United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

16 April 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

TOP NEWS RELATED TO U.S. AFRICA COMMAND AND AFRICA

Analysts Say Sudan Elections Have Only Losers (Voice of America)

As vote counting begins in Sudan's week-long general elections, Sudan experts at a
panel discussion at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace are giving the dire
assessment that there will be no winners, and only losers in the process.

Zimbabwe President Mugabe denies company law U-turn (BBC)

President Mugabe said reports that the "indigenisation law" would be suspended were
"completely false", and instead a cabinet committee was merely studying the law to
improve it.

Study: Civilian rape skyrockets in Congo's east (Associated Press)

DAKAR, Senegal – The number of rapes carried out by civilians in eastern Congo has
increased by 17-fold in the last few years, according to a study released Thursday that
says sexual assaults long perpetrated by armed groups are spreading across the
population.

Algerian rights groups protest crimes against women (AFP)

ALGIERS, Algeria – A score of civic associations and rights groups in Algeria have
protested to authorities after violence against several women in their homes in the
Sahara oil town of Hassi Messaoud.

S.Africa working to release kidnapped peacekeepers (AFP)

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – The South African government on Thursday said it was
working to secure the release of four kidnapped South African peacekeepers in Sudan's
war-torn Darfur region.

Foreign Ministers of Mediterranean countries meet in Tunisia to enhance trade links

(Xinhua)
TUNIS,Tunisia - Foreign ministers of 5+5 Dialogue met on Thursday to shed more light
on partnership between the two Mediterranean rims and discuss ways to strengthen
trade links and improve integration in the Mediterranean region.

USAREUR opens access to social media sites (Stars and Stripes)

STUTTGART, Germany – U.S. Army Europe has opened its nonsecure networks to
social media Web sites, allowing its staff to access sites like Facebook, Twitter and
YouTube on government computer.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
• Four missing AU-UN peacekeepers remain unaccounted for in Darfur
• Sudan: Ban welcomes pledges for dialogue after polls close in historic elections
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UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, April 21; 12:30 p.m.; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies: In Defense of Competition:
The Cost of Coalition in Africa
WHO: Nic Cheeseman, lecturer in African studies at the University of Oxford
Info: http://www.sais-jhu.edu/calendar/index.htm

WHEN/WHERE: Tuesday through Thursday, April 27-29; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: Corporate Council on Africa: U.S.-Africa Infrastructure Conference
WHO: Top U.S. and African government officials, seasoned business executives, sector experts
and financiers convene at the U.S. Africa Infrastructure Conference.
Info: http://www.africacncl.org/(xtahp03q0g1wdb55d42z1w55)/Default.aspx

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, April 28; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: U.S. Institute of Peace: U.S.-Relations with the Muslim World
WHO: This event will examine U.S. relations with the Muslim world one year after President
Obama's pivotal speech at Cairo University. Speakers include Oxford professor Tariq Ramadan,
Special Representative to Muslim Communities Farah Pandith, and U.S. Special Envoy to the
Organization of the Islamic Conference Rashad Hussain. USIP specialists Abiodun Williams,
Daniel Brumberg and Mona Yacoubian will also participate in the event.
Info: http://www.usip.org/events/us-relations-the-muslim-world-one-year-after-cairo
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FULL ARTICLE TEXT

Analysts Say Sudan Elections Have Only Losers (Voice of America)

As vote counting begins in Sudan's week-long general elections, analysts are giving the
dire assessment that there will be no winners, and only losers in the process.

Sudan experts at a panel discussion at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
this week in Washington were unanimous in their harsh criticism.

They said what they viewed as a botched election could mark the beginning of the end
for all political parties in Sudan, instead of the country's first successful multi-party vote
in 24 years.
Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Herman Cohen said northern
opposition parties made a huge mistake in boycotting the process. "Do not boycott
because rigging, (the) rigging, will be seen. If you boycott, they do not have to rig, so it
is important to participate and make sure that the rigging is documented and therefore
making the winner even much less legitimate," he said.

John Prendergast, the co-founder of the Enough Project to end genocide and crimes
against humanity, said even worse, they announced their boycott just days before the
voting started. "Either you get in and fight it out or you get out early because it was
clear early on that this election was going to be stolen. The census, the registration,
national security laws, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, and the
gerrymandering, all these factors months before, the actual electoral process, the
electoral event actually occurred indicated where this was going. They did not do
either. Instead, they waited until the final minute. Confusion reigns. Everyone loses
sadly from this process," he said.

Gerard Prunier, a French researcher and member of the Academic Council of the
Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, said that by not participating,
the opposition parties showed they will have no role in the future of Sudan.

