africom related-news clips 28 nov 2011

8/3/2019 AFRICOM Related-News Clips 28 Nov 2011

1/35

United States Africa CommandPublic Affairs Office28 November 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 November 28, 2011.

Of interest in todays clips: The Washington Post reports on U.S. support to East Africancountries in an effort to stabilize Somalia and a growing U.S. military presence aroundSomalias perimeter.

An East Africa regional summit on Friday asked Ethiopia to add its support to Kenyan,

Somali and African Union forces against al-Shabab.

Jeune Afrique features an interview with Lu Shaye, Director General of the Departmentof African Affairs of the Foreign Ministry of China. He discusses Chinas non-interference policy and increasing trade and involvement in Africa. Chinas trade withAfrica reached $129 billion last year; it was only a few hundred million in 1999.

The New York Times reports from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo as thepresidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled to occur Monday, November 28.

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

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

U.S. intensifies its proxy fight against al-Shabab in Somalia (The Washington Post)http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-intensifies-its-proxy-fight-against-al-shabab-in-somalia/2011/11/21/gIQAVLyNtN_story.htmlNovember 25, 2011By Craig WhitlockThe Obama administration is intensifying its campaign against an al-Qaeda affiliate inSomalia by boosting the number of proxy forces in the war-torn country, expandingdrone operations and strengthening military partnerships throughout the region.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-intensifies-its-proxy-fight-against-al-shabab-in-somalia/2011/11/21/gIQAVLyNtN_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-intensifies-its-proxy-fight-against-al-shabab-in-somalia/2011/11/21/gIQAVLyNtN_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-intensifies-its-proxy-fight-against-al-shabab-in-somalia/2011/11/21/gIQAVLyNtN_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-intensifies-its-proxy-fight-against-al-shabab-in-somalia/2011/11/21/gIQAVLyNtN_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-intensifies-its-proxy-fight-against-al-shabab-in-somalia/2011/11/21/gIQAVLyNtN_story.htmlmailto:[email protected]


2/35

Regional Summit Urges Ethiopia to Send Troops to Somalia (Voice of America)http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Regional-Summit-Urges-Ethiopia-to-Send-Troops-to-Somalia-134496173.htmlNovember 25, 2011By Peter Heinlein

A Horn of Africa regional summit has given its blessing to the return of Ethiopian troopsto Somalia, but the force will remain outside African Union command.The InterGovernmental Authority on Development, or IGAD, Friday officially asked Ethiopia tosupport the campaign by Kenyan, Somali and African Union forces against Somalia's al-Shabab rebels. At the end of a one-day regional summit, IGAD Secretary GeneralMahboub Maalim said Ethiopia had agreed to help.

African Union Force Makes Strides Inside Somalia (New York Times)http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/world/africa/africa-forces-surprise-many-with-success-in-subduing-somalia.html?scp=2&sq=african%20union&st=cseNovember 25, 2011

By Jeffrey GettlemanNAIROBI, KenyaWhen the first batch of African Union peacekeepers landed atMogadishus decrepit airport in 2007, they were immediately shelled by insurgents withmortars and given little chance of success. This was Somalia after all, the graveyard ofseveral other doomed interventions, and the African Union soldiers were a last resort fora deeply troubled mission.

Lu Shaye: Africans are against interference. So are the Chinese (Jeune Afrique) NOTE: French-to-English translation of an interview, no digital link is providedNovember 23, 2011By Jean-Louis Gouraud and Clara ArnaudBEIJING -- Housed in an impressivebuilding located on one of Beijings main arteries,The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs faces the just-as-impressive headquarters ofSINOPEC, one of Chinas two largest oil and gas companies. Is this an indication...?Isnt the Central Empires foreign policy guided by the necessity to secure energysupplies?

In Coming Elections in Congo, Expectations of Fraud and Fears of Violence (NYTimes)http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/world/africa/in-congo-elections-fraud-is-expected-and-violence-is-feared.html?_r=1&ref=africaNovember 26, 2011By Jeffrey GettlemanKINSHASA, CongoA sense of menace hangs over the long, dirty boulevards of thisAfrican metropolis. Riot police officers with face masks, helmets, Kalashnikovs andblack-plastic shin guards prowl the neighborhoods. Columns of heavily armed trucks rollthrough town, the business ends of their cannons pointing at the populace. These are thelast line of defense, the red-bereted and much feared Republican Guard, the presidentsclosest men.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Regional-Summit-Urges-Ethiopia-to-Send-Troops-to-Somalia-134496173.htmlhttp://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Regional-Summit-Urges-Ethiopia-to-Send-Troops-to-Somalia-134496173.htmlhttp://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Regional-Summit-Urges-Ethiopia-to-Send-Troops-to-Somalia-134496173.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/world/africa/africa-forces-surprise-many-with-success-in-subduing-somalia.html?scp=2&sq=african%20union&st=csehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/world/africa/africa-forces-surprise-many-with-success-in-subduing-somalia.html?scp=2&sq=african%20union&st=csehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/world/africa/africa-forces-surprise-many-with-success-in-subduing-somalia.html?scp=2&sq=african%20union&st=csehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/world/africa/in-congo-elections-fraud-is-expected-and-violence-is-feared.html?_r=1&ref=africahttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/world/africa/in-congo-elections-fraud-is-expected-and-violence-is-feared.html?_r=1&ref=africahttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/world/africa/in-congo-elections-fraud-is-expected-and-violence-is-feared.html?_r=1&ref=africahttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/world/africa/in-congo-elections-fraud-is-expected-and-violence-is-feared.html?_r=1&ref=africahttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/world/africa/in-congo-elections-fraud-is-expected-and-violence-is-feared.html?_r=1&ref=africahttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/world/africa/africa-forces-surprise-many-with-success-in-subduing-somalia.html?scp=2&sq=african%20union&st=csehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/world/africa/africa-forces-surprise-many-with-success-in-subduing-somalia.html?scp=2&sq=african%20union&st=csehttp://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Regional-Summit-Urges-Ethiopia-to-Send-Troops-to-Somalia-134496173.htmlhttp://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Regional-Summit-Urges-Ethiopia-to-Send-Troops-to-Somalia-134496173.html


3/35

Several killed in central Nigeria religious violence (Reuters)http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AO01N20111125November 25, 2011

JOS, Nigeria (Reuters) - Several people were killed in religious violence in centralNigeria on Thursday, prompting the military to impose a 24-hour curfew in one region atthe border between the West African country's mostly Muslim north and largely Christiansouth.Media bias helped Gambia's Jammeh win election: AU (Reuters)http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AQ00H20111127November 27, 2011BANJUL (Reuters) - Gambian President Yahya Jammeh benefited from a strong mediabias and greater financial resources than his rivals to secure a new five-year term inelections, the African Union said on Saturday.

Doctor brain drain costs Africa $2 billion (Reuters)http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AO01R20111125November 25, 2011By Kate KellandLONDON (Reuters) - Sub-Saharan African countries that invest in training doctors haveended up losing $2 billion as the expert clinicians leave home to find work in moreprosperous developed nations, researchers said on Friday.

The Secret War: Fourth of a Series -- Successful Manhunt (Army Times)http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/11/army-secret-war-africa-112511/November 23, 2011By Sean D. Naylor, Staff writerYears of detective work led to demise of al-Qaida target

His tour over, John Bennett was preparing to fly home. The CIAs station chiefinNairobi, Kenya, Bennett had been running the United States secret war in East Africa,negotiating with Somali warlords while hunting al-Qaida members across the region. Onhis watch, the United States and its proxies had managed to capture or kill at least 10 orso al-Qaida militants.

Boko Haram kills four policemen in Yobe attacks (The Nation)http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/27814-boko-haram-kills-four-policemen-in-yobe-attacks.html

28 November 2011By Duku JoelChurches, homes and the police headquarters in Gaidam, a small town in Yobe State,were set ablaze in a wave of night time gun and bomb attacks by Boko Haram, the policesaid yesterday.

Nigeria sect 'spokesman' claims Al-Qaeda links (AFP)http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ioqjtjlSlkiIVf0OzFhhOLSPfN-
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AO01N20111125http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AO01N20111125http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AQ00H20111127http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AQ00H20111127http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AO01R20111125http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AO01R20111125http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/11/army-secret-war-africa-112511/http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/11/army-secret-war-africa-112511/http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/27814-boko-haram-kills-four-policemen-in-yobe-attacks.htmlhttp://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/27814-boko-haram-kills-four-policemen-in-yobe-attacks.htmlhttp://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/27814-boko-haram-kills-four-policemen-in-yobe-attacks.htmlhttp://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ioqjtjlSlkiIVf0OzFhhOLSPfN-Q?docId=CNG.5c1b04314cb3b8eb7163ad860eac8ec1.1011http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ioqjtjlSlkiIVf0OzFhhOLSPfN-Q?docId=CNG.5c1b04314cb3b8eb7163ad860eac8ec1.1011http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/27814-boko-haram-kills-four-policemen-in-yobe-attacks.htmlhttp://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/27814-boko-haram-kills-four-policemen-in-yobe-attacks.htmlhttp://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/11/army-secret-war-africa-112511/http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AO01R20111125http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AQ00H20111127http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AO01N20111125


4/35

Q?docId=CNG.5c1b04314cb3b8eb7163ad860eac8ec1.101125 November 2011MAIDUGURI, NigeriaA purported spokesman for Islamist sect Boko Haram claimedon Thursday that the group, blamed for attacks including the suicide bombing of UNheadquarters in Nigeria, has links with Al-Qaeda.

