United States Africa Command Public Affairs Office 30 April 2012 USAFRICOM - related news stories

Good morning. Please see today's news review for April 30, 2012. Of interest in today's report -U.S. special forces help in hunt for warlord Kony -Attack on christians in Nigeria kills at least 15:witness -Mali coup leader rejects ECOWAS troop deployment -Sudan 'declares emergency' on border with South Sudan U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs Please send questions or comments to: publicaffairs@usafricom.mil 421-2687 (+49-711-729-2687) Headline Date Outlet

U.S. Special Forces Help in Hunt for Warlord Kony

04/30/2012

Associated Press (AP)

OBO, Central African Republic -- Deep in the jungle, this small, remote Central African village is farther from the coast than any point on the continent. It's also where three international armies have zeroed in on Joseph Kony, one of the world's most wan...

U.S. Troops Synch Hi-tech and Nomad Intel in Kony Hunt

04/30/2012 Reuters

OBO, Central African Republic (Reuters) - In a bare concrete room in a far-flung corner of Central African Republic, U.S. special forces and Ugandan soldiers map out the hunt for one of Africa's most wanted rebel leaders hiding in an area the size of Calif...

US Uses Advanced Intelligence in Fight 04/30/2012 Voice of America Against LRA in Central Africa
For years, Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army, or LRA, have terrorized the people of central Africa, abducting thousands of children and killing hundreds of people in a brutal insurgency. Many people hope the arrival of U.S. Special Forces in the region will bring an end to the group.

Al-Qaeda is Weaker Without Bin Laden, 04/29/2012 Washington Post But its Franchise Persists
As U.S. helicopters approached in darkness a year ago, Osama bin Laden was woefully unprepared: no means of escape, no way to destroy files, no succession plan.

Attack on Christians in Nigeria Kills at Least 15: Witness

04/29/2012 Thomson Reuters

KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen killed at least 15 people and wounded many more on Sunday in an attack on a university theatre being used by Christian worshippers in Kano, a northern Nigerian city where hundreds have died in Islamist attacks this year.

Journalists in Nigeria, Long Threatened, 04/28/2012 Washington Post

Become Target of Radical Islamist Sect

ISHERI, Nigeria -- Nigeria journalists, already the targets of threats and bribes, face a new danger after a radical Islamist sect bombed the offices of a major newspaper in the country and vowed to "hit the media hard" in Africa's most populous nation.

Mali Coup Leader Rejects ECOWAS Troop Deployment

04/29/2012 France 24

AFP - The captain who led a coup in Mali last month before handing power back to a civilian president rejected Saturday the decision by West African states to send troops.

S. Sudan Says 21 Dead in Clash with Sudanese-backed Militia

04/29/2012 Thomson Reuters

JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan, embroiled in a border dispute with its northern neighbour Sudan, said on Sunday at least 21 people died in two days of clashes between the South's army and Khartoum-backed rebels in the South's oilproducing Upper Nile state.

Sudan 'Declares Emergency' on Border 04/29/2012 BBC News with South Sudan
Sudan has reportedly declared a state of emergency along its border with South Sudan after weeks of clashes.

Libya's Ruling Council Keeping Cabinet in Place Despite Criticism, No04/29/2012 Washington Post confidence Vote
TRIPOLI, Libya -- Libya's interim ruling council decided Sunday to keep its current Cabinet despite an internal row over dismissing it for alleged incompetence, with a crucial election less than two months away.

Sudan Defends Use of Air Strikes in South Sudan Conflict

04/29/2012 Thomson Reuters

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations has defended his country's right to use air strikes against South Sudanese troops who Khartoum says are inside Sudanese territory.

Report: Gadhafi Gave to Sarkozy's 2007 04/28/2012 CNN.com Campaign

(CNN) -- The campaign of French presidential front-runner Francois Hollande called for a criminal investigation into President Nicolas Sarkozy after a media report Saturday accused the president of taking 50 million euros ($66.3 million) for his 2007 campa...

Blood, Sweat and Jungle: Hunting Kony 04/28/2012 Daily Monitor with Squads
Sweat dripping from his unkempt beard, second lieutenant Kasim Lukumo halted briefly to point at the thick tangle of the central African jungle.