Prunier says they were afraid of the results they were going to get. But he says the
ruling National Congress Party, known as the NCP, is not faring much better. He says it
has become the party of elites in the capital Khartoum, but nowhere else. He says
general disappointment in these elections will show its weakness. "Democratizing a
totalitarian system is extremely difficult and the danger of cutting off your own feet in
the process is very high," he said.

Prunier is also afraid of what will happen when oil-rich southern Sudan votes for
independence in a referendum scheduled for next year or declares unilateral
independence. "The danger is trying to occupy militarily the oil fields to secure the cash
cow (no-rish money making method) of the government and militarily it is feasible so it
is tempting and it is going to be a debate inside the NCP. Some pragmatists will say no,
do not do it, it is too dangerous, and some guys will say let us do it because otherwise,
we die, and we do not want to die," he said.

Prendergast said the international community which pushed so much for the
comprehensive peace agreement in 2005 ending more than two decades of war between
north and south Sudan had abandoned its implementation, such as enforcing border
demarcation and figuring out oil issues.

He said south Sudan and the international community would be paying for this for
years, if a conflict breaks out. "We will be paying billions of dollars in humanitarian
assistance and peacekeeping forces for the next 40 years in southern Sudan," he said.
J. Peter Pham, the director of the Africa Project at the National Committee on American
Foreign Policy, predicted the government in Khartoum will use outside rebel groups,
like the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), to destabilize the south, potentially creating a
regional nightmare. "Whether it be reactivating or resupplying the LRA or other
movements which will then spur a vicious cycle of the other governments saying well
we are being meddled with so let us return the favor," he said.

Pham said President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has no choice but to stay in power since
there is an indictment against him at the International Criminal Court for war crimes
and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Darfur.

The panelists said very few people in Darfur voted, since they were too afraid to do so
or were never registered, and that the peace process there was going nowhere, even as
rebels seem to be on the decline.

They also expressed disappointment in election monitors who they said were not being
critical enough, as well as current U.S. diplomatic efforts, which they said were falling
short.

They agreed China, which is the main importer of Sudan's oil which runs through
northern pipelines and an important international ally of the government in Khartoum,
may be the key player in averting a future disaster.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has been one of the monitors of the election on the
ground. He has acknowledged problems, but reserved judgment until vote counting
takes place. "I would not say, in advance, that the integrity of the election has been
destroyed, but I am not going to make any comment about that until after the election
process, the vote tabulation is complete," he said.

Mr. Carter defended the importance of the election, and said it was one step in a process
that will lead to the southern referendum. He has also warned that if the north-south
peace agreement falls apart, there would be another outbreak of war.
--------------------
Zimbabwe President Mugabe denies company law U-turn (BBC)

Mr Mugabe's comments contradict the Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai -reflecting

the rift in the uneasy coalition government.

The rules, which force companies valued at more than $500,000 (£324,000) to be
majority-owned by "indigenous" people, were issued on 1 March.

This effectively ruled out ownership by white Zimbabweans or foreign firms.

Rift

President Mugabe said reports that the "indigenisation law" would be suspended were
"completely false", and instead a cabinet committee was merely studying the law to
improve it.

Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, a fellow member of the president's Zanu-

PF party, also confirmed the law was going ahead.

Prime Minister Tsvangirai's office had said the rules were now "null and void" pending
further consultations.

The apparent dispute highlights the continuing rift in Zimbabwe's coalition government
between Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change.

The two parties have been in coalition together since February last year, under a
governing agreement that ended decades of rule by Zanu-PF and that brought to an end
political violence around the 2008 presidential election.

The country's stock market has fallen by 10% since the law's introduction, with mining
shares losing 20%.

Analysts said the law had served to deter much-needed foreign investment in the
country.

"A lot of concerns have been raised by a number of companies in the mining,
manufacturing and tourism sector that the regulations would scare away potential
investors," Zimbabwean journalist Brian Hungwe told the BBC.

Even so, he said the move to repeal the law came as a "huge surprise" after President
Robert Mugabe had recently defended the law and said it would not be reversed.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has repeatedly criticised the law.

Bread basket

Under the so-called indigenisation law, companies owned by non-indigenous people

were given five years to sell a 51% stake to indigenous people. They were given 45 days
to submit proposals on how this would be done.

An "indigenous Zimbabwean" had been defined as "any person who before the 18 April
1980" - the official founding date of Zimbabwe - "was disadvantaged by unfair
discrimination on the grounds of his or her race".
The law was seen as an extension of the government's policy of seizing white-owned
farms and giving them to locals, which started more than 10 years ago.