Mali kidnappings highlight poor regional cooperation (AFP)http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j_WFnmjZ25pc4HP_GdoIdC765YjQ?docId=CNG.267ee7c6df139dfd8639153103085a00.1b128 November 2011DAKARAfter the kidnapping of five Europeans and the murder of one other in just48 hours in Mali, military cooperation in the vast Sahel strip south of the Sahara desertshows it is in need of strengthening.

###------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

(Full Articles on UN Website)

As Congolese prepare to vote, Ban calls for peaceful and secure elections27 NovemberSecretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged politicians and voters in theDemocratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to ensure that tomorrows presidential andparliamentary elections take place as peacefully and smoothly as possible.

Ahead of Ivorian legislative polls, UN envoy warns on sexual violence

26 NovemberThe envoy spearheading United Nations efforts to eradicate sexualviolence in conflict today urged the Government and all political leaders in Cote dIvoireto speak out against the scourge and ensure it is not used to intimidate people ahead ofcritical legislative elections slated to take place next month.

Ban voices deep concern over continuing violence in Egypt26 NovemberSecretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced deep concern over thecontinuing deadly violence in Egypt in recent days and urged the countrys transitionalauthorities to ensure that all citizens can enjoy basic human rights.

Some 76,000 people fleeing conflict in Sudan enter Ethiopia, South Sudan

25 NovemberThe United Nations refugee agency voiced concern today over themovement of large numbers of people from Sudan into Ethiopia and South Sudan, sayingthat an estimated 76,000 people have moved since August, mainly as a result of conflicts.

###

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ioqjtjlSlkiIVf0OzFhhOLSPfN-Q?docId=CNG.5c1b04314cb3b8eb7163ad860eac8ec1.1011http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ioqjtjlSlkiIVf0OzFhhOLSPfN-Q?docId=CNG.5c1b04314cb3b8eb7163ad860eac8ec1.1011http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ioqjtjlSlkiIVf0OzFhhOLSPfN-Q?docId=CNG.5c1b04314cb3b8eb7163ad860eac8ec1.1011http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j_WFnmjZ25pc4HP_GdoIdC765YjQ?docId=CNG.267ee7c6df139dfd8639153103085a00.1b1http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j_WFnmjZ25pc4HP_GdoIdC765YjQ?docId=CNG.267ee7c6df139dfd8639153103085a00.1b1http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j_WFnmjZ25pc4HP_GdoIdC765YjQ?docId=CNG.267ee7c6df139dfd8639153103085a00.1b1http://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=AFRICAhttp://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j_WFnmjZ25pc4HP_GdoIdC765YjQ?docId=CNG.267ee7c6df139dfd8639153103085a00.1b1http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j_WFnmjZ25pc4HP_GdoIdC765YjQ?docId=CNG.267ee7c6df139dfd8639153103085a00.1b1http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ioqjtjlSlkiIVf0OzFhhOLSPfN-Q?docId=CNG.5c1b04314cb3b8eb7163ad860eac8ec1.1011


5/35

Upcoming Events of Interest:

28 NOV 2011

WHEN: Monday, November 28, 2011, 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.

WHAT: Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) Discussion on " USAID'sStrategy for Success in Global Health."SPEAKER: Dr. Ariel Pablos-Mndez, USAID Assistant Administrator for Global Health.WHERE: CSIS, 188 K Street, NWCONTACT: 202-887-0200; web site: www.csis.orgSOURCE: CSIS - event announcement at: http://csis.org/event/new-usaid-global-health-strategy

29 NOV 2011

WHEN: Tuesday, November 29, 2011, 4:30 p.m.

WHAT: Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Johns HopkinsUniversity Discussion on Tunisia: From Dictatorship to Democratic Era.SPEAKER: Salah Bourjini, former Division Chief of the U.N. Development ProgramWHERE: SAIS, Room 500, Bernstein-Offit Building, 1717 Massachusetts Avenue, NW

CONTACT: Felisa Neuringer Klubes at 202-663-5626 [email protected];web site: www.sais-jhu.eduSOURCE: SAIS - event announcement at: http://www.sais-jhu.edu/calendar/index.htm

30 NOV 2011

WHEN: Wednesday, November 30, 2011, 9:00 - 10:30 a.m.

WHAT: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) Discussion on "America'sChallenge: Engaging a Rising China in the Twenty-First Century."SPEAKERS: Michael D. Swaine, David Lampton, and Geoff Dyer.WHERE: CEIP, 1779 Massachusetts Avenue, NWCONTACT: 202-483-7600; web site: www.carnegieendowment.orgSOURCE: CEIP - event announcement at:http://www.carnegieendowment.org/2011/11/30/america-s-challenge-engaging-rising-china-in-twenty-first-century/7g14

1 DEC 2011

U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONSFull Committee HearingWHEN: Thursday, December 1, 2011, 10:00 a.m.WHAT: U.S. Strategic Objectives Towards IranWHO: The Honorable Wendy R. Sherman, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs,and The Honorable David S. Cohen, Under Secretary for Terrorism and FinancialIntelligence, Department of TreasuryWHERE: 419 Senate Dirksen Office Building
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


6/35

WHEN: Thursday, December 1, 2011, 2:00 - 6:00 p.m.WHAT: Woodrow Wilson Center (WWC) Discussion on "The Price of Freedom andDemocracy: Defiant Bahrainis and the Arab Spring."PANEL 1: 2:00-3:45 p.m. -- Youth, Democratic Change and the Arab SpringSpeakers: Robin Wright, Distinguished Scholar, U.S. Institute of Peace and The Wilson

Center and author, Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion across the Islamic World (2011)PANEL II: 4:00-6:00 p.m. -- The Price of Freedom and Democracy: Defiant Bahrainisand the Arab SpringKeynote: Nabeel Rajab, President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and Recipientof the 2011 Ion Ratiu Democracy AwardWHERE: WWC, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NWCONTACT: 202-691-4000; web site: www.wilsoncenter.orgSOURCE: WWC - event announcement at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/the-price-freedom-and-democracy-defiant-bahrainis-and-the-arab-spring

2 DEC 2011

WHEN: Friday, December 2, 2011, 9:00 - 10:30 a.m.WHAT: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) Discussion on "Egypt: IsThere a Way Forward?"SPEAKERS: Marina Ottaway and Bahgat Korany.WHERE: CEIP, 1779 Massachusetts Avenue, NWCONTACT: 202-483-7600; web site: www.carnegieendowment.orgSOURCE: CEIP - event announcement at:http://www.carnegieendowment.org/2011/12/02/egypt-is-there-way-forward/7nvt

WHEN: Friday, December 2, 2011, 1:00 - 2:30 p.m.WHAT: Middle East Institute (MEI) Discussion on "Insights from Egypt's First Round ofVoting."SPEAKERS: Joshua Stacher, Kent State University and Mohamed Elmenshawy, AlShorouk News, Middle East Institute Scholar; moderated by Graeme Bannerman, MiddleEast Institute ScholarWHERE: MEI, 1761 N Street, NWCONTACT: 202-785-1141; web site: www.mei.eduSOURCE: MEI - event announcement at:http://www.mei.edu/Events/Calendar/tabid/504/vw/3/ItemID/370/d/20111202/Default.aspx

###

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New onwww.africom.mil

A Moroccan Natives Call to Duty
http://www.africom.mil/http://www.africom.mil/http://www.africom.mil/http://www.africom.mil/


7/35

http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7460&lang=0November 23, 2011By U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa Public AffairsNAPLES, Italy, Nov 23, 2011Mohammed Bouziane is a mountain of a man. Standing6 foot 6 inches tall he can intimidate anyone, and yet it was the Moroccan native's soft

spoken skills that made the Navy choose him for a recent Secretary of State-orderedmedical evacuation mission.

###

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FULL TEXT

U.S. intensifies its proxy fight against al-Shabab in Somalia (The Washington Post)http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-intensifies-its-proxy-fight-against-al-shabab-in-somalia/2011/11/21/gIQAVLyNtN_story.htmlNovember 25, 2011By Craig Whitlock

The Obama administration is intensifying its campaign against an al-Qaeda affiliate inSomalia by boosting the number of proxy forces in the war-torn country, expandingdrone operations and strengthening military partnerships throughout the region.

In many ways, the American role in the long-running conflict in Somalia is shaping up asthe opposite of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: relatively inexpensive, with limited orhidden U.S. footprints.

While the White House has embraced the strategy as a model for dealing with failedstates or places inherently hostile to an American presence, the indirect approach carriesrisks. Chief among them is a lack of control over the proxy forces from Uganda, Burundiand Somalia, as well as other regional partners that Washington has courted and financedin recent years.

