaWamala (Land Forces Commander) and Jeje Odong (State Defence minister) attendedthe Tuesday and Wednesday secret counter-LRA discussions at the US Mission inNsambya, a Kampala suburb.

Others present included Ambassador Robert Loftis, the acting coordinator, Office of theCoordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilisation; Mr Lawrence Wohlers, who is the US
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Ambassador to the Central African Republic, and America's Charge d'Affaires to SouthSudan, Mr Christopher Datta.

The US embassy in a statement noted that Amb. Lanier hosted the conference to, amongother things; outline his government's support to the regional effort, reportedly

spearheaded by the Ugandan military, to counter the LRA disturbances.

It provided "valuable opportunity for participants to plan and coordinate US supportacross the region, as it relates to security partnerships, civilian protection, humanitarianassistance, and encouraging defections and reintegration of former fighters," according tothe Wednesday press release sent by Information Assistant, Ms Dorothy Nanyonga.

US aid

The US government has to date provided $23 million (Shs64.4b) worth of non-lethalequipment and logistical support to Operation Lightning Thunder (OLT), renamed Rudia

II since UPDF's partial withdrawal from eastern DRC.

In a brief sent at this newspaper's request, the US, which has in the past offered militaryintelligence support as well as surplus Department of Defence equipment, includingtransport trucks, to the UPDF, announced its commitment to continue its logisticalsupport to this operation.

The UPDF remains the most effective national military pursuing the LRA, the USembassy concluded. It is understood the heightened US involvement is within a regionalframework specified in the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern UgandaRecovery Act of 2009, which President Obama signed into law in May last year, to,among other things, eliminate LRA threat, guarantee civilian protection and providefunding for reconstruction of northern Uganda.

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Prize or Not, Liberian Faces Tough Race to Keep Office (NY Times)http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/08/world/africa/prize-or-not-liberian-faces-tough-race-to-keep-office.html?_r=1&ref=africa8 October 2011By Adam Nossiter

MONROVIA, LiberiaThe day began in this battered seaside capital with shouts anddrumming for a leading Liberian politicianbut not the one honored with a NobelPeace Prize on Friday.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the Nobel winner, is lionized by the outside world as thewoman who calmed a country ravaged by years of brutal civil war. But she is viewedmore skeptically at home by a population still mired in poverty and official corruption,and struggling with little electricity. Its attention is fixed on something much closer to
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home than the Nobel committee in Olso: a closely contested presidential campaigninvolving a popular former soccer star.

While Liberians widely acknowledge that peace and security have improved markedlyduring her tenure, Mrs. Johnson Sirleafs success in securing forgiveness for billions of

dollars in Liberian debt and the transformation she has effected in the nations onceinfamous international image are often less appreciated here than abroad.

Indeed, as the world absorbed the news of her prize, Monrovia was virtually shut downby a previously scheduled rally to energize the opposition before the presidential electionon Tuesday. The early-morning shouting reverberating through the city was for theformer sports hero, George Weah, one of Mrs. Johnson Sirleafs opponents.

In Oslo, though, she was honored as a peacemaker, along with two women who share theprize with her this year, Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakkol Karman of Yemen.

Three women receiving the Nobel Peace Prize is really overwhelming, Ms. Gboweesaid. Its finally a recognition that we cant ignore the other half of the worldspopulation.

Ms. Gbowee led a grass-roots womens protest movement credited with helping to endthe 14-year war in Liberia in 2003. She was at the forefront of mass open-airdemonstrations at a Monrovia fish market in defiance of the warlords who ruled thecountry, shaming them into heeding the womens demands.

About 250,000 people were killed in the war, and the countrys infrastructure,institutions, and economy were ruined. With its accounts of mass killings, rape andcannibalism, Liberiathe first independent republic in Africahad become a posterchild for Africas ills.

The country has been at peace since then, roads have been built, children in uniformagain attend classes, the countrys $4.6 billion in foreign debt has been wiped out, andMrs. Johnson Sirleaf is credited with presiding over the change. In 2005, she became thefirst woman elected as a head of state in Africa, and the Nobel committee, in highlightingthe gender of this years recipients, acknowledged the central role that the Liberian warsmost brutalized victimswomenhave played in healing the country.

We are now going into our ninth year of peace, and every Liberian has contributed toit, Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf said Friday in Monrovia after the Nobel announcement. Weparticularly give this credit to Liberian women, who have consistently led the struggle forpeace, even under conditions of neglect.

But peace may not be enough to guarantee re-election. The gap between expectation andaccomplishment, like that between international perceptions of Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf anddomestic ones, is wide, especially in a nation that ranked 162nd out of 169 countries onthe United Nations Human Development Index in 2010.


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The Nobel award was dropped into the midst of a heated re-election campaign in whichMrs. Johnson Sirleaf is given only an even chance. Her campaign billboardsMonkeyStill Working, Let Baboon Wait Small plead with voters in Liberian patois to let herfinish the job. But a potent opposition slogan plastered throug

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