That programme is considered by many to have failed, as many seized farms have
remained dormant.

As a result, Zimbabwe - once known as the bread basket of Africa - has become a net
importer of food.
--------------------
Study: Civilian rape skyrockets in Congo's east (Associated Press)

DAKAR, Senegal – The number of rapes carried out by civilians in eastern Congo has
increased by 17-fold in the last few years, according to a study released Thursday that
says sexual assaults long perpetrated by armed groups are spreading across the
population.

The study, commissioned by the British aid group Oxfam, was carried out by experts
from Harvard University and examined more than 4,000 cases from 2004 to 2008 at the
Panzi Hospital in the eastern Congo city of Bukavu.

Armed groups — including the army and Congolese and Rwandan militias — have
raped tens of thousands of women in the war-ravaged nation, and are still feared by the
population. But the research found that 38 percent of rapes were committed by civilians
in 2008, compared to less than 1 percent in 2004.

"This study confirms what has only been reported anecdotally until now: Sexual
violence has become more normal in civilian life," said Susan Bartels, chief researcher
from the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. "The scale of rape over Congo's years of war
has made this crime seem more acceptable."

Violence first erupted in Congo after the 1994 Rwandan genocide spilled war across the
border. U.N. peacekeepers have been deployed in the vast nation since 1999 to help
stabilize it, but thousands are raped each year and sporadic fighting has continued.

Congo President Joseph Kabila has asked the U.N. to draw up a schedule to withdraw
its 20,000 peacekeeping mission by 2011, though some senior diplomats and U.N.
officials have said they are reluctant to do so. A U.N. Security Council delegation is due
in Congo later this week.

"Rape of this scale and brutality is scandalous," said Krista Riddley, who directs
humanitarian policy for Oxfam. "This is a wake-up call at a time when plans are being
discussed for U.N. peacekeepers to leave the country. The situation is not secure if a
woman can't even sleep safely in her own bed at night."
The report — entitled "Now, the World is Without Me" — said few places were safe for
victims. About 56 percent of sexual assaults surveyed were carried out by armed men in
what should have been the safety of home — in the presence of the victim's families,
including their children. Around 16 percent were reported in fields, and 15 percent in
forests.

Incidents of sexual slavery also were reported by 12 percent of women surveyed, with
some women being held captive for years.

The report said the number of rapes spiked during military activities, with more than
9,000 people — including men and boys — raped in 2009 as the government and its
Rwandan military allies carried out operations against Rwandan militia groups still
operating on Congolese soil.
--------------------
Algerian rights groups protest crimes against women (AFP)

ALGIERS, Algeria – A score of civic associations and rights groups in Algeria have
protested to authorities after violence against several women in their homes in the
Sahara oil town of Hassi Messaoud.

"We strongly denounce these crimes and petition the public authorities to react urgently
by assuring the protection of these women who are the victims," the organisations said
in a statement sent to AFP Thursday.

Several women were recently attacked by groups of unidentified, hooded and armed
men who "terrorise each of the victims because they are isolated and defenceless." The
attackers stole from the women and molested them, the text said.

An activist who asked not to be named told AFP that the signatories to the petition
were alerted to the harassment by an article in the daily El Watan, which reported
aggression against women. "But we didn't have precise details," the source said.

"Most off the women attacked work in the living quarters of foreign oil companies.
They're cleaning women, ironing ladies, cooks, and they live alone in a shanty-town."

Leading signatory groups included the ADPDF (Association for the Defence and
Protection of Women's Rights), the Wassila Network, the AEF (Association for the
Emancipation of Women), the APF (Family Planning Association), the AVIFE
(Association of Aid for Women and Child Victims of Violence) and Tharwa Fatma
N?Sumer (Children of Fatma N'sumer).
The associations recalled serious incidents in July 2001 when women living alone in the
shanty-town of El Haicha at Hassi Messaoud were violently attacked by groups of
armed men.

"This repetition (...) of odious acts against women, which seems to be going on as
'inevitable,' is only possible because in 2001 the action taken over the affair of Hassi
Messaoud was reduced to a parody of justice, relegating this tragedy to a banal
incident," the statement said.

It also denounced the "impunity of the aggressors" and "the silence of local institutions
and authorities," as well as the "laxity of society" in cases of violence against women in
general in Algeria.
--------------------
S.Africa working to release kidnapped peacekeepers (AFP)

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – The South African government on Thursday said it was
working to secure the release of four kidnapped South African peacekeepers in Sudan's
war-torn Darfur region.