All told, the United States has spent more than $500 million since 2007 to train and equipEast African forces in an attempt to fight terrorism and bring a measure of stability toSomalia.

Kenya, for example, sent thousands of troops into Somalia last month to fight al-Shabab,

a militia affiliated with al-Qaeda, despite U.S. concerns that the invasion could backfireand further destabilize a country ravaged by two decades of civil war.

This week, Ethiopia sent its own, smaller force across the border, according to Somalis.The Ethiopian government has denied these reports but acknowledged that it isconsidering a military offensive.
http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7460&lang=0http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7460&lang=0http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-intensifies-its-proxy-fight-against-al-shabab-in-somalia/2011/11/21/gIQAVLyNtN_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-intensifies-its-proxy-fight-against-al-shabab-in-somalia/2011/11/21/gIQAVLyNtN_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-intensifies-its-proxy-fight-against-al-shabab-in-somalia/2011/11/21/gIQAVLyNtN_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-intensifies-its-proxy-fight-against-al-shabab-in-somalia/2011/11/21/gIQAVLyNtN_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-intensifies-its-proxy-fight-against-al-shabab-in-somalia/2011/11/21/gIQAVLyNtN_story.htmlhttp://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7460&lang=0


8/35

These operations are reviving painful memories of an Ethiopian invasion in 2006 thatwas backed by U.S. forces and preceded by an extensive CIA operation. In that case, theEthiopian army - with some U.S. air support - rolled into Somalia to oust afundamentalist Muslim movement that had taken over Mogadishu, the capital. But theEthiopians eventually withdrew after they became bogged down by a Somali insurgency.

"That effort was not universally successful and led, in fact, to the rise of al-Shabab after[Ethiopia] pulled out," Johnnie Carson, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs,told reporters Tuesday.

Al-Shabab, which means "the youth" in Arabic, has imposed a harsh version of Islamiclaw in parts of Somalia and organized attacks elsewhere in East Africa, including suicidebombings and kidnappings in Uganda and Kenya. While some foreign radicals -including Somali Americans - have joined the group's ranks, U.S. counterterrorismofficials say the movement is divided between those who share al-Qaeda's global aimsand others who want to confine their actions to Somalia.

The Obama administration has not directly criticized Kenya or Ethiopia for enteringSomalia, saying it is legitimate for both countries to defend themselves against al-Shababattacks on their territory. But the administration has urged both to withdraw as soon aspossible and instead help expand a 9,000-member African Union peacekeeping force inMogadishu that is composed of U.S.-trained troops from Uganda and Burundi.

"We have always been very cautious, prudent, concerned about the neighbors gettinginvolved," said a senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymityunder ground rules set by the Pentagon.Millions in U.S. support

Over the past four years, the State Department has provided $258 million for the AfricanUnion peacekeepers in Mogadishu. The Pentagon is spending $45 million this year aloneto train and equip the force with body armor, night-vision equipment, armored bulldozersand small tactical surveillance drones.

In addition, the Pentagon this year has authorized $30 million to upgrade helicopters andsmall surveillance aircraft for two countries that border Somalia: Djibouti and Kenya.

The subsidies underpin the Obama administration's strategy of building up regionalforces so they can fight al-Shabab directly, while minimizing any visible role for U.S.troops. Mindful of the 1993 "Black Hawk Down" debacle, in which two U.S. militaryhelicopters were shot down in Mogadishu and 18 Americans killed, the Obamaadministration has steadfastly avoided deploying soldiers to Somalia, save for smallclandestine missions carried out by Special Operations forces.

Instead, the U.S. military has gradually established a stronger presence around Somalia'sperimeter.


9/35

To the north, in Djibouti, a small country on the Horn of Africa, about 3,000 Americantroops are stationed at Camp Lemonnier, the only permanent U.S. military base on thecontinent. Many are engaged in civil-affairs and training programs throughout EastAfrica, but the camp is also home to a fleet of unmanned Predator drones and SpecialOperations units that conduct Somalia-related missions.

To the south, the U.S. military has a smaller but long-standing presence at Manda Bay, aKenyan naval base about 50 miles from the Somali border. For several years, NavySEALs have trained Kenyan patrols on the lookout for Somali pirates.

Other U.S. forces have helped the Kenyan army train a 300-man Ranger Strike Force anda battalion of special operations forces with about 900 personnel, according to a U.S.diplomatic cable obtained by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.

Even after years of American assistance, the Kenyan armed forces still have much tolearn, acknowledged another senior U.S. defense official involved in the training.

"It's not for the faint of heart," the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity togive a frank assessment. "It is tough. It's time-consuming. But from a relative standpoint,it's inexpensive.

"I'm not saying, 'Do things on the cheap.' But we accomplish two things: We createregional stability, and we don't have large U.S. deployments."

Kenya's mission

Kenya sent about 2,000 troops into southern Somalia last month to attack al-Shabab. Twosenior U.S. defense officials said they did not know if any of those Kenyan forces hadreceived U.S training. Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir, a Kenyan military spokesman, declinedto comment.

Obama administration officials said that they did not encourage Kenya to take militaryaction and that the United States was not involved in the fighting in Somalia. Chirchirsaid Washington was providing "technical support," but he would not elaborate. U.S.officials declined to comment.

Roba Sharamo, the head of the Institute for Security Studies in Nairobi, said the UnitedStates may be sharing satellite imagery and other intelligence with Kenya. "Because ofthe political sensitivities around Somalia, the U.S. can't necessarily say, 'We areinvolved,'?" he said.

Meanwhile, the United States has stepped up its aerial surveillance of Somalia. The AirForce is flying Reaper drones from the Seychelles, a tropical archipelago in the IndianOcean, and from a newly expanded civilian airport in Arba Minch, Ethiopia.


10/35

The Reapers can be armed with Hellfire missiles and satellite-guided bombs. U.S.officials have said the Ethiopia-based drones are being used only for surveillance, notairstrikes.

But they have been vague about whether the drones flying from other regional bases are

armed. Part of the reason is to sow confusion in the minds of al-Shabab fighters, saidArmy Gen. Carter F. Ham, the head of the U.S. Africa Command. The military hassporadically conducted drone airstrikes in Somalia but without public acknowledgment.

"I like it a lot that al-Shabab doesn't know where we are, when we're flying, what we'redoing and specifically not doing," Ham said in an interview. "That element of doubt inthe mind of a terrorist organization is helpful, not just to us but to the Somali people."

Peacekeepers' victory

Since 2007, the United States has been the primary backer of the African Union

peacekeeping force in Mogadishu. The contingent is composed entirely of soldiers fromUganda and Burundi, most of whom were trained by U.S. contractors or Americanmilitary advisers.

The peacekeepers struggled for years to secure a foothold in Somalia but achieved abreakthrough three months ago when they chased al-Shabab fighters out of most ofMogadishu. The African Union force, however, is largely confined to the capital.

Some African countries are pushing for a rapid expansion of the peacekeeping force,more than doubling its size to 20,000 troops, but it's unclear that the United States isprepared to underwrite such growth."I don't see any increase," said a senior State Department official, who spoke on thecondition of anonymity. "We're already at a very high level."

The United States has also been a primary backer of indigenous security forces loyal toSomalia's Transitional Federal Government, contributing $85 million since 2007. Thoseforces, however, have been plagued by desertion and poor health and are widely seen asineffective.

Analysts said that no matter how much the Obama administration invests in proxy orSomali security forces, it won't be able to ease Somalia's chronic instability without apolitical solution involving its many clans.

"The political track isn't there to push back an insurgency," said J. Peter Pham, director ofthe Atlantic Council's Michael S. Ansari Africa Center. Even if the Kenyan, Ethiopianand African Union troops rolled up military victories against al-Shabab, he predicted, theIslamist movement would eventually return in some form."It's like the tide coming back," Pham said.

Special correspondent Alice Klein in Nairobi contributed to this report.


11/35

###

Regional Summit Urges Ethiopia to Send Troops to Somalia (Voice of America)http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Regional-Summit-Urges-Ethiopia-to-Send-

Troops-to-Somalia-134496173.htmlNovember 25, 2011By Peter Heinlein

A Horn of Africa regional summit has given its blessing to the return of Ethiopian troopsto Somalia, but the force will remain outside African Union command.

The Inter Governmental Authority on Development, or IGAD, Friday officially askedEthiopia to support the campaign by Kenyan, Somali and African Union forces againstSomalia's al-Shabab rebels. At the end of a one-day regional summit, IGAD SecretaryGeneral Mahboub Maalim said Ethiopia had agreed to help.

"The members of the summit did request the Ethiopian government to come in and assistpeace and stabilization activities that are going on in Somalia, and there was a promisefrom the Ethiopian government to help," he said.

It was not immediately clear how Ethiopian troops would contribute to the campaignagainst the al-Qaeda linked rebels. But African Union Peace and Security CommissionerRamtane Lamamra said the Ethiopian force would not be under the command of the AUmission known as AMISOM.

"The IGAD summit was ready to even consider the possibility of Ethiopian troops to beincluded in AMISOM, but it is the wish of the Government of Ethiopia to continue tosupport, to assist in any way possible both AMISOM and TFG [Transitional FederalGovernment] troops without being integrated into AMISOM," Lamamra said.