Freed Moroccan Editor Says Stop Jailing Journalists

04/29/2012 Thomson Reuters

RABAT (Reuters) - A Moroccan editor who rights activists say was unjustly prosecuted for criticising the authorities walked free after completing his one-year jail sentence on Saturday and demanded an end to the practice of sending journalists to prison.

Eritrean TV Shows President after Health Rumours

04/29/2012 Thomson Reuters

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Eritrean state television has broadcast an interview with President Isaias Afewerki to quash speculation about his health after days of absence from public view.

South African Security Trainer Killed in Northern Somalia, Government 04/28/2012 Washington Post Investigating
MOGADISHU, Somalia -- A South African security trainer was killed by his bodyguard in Somalia's semiautonomous region of Puntland, officials said Saturday.

Zimbabwe: Mugabe Succession Game Plan Exposed

04/29/2012 AllAfrica.com

Harare -- PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe will only anoint a successor in his Zanu PF party after elections, which the 88year-old leader wants held this year hoping to win against all odds. Mugabe insisted last week he would not quit power

until after all foreign...

United Nations News Centre - Africa Briefs

04/29/2012

United Nations News Service

-Security Council welcomes conviction in war crimes trial of Charles Taylor

News Headline: U.S. special forces help in hunt for warlord Kony | News Date: 04/30/2012 Outlet Full Name: Associated Press News Text: OBO, Central African Republic -- Deep in the jungle, this small, remote Central African village is farther from the coast than any point on the continent. It's also where three international armies have zeroed in on Joseph Kony, one of the world's most wanted warlords. Obo was the first place in the Central African Republic that Kony's Lord's Resistance Army attacked in 2008; today, it's one of four forward operating locations where U.S. special forces have paired up with local troops and Ugandan soldiers to seek out Kony, who is believed likely to be hiding out in the rugged terrain northwest of the town. For seven years he has been wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity after his forces cut a wide and bloody swath across several central African nations with rapes, abductions and killings. Part of the LRA's success in eluding government forces has been its ability to slip back and forth over the porous borders of the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Congo. But since late last year, U.S. forces have been providing intelligence, looking at patterns of movement, and setting up better communications to link the countries' forces together so that they can better track the guerrilla force. Sent by President Barack Obama at the end of 2011, the 100 U.S. soldiers are split up about 15 to 30 per base, bringing in American technology and experience to assist local forces. Exact details on specific improvements that the American forces have brought to the table, however, are classified, to avoid giving Kony the ability to take countermeasures. "We don't necessarily go and track into the bush but what we do is we incorporate our experiences with the partner nation's experiences to come up with the right solution to go out and hopefully solve this LRA problem," said Gregory, a 29-year-old captain from Texas, who would only give his first name in accordance with security guidelines. The U.S. troops also receive reports from local hunters and others that they help analyze together with surveillance information. "It's very easy to blame everything on the LRA but there are other players in the region -- there are poachers, there are bandits, and we have to sift that to filter what is LRA," he said. Central African Republic soldiers largely conduct security operations in and around the town, while Ugandan soldiers, who have been in the country since 2010, conduct longer-range patrols looking for Kony and his men. Since January, they have killed seven LRA fighters in the area and captured one, while rescuing 15 people abducted by the group including five children, said their local commander, Col. Joseph Balikuddembe. There has been no contact with the LRA since March, however, according to Ugandan Army spokesman Col. Felix Kulayigye, who said the LRA now is in survival mode. The LRA is thought to today number only around 150 to 300 die-hard fighters.