"The South African government is using all diplomatic channels to ensure the safety of
these South African citizens," the department of defence in a statement, adding that
police were in contact with their families.

"We are completely confident that this will be resolved soon. We wish to assure the
South African public that we will pull out all stops to bring them home soon."

The kidnap of the four peacekeepers with the UN-African Union mission in Darfur was
confirmed on Wednesday. It is the largest single abduction of foreigners in the war-torn
region.

The four UNAMID police -- two men and two women-- were "kidnapped and their car
was robbed," UNAMID spokesman Nouredine Mezni told AFP.

It is the first time four expatriates have been taken in a single kidnapping in Darfur.

The incident happened as former South African president Thabo Mbeki -- the chief of
the African Union panel on Darfur-- was in El-Fasher in North Darfur for peace talks.

Sudan is holding its first multi-party elections in more than two decades.
--------------------
Foreign Ministers of Mediterranean countries meet in Tunisia to enhance trade links
(Xinhua)
TUNIS,Tunisia - Foreign ministers of 5+5 Dialogue met on Thursday to shed more light
on partnership between the two Mediterranean rims and discuss ways to strengthen
trade links and improve integration in the Mediterranean region.

"This 5+5 Dialogue Foreign Ministers' Meeting is taking place at a time when efforts are
expended to get out of the world economic crisis and in a context characterized by great
challenges such as climate change, migration flows, employment and energy issues and
a deteriorating situation in the Middle East," said Tunisian Foreign Minister Kamel
Morjane.

"Foreign Ministers will discuss current issues and look at possibilities of boosting
cooperation in the South Mediterranean region, will also discuss the possibility of
extending the dialogue to new members such as employers' associations, entities and
local communities," he added.

The 5+5 Dialogue was launched in 1990 in Rome gathering five Southern
Mediterranean countries, namely Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia, and
five countries of the northern shore of the Mediterranean, namely Spain, France, Italy,
Malta and Portugal.

"We are keen to encourage initiatives aiming at consolidating cooperation and links
between the two Mediterranean shores and in the framework of Barcelona process,"
Morjane said.

Participants at the two-day meeting are due to discuss illegal immigration, terrorism
and north-south cooperation files. Foreign Ministers will also hold talks on the
integration in the Mghreb region and on the Union for the Mediterranean with special
focus on the large-scale projects defined as part of this union, such as the solar plan, the
sea highway, the fight against pollution in the Mediterranean and the setting up of a
Euro-Mediterranean bank.

Tunisia will propose during the meeting to hold 5+5 business forum with the aim to
promote investment and partnership in the region and step up consultation and
coordination to bolster the integration of Maghreb states, according to Morjane.

European countries wish to cooperate with southern Mediterranean states to help

stimulate their economies after decades of lackluster private sector growth led to
widespread youth unemployment and encouraged illegal immigration.
--------------------
USAREUR opens access to social media sites (Stars and Stripes)
STUTTGART, Germany – U.S. Army Europe has opened its nonsecure networks to
social media Web sites, allowing its staff to access sites like Facebook, Twitter and
YouTube on government computer.
The Department of Defense lifted its ban on social media in late February, but the
change has been slow to reach overseas commands. The Marines lifted their ban about
two weeks ago but still haven’t opened their networks in Europe. Airmen assigned to
U.S. Air Forces in Europe also are still waiting.

The process to ensure network security and prevent bandwidth abuse is what caused
the holdup for soldiers in Europe, said officials with 5th Signal Command, the unit in
charge of USAREUR networks. Securing the network is still a critical priority, they said.

“We have basic network protection in place and will continue to monitor the network
for malicious activity associated with [social media sites],” Lt. Col. Kurt A. Schosek, the
director of Europe-Theater Network Operations and Security Center, 5th Signal
Command, said in a release.

The command is also limiting the bandwidth available to social media sites and plans to
continue upgrading security measures, according to the press release.

“These and other measures are in place to ensure [it] will not adversely affect mission
critical operations,” Schosek said. “This guarantees that our network will still be active
and available for all warfighters.”
--------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Sudan: Ban welcomes pledges for dialogue after polls close in historic elections
15 April – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed efforts by the ruling parties
in Sudan to enter dialogue with opposition candidates and parties as polling ended in
the country’s first national elections in 24 years.

Four missing AU-UN peacekeepers remain unaccounted for in Darfur

15 April – Four South African peacekeeping serving with the joint African Union-
United Nations force in the volatile western Sudanese region of Darfur who went
missing on Sunday remain unaccounted for, the mission said, adding that they could
have been seized by kidnappers or carjackers.