Officials Friday said Ethiopia has not begun operations in Somalia, though news agencieshave quoted witnesses saying Ethiopian troops have taken up positions several kilometersinside the border.

Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman Dina Mufti said Addis Ababa would respond tothe IGAD call as soon as possible.

Diplomats say the Kenyan troops that entered Somalia nearly six weeks ago are expectedto become part of the AMISOM force as soon as the United Nations Security Councilapproves an increase in the size of the mission. AMISOM currently has an authorizedstrength of 12,000, but the Security Council is considering a request to increase it to20,000.

Commissioner Lamamra said Kenya's inclusion in AMISOM would provide the forcewith much-needed force enablers to upgrade the military campaign.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Regional-Summit-Urges-Ethiopia-to-Send-Troops-to-Somalia-134496173.htmlhttp://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Regional-Summit-Urges-Ethiopia-to-Send-Troops-to-Somalia-134496173.htmlhttp://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Regional-Summit-Urges-Ethiopia-to-Send-Troops-to-Somalia-134496173.htmlhttp://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Regional-Summit-Urges-Ethiopia-to-Send-Troops-to-Somalia-134496173.htmlhttp://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Regional-Summit-Urges-Ethiopia-to-Send-Troops-to-Somalia-134496173.html


12/35

"Once Kenya is re-hatted, [wearing caps of AMISOM] already you have enablers on theground. Helicopters are there, aircraft are there, warships are there, so there will be be aneed to make proper arrangements for those enablers to be usable by the etire opeationsacross the entire territory of Somalia."

The communique issued at the end of the summit condemns regional outsider Eritrea forsupplying ammunition to al-Shabab. Eritrea denies the charge. Eritrea suspended itsmembership in IGAD a few years ago, but its recent attempt to rejoin has been rebuffed.

The summit also took the opportunity to admit Southern Sudan as its newest member.The regional economic community now includes Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan,Southern Sudan and Djibouti.

Four heads of state attended the summit; Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki, Somalia'sPresident Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelle, and the host,

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

###

African Union Force Makes Strides Inside Somalia (New York Times)http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/world/africa/africa-forces-surprise-many-with-success-in-subduing-somalia.html?scp=2&sq=african%20union&st=cseNovember 25, 2011By Jeffrey Gettleman

NAIROBI, KenyaWhen the first batch of African Union peacekeepers landed atMogadishus decrepit airport in 2007, they were immediately shelled by insurgents withmortars and given little chance of success. This was Somalia after all, the graveyard ofseveral other doomed interventions, and the African Union soldiers were a last resort fora deeply troubled mission.

But four years later and nearly 10,000 soldiers strong, the African Union force in Somaliahas hardened into a war-fighting machine--and it seems to be winning the war. Analystssay the African Union has done a better job of pacifying Mogadishu, Somalia's capitaland a hornet's nest of Islamist militants, clan warlords, factional armies and countlessglassy-eyed freelance gunmen, than any other outside force, including 25,000 Americantroops in the 1990s.

The peacekeepers have performed better than anyone would have dreamed, said J.Peter Pham, director of the Africa program at the Atlantic Council, a Washingtonresearch institution.

Their surprising success has put the African Union in the drivers seat of an intensifyinginternational effort to wipe out Somalias Shabab militants, once and for all. Kenya,Ethiopia, the United States, France, Djibouti, Burundi and Uganda have all jumped in to
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/world/africa/africa-forces-surprise-many-with-success-in-subduing-somalia.html?scp=2&sq=african%20union&st=csehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/world/africa/africa-forces-surprise-many-with-success-in-subduing-somalia.html?scp=2&sq=african%20union&st=csehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/world/africa/africa-forces-surprise-many-with-success-in-subduing-somalia.html?scp=2&sq=african%20union&st=csehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/world/africa/africa-forces-surprise-many-with-success-in-subduing-somalia.html?scp=2&sq=african%20union&st=csehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/world/africa/africa-forces-surprise-many-with-success-in-subduing-somalia.html?scp=2&sq=african%20union&st=cse


13/35

some degree against the Shabab, a brutal and wily insurgent group that is considered botha regional menace and an international threat, with possible sleeper cells embedded inSomali communities in the United States and Europe.

The Shabab have been terrorizing Somalia for years, imposing a harsh and alien form of

Islam, chopping off heads and unleashing suicide bombers, including Somali-Americansrecruited from Minnesota. But the African Union has dealt the Shabab a crippling blow inMogadishu, which is what may have encouraged Kenyan and Ethiopian forces to recentlyinvade separate parts of Somalia in an unusual regional effort to spread the Shabab thinon several fronts and methodically eliminate them.

But the Shabab are hardly giving up. Young, messianic insurgents are viciously resistingthe African Union troops, sometimes fighting hand to hand, with both sides sufferingheavy losses.

African Union officials, who have been reluctant to disclose casualties and in the past

even provided apparently false accounting of the numbers, revealed that more than 500soldiers had been killed in Somalia, making this peacekeeping mission one of thebloodiest of recent times.Oct. 20 was a particularly bad day. Shortly after dawn, several hundred peacekeepersmarched into Deynile, one of the last Shabab strongholds in Mogadishu.

It started off easy, too easy, groaned Cpl. Arcade Arakaza, a Burundian peacekeeper,from a hospital bed in Nairobi.

There was little resistance, with a few Shabab fighters fleeing in front of them. Civilianssmiled from the bullet-riddled doorways, saying things like, Dont worry, Shababfinished.

But suddenly the entire neighborhood opened up on the peacekeepers with assault rifles,belt-fed machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, women, kids, everyone, CorporalArakaza said. It was a classic envelope trap, with the Shabab drawing the peacekeepersdeeper into their lair, sealing off the escape routes and then closing in from all sides.

Dozens of peacekeepers were wounded, including Corporal Arakaza, who was shotthrough the groin, and more than 70 killed in the span of a few minutes. But the AfricanUnion soldiers clawed back, eventually capturing a chunk of Shabab territory.

Unlike the Americans, who hastily left Somalia after 18 soldiers were killed during theinfamous Black Hawk Down debacle in 1993, or the United Nations mission that foldednot long afterward, the African Union has pressed on. It plans to send thousands moreyoung men from deeply impoverished sub-Saharan nations into the maw of Somalia, anarrangement that is lucrative for the governments of the contributing countries and thesoldiers themselvesthey each can make $1,000 a month as a peacekeeper comparedwith as little as $50 back home.


14/35

The American government is helping foot this bill, contributing more than $400 million.Even so, some American officials say the mission is underfinanced. They insist theAfrican troops need better flak jackets, more armored trucks and helicopters. Manypeacekeepers bled to death that day in Deynile because they had no way of being rescued.

These guys are fighting and dying every day and theres a national interest for us inSomalia, one American official said. Its crazy were spending more money on Congoand Darfur, home to enormous United Nations peacekeeping missions that in total costthe American government more than $1 billion per year, though neither place isconsidered strategically vital to the United States.

Few in Washington are optimistic about getting the African Union better equipmentduring a painful round of budget cuts at the Pentagon and State Department. WhileDarfur, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo have high-powered championslike Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who visited eastern Congo to spotlightthe rape problem, or the countless celebrities who routinely tour Darfur, several

American officials who work on Africa say there is not a strong lobby for Somalia in theWhite House.

The Pentagon has organized occasional Special Operations strikes to take out wantedSomali terrorist suspectsthe Shabab have drawn increasingly close to Al Qaedaand the American government is paying contractors to train African Union troops in theABCs of urban combat. But the official American policy is no boots on the ground,which goes for the French as well, who have also bombed Shabab camps.

That leaves a dreary infantry war between the ill-equipped African peacekeepers, whocome from Burundi and Uganda, with several hundred Djiboutians on their way, and theShabab.

Sgt. Astere Nimbona, another Burundian peacekeeper, said that his unit had no armoredpersonnel carriers or tanks on the day of the Deynile battle. He marched nine hoursstraight under the equatorial sun, lugging pounds of bullets and an empty canteen, beforehe stepped into the ambush.

What we did was basically suicide, he said.

The African Union has shifted from blasting Shabab areas with long-range artillery,which it did in the beginning, killing many civilians, to using foot patrols. They have nowsucceeded in securing most of Mogadishu, without making nearly as many enemies.

The peacekeepers may soon venture into Somalias famine-stricken hinterlands, wherethe Shabab have been blocking aid convoys from reaching starving people. There is alsotalk of bringing the Kenyan troops, and possibly the Ethiopian troops, under the green-and-white African Union flag.


15/35

But there is an uncomfortable bigger question. What will these African Union sacrificesamount to? All peacekeeping experts say the same thing: that peacekeepers are a Band-Aid on a gaping wound, a way to buy time until a political process takes hold andalleviates the causes of the conflict.

In Somalia, the political process seems as bleak as ever. The Transitional FederalGovernment, Somalias internationally recognized authority that the African Unionprotects, is a collection of corrupt politicians and warlords who control almost noterritory and are exceedingly unpopular.

The government has yet to fix schools, open hospitals or deliver services in just about allthe neighborhoods the African Union has wrested away from the Shabab in battles thatoften cost dozens of lives for a few crumbling city blocks.

###

PAO Note: Below is a French-to-English translation of an interview that Lu Shaye,Director General of the Department of African Affairs of the Foreign Ministry ofChina, gave to Jeune Afrique magazine. The interview is published in the November26, 2011 issue ofJeune Afrique.Lu Shaye: Africans are against interference. So are the Chinese (Jeune Afrique)November 23, 2011By Jean-Louis Gouraud and Clara Arnaud

Beijings Mr Africa gives his first long interview to the international press. Not only a

chance to present his countrys strategy, but especially to answer Western criticism

which denounces a predatory China which cares very little about freedoms on the

continent.

BEIJINGHoused in an impressive building located on one of Beijings main arteries,The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs faces the just-as-impressive headquarters ofSINOPEC, one of Chinas two largest oil and gas companies. Is this an indication...?Isnt the Central Empires foreign policy guided by the necessity to secure energysupplies?

In fact, after a relentless push, China has become, within twenty years, Africas firstcommercial partner ahead of the U.S. and France. From a few hundred million in 1999,trade reached $129 billion (97 billion Euros) last year. Beijing switched its ideologistshat for that of a trader. Yaoundsnew convention center, Banguis new hospital, theSenate in Libreville, Mozambiques gas pipeline, Imboulou Dam in Congo-Brazzaville,Dakars large theaterThe reasons forthe success are evident. Non-interference, mutualinterests, unconditional support, turnkey projects the recipe works wonders, but it alsoannoys and worries [some].

This ferocious competitiveness is born of an insatiable appetite for oil and isaccompanied by a not-so-picky diplomacy, claims the west, a recent fan of good


16/35

governance which realized bitterly the loss of its influence as shown by market shares.

On Tuesday, October 18, we will meet with one of the main decision makers for theChinese policy on the continent. Lu Shaye, 47, is both the Director of the ministrysAfrica Department and the Africa-China Cooperation Forum (FOCAC, a triennial

ministerial conference last held in Cairo in 2009).

A young diplomat is waiting for us at the entrance of the Ministry, which is guarded bysoldiers standing at an impeccable position of attention. He leads us into a monumentalhall the entrance of which is decorated by relief representing some of Chinese culturesiconic works. Then we are brought to an elegant conference room, room # A0218,located on the first floor.

At 1400 hrs sharp, Lu Shaye joined us, escorted by two assistants who did not open theirmouths but took a lot of notes during the interview. Though fluent in French, the highranking diplomat preferred to express himself in Chinese for the sake of precision, as he

put it, but corrected his interpreter two or three times.

Lu Shaye was gracious during the interview. He agreed to have it on the record and toanswer all questions, including the annoying and personal ones. More surprising yet,coming from such a high-ranking official, he did not ask to review the transcript beforeits publication. He dealt with our question between sips of green tea.

Jeune Afrique (JA): What are the African countries with which China does not haveany relations?Lu Shaye (LS): Today, 50 countries, including South Sudan enjoy relations with thePeoples Republic of China, except 4 countries: Swaziland, Gambia, Sao Tome andPrincipe, and Burkina Faso.

JA: Doesnt Chinas refusal to have relations with these countries, which have

recognized Taiwan, cast doubt on the principle of non-interference?LS: By having relations with Taiwan, these countries are the ones who are interfering inChinas internal affairs. In accordance with the principle of One China, we cannot haveany relations with these countries.

JA: Can one still speak of the principle of non-interference when relations withChina become a major electoral factor in some countries? For example, China hadthreatened to withdraw from Zambia if Michael Sata was elected in 2006LS: In fact, I have read reports by western media. They saw a threat of withdrawal fromthe country without seeing its true cause. In 2006, then candidate Sata threatened toreestablish relations with Taiwan. China responded that, in that case, it would be obligedto withdraw from Zambia. Let us add that, today, Michael Sata is the new president afterhis victory last September and that he himself renounced the idea of establishing relationswith Taiwan. Let me remind you of what we call non-interference. In theory, allcountries are sovereign and equal. In reality, it is easy for superpowers to interfere in theaffairs of poor, weak, small countries and to bully them. Thats why they [superpowers]


17/35

criticize the principle of non-interference.

China has been criticized for having relations with African autocracies with no regard forhuman rights and democracy. But, this year, we saw Western countries discredit regimessuch as Mubaraks and Ben Alis with which they were allies. The same goes for

Kadhafi: He was not an ally of China; however, he was a friend of many Western leaders.

JA: Speaking of Libya, when the turmoil began, the principle of non-interferencekept China from taking a clear stand. During the vote for the UN resolution, itneither approved nor did it veto it. What was it waiting for before taking a stand?LS: China takes its positions based on its assessment of situations. We believe that it isup to the Libyan people to decide their future. China did not approve the UN resolutionbecause it was worried about taking part in abuses perpetrated by other powers whichmay have tried to prevail in Libya. As a matter of fact, this type of scenario was referredto in the proposed text. We did not veto the resolution either because it was sponsored bythe Arab League. But China is still against the interference conducted by some countries,

especially by force.

JA: Doesnt one ultimately become an accomplice of governments that commitcriminal acts? It is possible that certain African populations expect China tointervene more in confronting their leaders.LS: I think that African countries are opposed to interference in their affairs, by China orany other country. Although there are factions in every country which ask for Westernsupport in order to overthrow governments as we saw this year during the events whichtook place in the Arab World. But once in power, these same factions do not wantanymore interference by others in their affairs. This year, Western countries suddenlydecided to support some of these factions that had been asking for change for a long timeprior to that. Today, Western countries pride themselves on supporting the demands ofthe North African people, but where were they before?

JA: Has China given up on bringing a model society to the world? Have itsmotivations become exclusively commercial?LS: Relations between China and Africa are not exclusively commercial. Theyencompass political, economic, social and even cultural matters. But one must admit thatour diplomacy has evolved significantly in the last 50 years. In the 50s and 60s, Chinathought that its model could be exported to Africa. So, it supported African countries intheir struggle for independence and gave them unilateral economic support so that theymay accomplish productive projects such as sugar mills, textile factories, and breweriesand develop a national economic system.

With the launching of the reform and openness policy in 1979, trade grew rapidly due tothe fast development of our economy and the need for natural resources. China set up anew system whereby it takes into consideration the needs of its partners before carryingout projects.

###


18/35

In Coming Elections in Congo, Expectations of Fraud and Fears of Violence (NYTimes)http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/world/africa/in-congo-elections-fraud-is-expected-and-violence-is-feared.html?_r=1&ref=africaNovember 26, 2011

By Jeffrey Gettleman

KINSHASA, CongoA sense of menace hangs over the long, dirty boulevards of thisAfrican metropolis.

Riot police officers with face masks, helmets, Kalashnikovs and black-plastic shin guardsprowl the neighborhoods. Columns of heavily armed trucks roll through town, thebusiness ends of their cannons pointing at the populace. These are the last line of defense,the red-bereted and much feared Republican Guard, the presidents closest men.

On Monday, Congo is scheduled to hold presidential and parliamentary elections, only

the second time in this troubled countrys history that the entire population has been ableto vote. And no one here thinks it is going to be smooth.

Already, several people have been killed at political rallies, including two men who weresmashed with rocks on Saturday. The security forces of President Joseph Kabila havebeen widely accused of torturing opposition supporters. The opposition, for that matter, ishardly faultless, and Etienne Tshisekedi, a 78-year-old rabble rouser and the leadingpresidential challenger, recently declared himself president and stirred up his supportersto break their comrades out of jail.

There have been delays, myriad logistical problems and growing accusations of fraud.More alarming, analysts say, is the possibility that the presidential race will be close,seriously testing this countrys dangerously weak institutions.

People are scared, said Dishateli Kinguza, who sells baseball caps from a rickety standhere in Kinshasa, the capital. Actually, Im scared. If people dont accept who wins, itsgoing to be bad.

Ethiopia. Kenya. Zimbabwe. Ivory Coast. There is a lengthening list of very differentAfrican countries that have imploded, at great loss of life, because of disputed elections.And Congo is far more volatile and violent than all of those.

This enormous nation in the heart of Africa plunged into war in 1996 when rebel fightersand Congos neighbors teamed up to overthrow one of the most corrupt men on the mostcorrupt continent, Mobutu Sese Seko, Congos former dictator who ran this country intothe ground during three decades of kleptocratic rule.

Congo has never really recovered, especially in its staggeringly beautiful eastern region,where the real spoils are: the gold, the diamonds, the tin ore, the endless miles of
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/world/africa/in-congo-elections-fraud-is-expected-and-violence-is-feared.html?_r=1&ref=africahttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/world/africa/in-congo-elections-fraud-is-expected-and-violence-is-feared.html?_r=1&ref=africahttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/world/africa/in-congo-elections-fraud-is-expected-and-violence-is-feared.html?_r=1&ref=africahttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/world/africa/in-congo-elections-fraud-is-expected-and-violence-is-feared.html?_r=1&ref=africahttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/world/africa/in-congo-elections-fraud-is-expected-and-violence-is-feared.html?_r=1&ref=africa


19/35

towering hardwood forest. Brutal rebel groups still haunt the hills, pillaging minerals andkilling and raping at will.

But it is not just the east that is lawless. A witch doctor recently led a revolt in thenorthwest of the country. In February, rebels besieged the airport in Lubumbashi, in the

south, thought to be Congos most promising city. Even here in Kinshasa, home to about10 million people, bands of wiry, adolescent street children wielding iron bars routinelyset up roadblocks and steal money from helpless motorists.

There are few other places on the planet where politics are as disconnected from reality.For example, one of Mr. Kabilas campaign billboards shows him grinning next to ahigh-speed, Japanese-style bullet train. But Congo does not have any high-speed trains;actually, there are few working trains at all. Most Congolese say the rail network was infar better shape 70 years ago, when the Belgians ruled. These bullet-train billboards areall over Kinshasa, most often rising above crumbling streets that reek of uncollectedgarbage.

Congos stagnation or even worse, its reverse development this year the UnitedNations ranked it dead last of the 187 countries on the Human Development Indexisdriving many people to vote against Mr. Kabila, who has been in power since 2001.

I dont see any changes in my life, said Angel Nyamayoka, a single mother of sevenchildren who scrapes by on $2 a day. We have to vote for anyone but Kabila.

Many analysts say it is hard to see how Mr. Kabila could win this election fairly. Mr.Tshisekedi, a veteran Congolese politician still revered for standing up to Mr. Mobutu, isvery popular in Kinshasa. He is also seen as a father figure of the Luba ethnic group, oneof Congos biggest, and is expected to carry the populous Kasai regions in the south andpick up anti-Kabila votes across the country.

Mr. Kabila, 40, has never been well liked in Kinshasa, where many people view him asan outsider, possibly even foreign born, who does not comfortably speak Lingala, thelingua franca. In 2006, the last election, Mr. Kabila relied on eastern Congo to win thepresidency. But this time around, eastern Congo has its own champion running forpresidentVital Kamerhe, the well-educated former speaker of the national assemblywho hails from the city of Bukavu and is expected to draw votes away from Mr. Kabila.

Many analysts say that the government knows that it needs to use every trick in thebribery and repression handbook to hang on. Witnesses in Bukavu said that thepresidents party recently packed a stadium full of women from the market and handedthem each the equivalent of $5, what many earn in a week.

A recent United Nations report described a general climate of intimidation withopposition supporters threatened, beaten or arrested and noted an episode in July inwhich Republican Guard soldiers set up a roadblock in a central Congolese town andwarned residents that a new war would break out if they did not vote for Mr. Kabila.


20/35

But Congo is becoming the land of no consequences, as this election shows. NtaboNtaberi Sheka is the commander of a militia that last year, in the span of three days,raped scores of womenincluding some in their 70s and 80s. The Congolesegovernment has issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Sheka, but he is now running forParliament, in the same area where the rapes took place.

Similarly, Bosco Ntaganda, a former rebel leader, has been accused of war crimes by theInternational Criminal Court. But Mr. Ntaganda has been promoted to a top governmentarmy job in the east, and his forces are reportedly strong-arming people into voting forMr. Kabila.

Human rights advocates despair about Congo and say this election especially worriesthem.

If it is close, said Anneke Van Woudenberg, a senior researcher at Human RightsWatch, the chance for significant unrest is high.

But there is a crucial difference between this election and 2006, when intense gun battleserupted on Kinshasas boulevards between Mr. Kabilas forces and the militia of Jean-Pierre Bemba, the presidential runner-up. This time around, most opposition supportersare not part of a militia and therefore do not have guns.

Western diplomats predict that Mr. Kabila, who this year pressured the Parliament tochange Congos Constitution and eliminate a second round of voting, will win a thinplurality, spurring opposition protests in Congos biggest cities. But many Congolese saytheir country has become so exhausted and jaded that the protests will not degenerate intoall-out rebellion and that they will eventually fizzle out.

Well take to the streets and burn some tires and the police will shoot at us and wellthrow rocks, said Mr. Kinguza, the vendor of baseball caps. But that will probably beabout it.

###

Several killed in central Nigeria religious violence (Reuters)http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AO01N20111125November 25, 2011

JOS, Nigeria (Reuters) - Several people were killed in religious violence in central

Nigeria on Thursday, prompting the military to impose a 24-hour curfew in one region atthe border between the West African country's mostly Muslim north and largely Christiansouth.

Christian and Muslim gangs fighting over ownership of cattle and fertile farmlandclashed in Barkin Ladi, an area in the central city of Jos, the capital of Plateau state.Witnesses said they counted at least 10 dead bodies.
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AO01N20111125http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AO01N20111125http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AO01N20111125


21/35

"The STF (Special Task Force) has imposed 24 hour curfew in Barkin Ladi. Nomovement to and out of the council. Lives have been lost. House have been burned. Wedon't know how many casualties but the loss is enormous," said Charles Ekeocha,spokesman for the STF in Jos, capital of Plateau state.

Nigeria has a roughly equal Christian-Muslim population and more than 200 ethnicgroups live side by side, largely peacefully, but violence flares up in Plateau and otherparts of the "Middle Belt" from time to time.

Violence in Plateau can quickly escalate into a series of tit-for-tat attacks. More than 50people were killed inside a week in September, and hundreds died there early this year.The tensions are rooted in fierce competition for local political power and control offertile farmland, and local government policies have done little to calm them.

The unrest is an unwelcome challenge for President Goodluck Jonathan, who is alreadydealing with near-daily attacks in the northeast by the Islamist sect Boko Haram.

###

Media bias helped Gambia's Jammeh win election: AU (Reuters)http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AQ00H20111127November 27, 2011

BANJUL (Reuters) - Gambian President Yahya Jammeh benefited from a strong mediabias and greater financial resources than his rivals to secure a new five-year term inelections, the African Union said on Saturday.

Former military coup leader Jammeh scored a landslide 72 percent victory on Thursdayto extend his 17 year-rule over the tiny West African country, criticised for allegedhuman rights abuses and press-muzzling.

"Although provision was made for equal access of all political parties and candidates tothe public media, the actual coverage was strongly weighted in favour of the candidate ofthe ruling party," the AU observer mission concluded.

"The gross imbalance in the financial and material capability of the candidates may haveresulted in the lack of adequate visibility of the United Democratic Party (UDP) and theIndependent candidates," it said of his main challengers.

The bloc found that there were no acts of intimidation during voting on Friday andconcluded that despite the failings, "the results are a true reflection of the will of thesovereign people of The Gambia".

Results showed Jammeh won 470,550 votes, while his closest rival Ousainou Darboe got114,177 votes, or 17 percent. Independent candidate Amath Bah scored 11 percent. Manyanalysts saw the incumbent's victory as a foregone conclusion.
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AQ00H20111127http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AQ00H20111127http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AQ00H20111127


22/35

Addressing thousands of cheering supporters in the capital Banjul, Jammeh said Gambiawould one day have the best standard of living not only in Africa but in the world too,and called on rivals to work with him.

"Those who have lost should come together, so we can work as one ... I will turn this

country into a superpower of peace and economic better in four years time," he said.

Gambians have an average income per head of around $1 a day.

Earlier, Darboe urged Gambians to reject the election as rigged, while Bah complained ofinsufficient access to media and funds to campaign properly.

One of Africa's most controversial rulers, Jammeh announced in 2007 that he had aherbal concoction that cured AIDS, but only on Thursdays, a claim derided by healthexperts. He has been criticised for reported threats to human rights groups and a 2008order for all homosexuals to leave Gambia.

Jammeh's standing abroad has been further strained by spats with Senegal and Guinea,while the West African body ECOWAS said this week it would not send an observermission to the polls because it doubted they would be free and fair.

Gambia is one of only handful of African states not to have diplomatic ties with Chinabecause of its recognition of Taiwan.

###

Doctor brain drain costs Africa $2 billion (Reuters)http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AO01R20111125November 25, 2011By Kate Kelland

LONDON (Reuters) - Sub-Saharan African countries that invest in training doctors haveended up losing $2 billion as the expert clinicians leave home to find work in moreprosperous developed nations, researchers said on Friday.

A study by Canadian scientists found that South Africa and Zimbabwe suffer the worsteconomic losses due to doctors emigrating, while Australia, Canada, Britain and theUnited States benefit the most from recruiting doctors trained abroad.

The scientists, led by Edward Mills, chair of global health at the University of Ottawa,called on destination countries to recognise this imbalance and invest more in trainingand developing health systems in the countries that lose out.

"Many wealthy destination countries, which also train fewer doctors than are required,depend on immigrant doctors to make up the shortfall," Mills' team wrote in a study,which was published in the British Medical Journal.
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AO01R20111125http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AO01R20111125http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE7AO01R20111125


23/35

"Developing countries are effectively paying to train staff who then support the healthservices of developed countries."

Experts say the migration, or "brain drain", of trained health workers from poorer

countries to richer ones exacerbates the problem of already weak health systems in low-income countries battling epidemics of infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS andtuberculosis (TB) and malaria.

CRITICAL SHORTAGE

The World Health Organisation adopted a code of practice in 2010 on internationalrecruitment of health personnel that highlighted the problem of doctor brain drains andcalled on wealthy countries to offer financial help to poorer ones affected.

The code is seen as particularly important for sub-Saharan Africa, which suffers from a

critical shortage of doctors and has a high prevalence of diseases such as HIV, TB andmalaria.

The latest United Nations global HIV/AIDS report released on Monday found that 68percent of the around 34 million people worldwide who have the humanimmunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS live in Africa.

Using various data including published reports on primary and secondary schoolspending from UNESCO, Mills' team estimated the cost of educating a doctor throughprimary, secondary and medical school in nine sub-Saharan countries with some of theworld's highest rates of HIV.

The countries studied included Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa,Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The research team then added the figures together to estimate how much the origincountries paid to train doctors and how much the destination countries saved inemploying them.

The results show that these governments spend between $21,000, the figure for Uganda,and $59,000, in South Africa, to train a doctor, only to see them in many cases migrate toricher countries.

"Among the nine sub-Saharan African countries most affected by HIV/AIDS, more than$2 billion of investment was lost through the emigration of trained doctors," theresearchers said. "Our results indicate that South Africa incurs the highest costs formedical education and the greatest lost returns on investment."


24/35

The findings suggested the benefit to Britain was around $2.7 billion, and to the UnitedStates was around $846 million. Australia was estimated to have benefited to the tune of$621 million and Canada was $384 million better off.

###

The Secret War: Fourth of a Series -- Successful Manhunt (Army Times)http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/11/army-secret-war-africa-112511/November 23, 2011By Sean D. Naylor, Staff writer

Years of detective work led to demise of al-Qaida target

His tour over, John Bennett was preparing to fly home. The CIAs station chief inNairobi, Kenya, Bennett had been running the United States secret war in East Africa,negotiating with Somali warlords while hunting al-Qaida members across the region. Onhis watch, the United States and its proxies had managed to capture or kill at least 10 orso al-Qaida militants.However, the most wanted al-Qaida figure in East Africa, who went by a variety ofaliases but whom U.S. officials called Harun Fazul, was still on the loose. A native of theComoros Islands wanted in connection with al-Qaidas 1998 attacks on the U.S.embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam as well as the November 2002 attacks on Israelitargets in Kenya, Fazul had proved a very savvy enemy, according to an intelligencesource with long experience in the Horn of Africa.

As Bennett made final preparations for his flight out of Kenya the evening of Aug. 1,2003, his officers and Kenyan authorities were keeping tabs on an Internet caf 274 milesto the southeast, in the city of Mombasa, where someone using an email address the CIAassociated with al-Qaida in East Africa had been logging on. There was a pattern ofcommunications, so they were kind of on standby, the intelligence source said. Thepattern was the date, time and location at which somebody was accessing the Internet.

Clearly, it was a favorite spot of somebodys, the source said.

Bennett had a case officer in Mombasa coordinating with the local police, the source said.That case officer was present when the Kenyan authorities arrived at the caf to arrest thesuspected al-Qaida emailer, only to find two suspectsboth male, one larger than theotherinstead of one. With the case officer on the phone with the Nairobi stationreporting events in real time, the police placed both under arrest and were about to put

them into a paddy wagon when the larger suspect, later identified as a young Kenyannamed Faisal Ali Nassor, suddenly gave his companion a sharp shove and then pulled agrenade from his clothes. One guy pushes the smaller guy away from him, said aspecial operations source with firsthand knowledge of operations in the Horn. The[larger] guy blows himself up and takes the police out.

The explosion killed Nassor and a policeman. In the ensuing chaos, the other suspectmade a run for it. To the surprise of the CIA and the Kenyan authorities, that man turned
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/11/army-secret-war-africa-112511/http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/11/army-secret-war-africa-112511/http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/11/army-secret-war-africa-112511/


25/35

out to be Harun Fazul, East Africas most wanted man with a $5 million bounty on hishead. Clearly we didnt expect to get Fazul himself, the intelligence source said. Wefigured wed getjust his courier.

But rather than just being a courier, Nassor was a suicide bodyguard, said the special

ops source.

Security forces converged on the scene, but Fazul was too smart for them. He ran into amosque and emerged disguised as a woman, wearing a hijab or some other form ofIslamic facial covering. He walked right out as a woman and nobody touched him, theintelligence source said.

Fazul had moved in with Nassor that July. Using an ID seized from one of them, thesecurity forces went straight to their apartment. There they found Fazuls passport, amachine for making visas, bits and pieces of other passports, as well as a light anti-tankrocket hidden in a couch, said the special ops source. But of Fazul himself, there was no

sign. The wily operative had again given the authorities the slip. It would be another eightyears before Fazuls tradecraft and his luckwould fail him.

The search for Fazul typified much of the U.S. man-hunting campaign in the Horn: Itcombined CIA and special operations personnel (often working through local forces),high-tech gear alongside low-tech human intelligence skills and raw courage. And yet itwas often characterized by frustration and near-misses.

For sheer drama, Fazuls escape with the help of hissuicide bodyguard was rivaled bya similar disappearing act he pulled off a year earlier. On July 12, 2002, Kenyan policepicked Fazul up in a Mombasa shop for purchasing jewelry with a credit card stolenduring an armed robbery. But, according to a June 2004 Associated Press story, the copshad no idea of his true identity.

The next day, seven armed police officers took Fazul to what they thought was hisapartment, hoping to find stolen goods. Instead, they discovered three women and amentally handicapped man yelling at them. Fazul, who was not handcuffed, tookadvantage of the chaos to sprint out. The man was well-trained, I tell you, one of thepolice said. He dashed to the door like a monkey, then, like a flash, he slides down thestair rail like lightning. Fazul ran out and lost his pursuers in Mombasas narrow streets.

Four months later, Fazul allegedly was a key participant in al-Qaida in East Africas Nov.28, 2002, twin attacks in Mombasa: the truck bombing of the Israeli-owned ParadiseHotel, which killed about 15 civilians, and the firing of two SA-7 man-portable anti-aircraft missiles at an Arkia Airlines Boeing 757 as it took off carrying 261 passengersbound for Israel. (Published reports said both missiles missed the plane, but the specialops source said a missile went through the tail without exploding.) No one was hurt.

Another near-miss in the hunt for the cunning al-Qaida operative occurred in the first halfof 2003 during an operation in northeastern Kenya by Joint Special Operations Task


26/35

ForceHorn of Africa, which fell under Combined Joint Task ForceHorn of Africa,based in Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. JSOTF-HOAs search for Fazul, OperationBowhunt, was a mission to develop intelligence and was completely separate fromOperation Black Hawk, the CIA hunt for the members of al-Qaida in East Africa,according to the special ops source. The other fellows [the CIA] were only going up

north [i.e., into Somalia]. They werent spending a great deal of effort down south [i.e., inKenya] at all.

Key to Bowhunt was the high-speed vessel Joint Venture, an Australian-built catamarandesigned for shallow-water access and leased by the U.S. military. JSOTF-HOA used itto probe the islands near the Kenya-Somalia border, looking for the number-one HVT[high-value target], as the source described Fazul.

They actually met [Fazuls] wife down on one of the islands, but her husband slippedthe net again, said the source. They missed him by 24 or 48 hours.

Throughout the rest of the decade and into the next, as his colleagues in al-Qaida in EastAfrica and their local allies died in U.S. air and missile strikes or in combat with SomaliTransitional National Government security forces or Ethiopian invaders, Fazuls status and his legendonly grew. He escaped another dragnet Aug. 2, 2008, when dozens ofKenyan police raided a house in which he was believed to be staying in the coastal townof Malindi. The cops found two non-Kenyan passports bearing Fazuls photograph and acomputer that had not been turned off, but the al-Qaida man was nowhere to be seen,according to the Kenyan newspaper The Daily Nation.

The following year, Fazul took command of al-Qaida in East Africa. In a speech in theSomali city of Kismayo marking his appointment, he vowed to spread jihad to Somaliasneighbors. Praise be to Allah, after Somalia we will proceed to Djibouti, Kenya andEthiopia, he said, according to a translation posted on the Long War Journal website.

When it came for Fazul earlier this year, the end was sudden, violent and completelyunexpected. Late on the night of June 7, troops loyal to the Somali government (whichcontrols little territory outside Mogadishu) stopped a black Toyota SUV carrying Fazuland driven by another militant, Musa Hussein, at a checkpoint on the outskirts of theSomali capital. When Hussein produced a pistol and reportedly fired a round, thegovernment troops shot back, killing both militants. The Somali authorities did notinitially realize they had killed Fazul, who was reportedly carrying a forged SouthAfrican passport, $40,000, laptops and telephones, and buried the two militants quickly,before exhuming the bodies and comparing them to photos of Fazul.

Most published reports described the incident as simply the result of Fazul and Husseingetting lost, but a detailed account on somaliareport.com said Fazul was set up by AhmedAbdi Godane, the leader of al-Shabaab, a Somali Islamist militia allied with al-Qaida.

Godane had learned that senior al-Qaida figures had lost faith with al-Shabaabs Somalileaders, who they blamed for recent defeats by Somali government and African Union


27/35

forces. Fazuls mission was to effect this change, replacing Godane and other Somaliswith foreign leaders, according to somalia-report.com, which attributed the informationto al-Shabaab intelligence officials and other sources. Godane directed Fazul and Husseinto an al-Shabaab checkpoint. He then ordered the fighters manning the checkpoint tobreak it down and abandon the position, meaning that when Fazul and Hussein, neither of

whom knew the area well, arrived, they continued down the road, running into thegovernment checkpoint as Godane had planned.

This account would explain why, when first stopped at the checkpoint, Hussein told thesoldiers the car was carrying the elders, an honorific term for al-Shabaab leaders,according to an AP interview with the soldier who stopped the vehicle. That comment,indicating at least two passengers, along with the fact that, in the aftermath of theincident, one of the SUVs rear doors was found open, also suggests that there mighthave been a third militant who escaped.

The United States has been monitoring cellphone conversations in Mogadishu since at

least the 2003-2004 time frame but had no role in Fazuls death, according to a seniorU.S. intelligence official. It would have been a much better ambush had it beenplanned, the official said. Had it been set up, nobody would have gotten away, theymight even have captured him.

When the Kenyan police arrested Fazul in the Mombasa store in July 2002, they also tooka man pretending to be his taxi driver into custody. That man was a 23-year-old Kenyannamed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a senior al-Qaida in East Africa figure. Not realizing hisvalue, the police allowed him to post bail, after which he promptly disappeared. TheUnited States had been tracking Nabhan since early 2002, according to the intelligencesource with long experience in the Horn. But after Nabhan reunited with Fazulfourmonths after skipping bailand conducted the Mombasa attacks, finding him and theothers connected to the incidents became a U.S. priority.

To crack the Mombasa case, U.S. investigators proceeded from an assumption that themilitants had used cellphones, based on the attacks being two near-simultaneous eventsrelatively close together, geographicallyprobably no more than 20 miles apart, theintelligence source said. The next step was to get the records of all the cellphone callsmade during the period just before the attacks and determine all the numbers that nevermade a call again, the source said. In addition, investigators went back and looked atwhere they bought the scratch cards and where they bought the phones, he added.

It took a few months for U.S. intelligence agents to figure out which cellphonenumbers were associated with the attackers, the source said. The key to the breakthroughwas the militants sloppy tradecraft: One of them was apparently given money to buy twosets of phones and SIM cards, but figured he could keep some cash for himself by justbuying one set of phones, mistakenly thinking that switching out the SIM cards providedenough operational security. They used the same phones but different SIM cards, thesource said. They didnt understand you could track the phone too.


28/35

Israeli intelligence agents also gave the Americans a lot of information and asked theU.S. agents to work with them, the source said. The Israelis were key initially, thesource said. Clearly, they had their own sources in the region.

The Kenyans also conducted some very good investigative work, the source said.

They were brought in and made to feel like they were valuable. The Kenyan authoritiesused information provided by U.S. intelligence to get the lower-level al-Qaida operativesinvolved in the attacks. They made some arrests, the intelligence source said. Thatwas all U.S., the source said of the intelligence that resulted in the arrests. Col. MikeGarrison, then the U.S. Defense and Army attach to Kenya, ended up with the expendedSA-7 launcher tube from the airport attack, the source added. (Garrison declined to beinterviewed for this story.)

But Nabhan got away. He was very clever; he understood how to communicate underthe radar, the source said.

One way Nabhan evaded his enemies for so long was by rarely communicatinghimself. Hed send a message with somebody [and] theyd go to an email or hotmailaccount and send that message, the source said. Al-Qaida in East Africa used a verybasic 10 code when passing on numerical information, the source said. The codeinvolves replacing each digit with the number that would be required to bring thereplaced number up to 10for instance, theyd write 539 instead of 571. Its reallysimple, but it took people a while to figure out they were doing it, he said.

Perhaps aware of the growing U.S. ability to monitor their cellphone conversations, al-Qaida cell members switched much of their conversation to the Internet, the source said.But they didnt change their email addresses often enough, allowing U.S. intelligence totrack them, the source said. Eventually, we were able to find ways to break intoNabhans communications, the source said.

Pushing particularly hard for the authority to go after Nabhan was Joint SpecialOperations Command, the organization that conducts the militarys most sensitive specialoperations. (Units that fight under JSOC include the Armys 1st Special ForcesOperational Detachment- Delta, also known as Delta Force; the Naval Special WarfareDevelopment Group, also known as DevGru and SEAL Team 6; and a special missionunit based at Fort Belvoir, Va., often known as Task Force Orange, which specializes ingathering human and close-in signals intelligence.)

Between 2001 and 2004, JSOC never had more than three people at a time in Somalia,according to the intelligence source. During the latter part of that period, those operatorswere supporting CIA missions in Mogadishu to liaise with Somali warlords and installcellphone monitoring equipment, the source said.

JSOC was the junior partner on the first Mogadishu missions, but its strength in the Hornwas slowly expanding. During those early years, Orange provided the core of JSOCspresence in the region, including personnel assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi as


29/35

well as a few in Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, who functioned as liaisons to CJTF-HOA. Inmid-2003, an interagency node staffed with intelligence and law enforcementpersonnel was established in the Nairobi embassy under JSOC auspices, said a specialoperations officer. Manned at first by maybe six people, it quickly grew and now hasabout 20 people, the intelligence source said.

This reflected the growth of JSOCs wider presence in Kenya. The command started outwith three people in Nairobi, a number that grew to five or six and now is reputed to be inthe scores, the source said. The writing was on the wall that eventually this was goingto become a DoD-centric effort, he added.

JSOCs effectiveness in the Horn really ramped up in the 2004-2005 time frame, whenit doubled its resources in Kenya and focused more tightly on intelligence collectionand target development, the senior intelligence official said. As a result of JSOCs efforts,we gained a lot of understanding of what was going on, the official said.

The elite command continued to thicken its network in the Horn, a process thatincluded placing a small team in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, according to theintelligence official. JSOC commander Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal also beganconducting Horn of Africa-specific video-teleconferences that connected U.S.ambassadors and CIA chiefs of station in the region with officials in Washington, theofficial said.

In 2006, JSOC began to run its own operations in Somalia, a senior military official said.At the time, the JSOC task force in the Horn was called Task Force 88, but that has sincechanged, sources said. The task force was headquartered in Nairobi, but also operated outof a small base at Manda Bay in northeastern Kenya, about 50 miles from the Somaliborder.

Some in the intelligence community wondered whether JSOC and, by extension, itsDefense Department bosses, were too focused on Nabhan. I think there was a fixationcertainly at DoD, said the intelligence source, adding that while some intelligencepersonnel thought that a movement doesnt really center on one person, JSOC saw theNabhan hunt as a way to validate the mission it was trying to carve out in non-combattheaters. JSOC saw Nabhan as a way to shore up that third leg of the stool, the sourcesaid.

The United States and its regional allies hunted Nabhan for the rest of the decade. Therewere several times weve gotten close to him, said the special operations officer, addingthat he meant close in terms of surveillance, not missions to kill or capture the al-Qaidafigure. Meanwhile the JSOC operators chafed under what they viewed as politicalrestrictions that prevented them from going after Nabhan.

But on Sept. 14, 2009, they were given the green light. Wed been tracking him foryears, the senior military official said. Finally, according to the official, JSOC had bothhuman and signals intelligence leads on Nabhans location as he joined several other


30/35

militants in two vehicles to make the 300-mile trek from Merka to Kismayo in southernSomalia. We knew his travel route, we knew the vehicles he was using, the officialsaid.

When the convoy was near the coastal town of Barawe, JSOC struck. Multiple 160th

Special Operations Aviation Regiment AH-6 Little Bird helicopters flew ashore from aNavy ship and attacked the militants as they were breakfasting, killing six, includingNabhan, according to news reports. One helicopter landed and operators jumped out andloaded the bodies of Nabhan and three others into the aircraft.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

###

Boko Haram kills four policemen in Yobe attacks (The Nation)http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/27814-boko-haram-kills-four-

policemen-in-yobe-attacks.html28 November 2011By Duku Joel

Churches, homes and the police headquarters in Gaidam, a small town in Yobe State,were set ablaze in a wave of night time gun and bomb attacks by Boko Haram, the policesaid yesterday.

Boko Haram (Western education is sin) has claimed responsibility for dozens ofshootings and attacks with improvised explosive devices.

The Gaidam divisional police headquarters and a bank were bombed on Saturdayevening by Boko Haram and fire was exchanged into the night between police and BokoHaram members, a police spokesman was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Four policemen were killed, 20 wounded, eight churches and 20 market stalls as well asGeidam council secretariat are completely destroyed.

Gaidam is located less than 20km from Governor Ibrahim Gaidams hometown, Bukarti.

An eyewitness told our reporter that the gunmen invaded Gaidam town at about quarter to6pm, heavily armed. They asked scared residents, especially the youths, to join them toensure a successful Jihad o

africom related-news clips 28 nov 2011

Documents