"They're hiding," he said. "They are not capable of doing." But with Kony still around, there are wide ranging-fears that the LRA will be able to rebuild. "There's periods of time when the LRA will lie low when the military pressure is too high or where there's a threat that they don't understand such as the American intervention," said Matthew Brubacher, a political affairs officer with the U.N.'s mission in Congo, who was also an International Criminal Court investigator on the Kony case for five years. "But then after a while after they figure it out, if they have the opportunity they'll try to come back, so it's just a matter of time they'll try to come back. Kony always said `if I have only 10 men, I can always rebuild the force." Right now, expectations are high of the Americans serving in Obo and Djema in the Central African Republic, as well as those in Dungu in Congo and Nzara in South Sudan. "For all the communities, the U.S. bases in Obo and Djema means one, Kony will be arrested, and two, there will be a lot of money for programs, humanitarian programs," said Sabine Jiekak of the Italian humanitarian aid agency Coopi. Central African Republic Deputy Defense Minister Jean Francis Bozize said it's been difficult for the poor country's small military to deal with Kony in the southeast as well as several other militant groups in the north. An African Union mission expected to begin later this year should help expedite the crossborder pursuit of the LRA. In the meantime, Bozize said the American forces could make a big difference. "The involvement of U.S. forces with their assistance in providing information and intelligence will allow for all forces to operate from the same base-level of intelligence ... (giving) better coordination with better results," he told reporters in the capital, Bangui. But the military mission is not a simple one. How do you find small groups of seasoned fighters hidden deep in the jungle, who have eluded authorities for decades? How do you prevent brutal reprisal attacks on civilians? How can you bring together several countries' troops to cooperate on cross-border pursuits? The LRA usually attacks late at night, then melts back away into the jungle. Seasoned bush fighters, they employ many techniques to elude pursuit -- walking along rocks or along streams to avoid leaving tracks, for example, and sometimes even marching backward to fool trackers. Kony has reportedly stopped using radios and satellite phones for communications, instead relying on an elaborate system involving runners and multiple rendezvous points. Key to his capture is good information from local residents -- which they will only give when they can be sure of their own safety, according to American commanders. "The population have to believe that they are secure and once they believe they are secure from the LRA, you start to deny the LRA the opportunity to attack villages to get people, to get food, to get medicine," Gen. Carter Ham, the head of U.S. Africa Command, told reporters in Stuttgart. That may take some time in Obo, a town of some 15,000 where around 3,500 people have

sought refuge to escape LRA violence in the area. Rural farmers and others stick to within 5 kilometers (3 miles) of the village for safety -- originally the area that Central African Republic soldiers were able to patrol but now more a rule of thumb followed by the locals. They've started recently to venture out farther, emboldened by the presence of the Ugandans and Americans to help the government forces, but are too nervous to stray too wide from the safety of the village. "They're still scared, they're still wary because Joseph Kony is still out there," said Mayor Joseph Kpioyssrani, looking at the jungle behind him. Kony's LRA sprung up in 1986 as a rebel movement among the Acholi people in northern Uganda to fight against the Kampala government, but has for decades been leading its violent campaign without any clear political ideology. Emmanuel Daba, 33, was one of 76 people abducted in the first LRA raid on Obo in 2008 and forced to fight for the guerrillas for two years before managing to escape. "We were trained to kill -- forced to kill -- otherwise we'd be killed ourselves," he said outside the tiny radio station where he now works broadcasting messages to try and encourage others with the LRA to defect or escape. "I still have dreams -- nightmares." This year, the U.S. Defense Department is committing $35 million to efforts to find and fight Kony. Since 2008, the U.S. State Department has sent some $50 million in funds to support the Ugandan military's logistics and non-lethal operations against the LRA, including contracting two transport helicopters to ferry troops and supplies. Another $500 million has been given over that time for the broader northern Uganda recovery effort in the aftermath of Kony's presence there. In Stuttgart, Ham keeps a "Kony 2012" poster hanging on his office door. Though he isn't committing to the goal of the viral YouTube campaign to see Kony neutralized by the end of the year, he does define success as either capturing or killing the LRA leader eventually. "I'm confident that the mission will be successful, but I can't give you a timeline when that's going to occur..." Ham said. "It is one of those organizations that if you remove the senior leader and the small number of those who surround him, I believe this is one of those organizations that will not be able to regenerate."
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News Headline: U.S. troops synch hi-tech and nomad intel in Kony hunt | News Date: 04/30/2012 Outlet Full Name: Reuters News Text: OBO, Central African Republic (Reuters) - In a bare concrete room in a far-flung corner of Central African Republic, U.S. special forces and Ugandan soldiers map out the hunt for one of Africa's most wanted rebel leaders hiding in an area the size of California. The building belonged to the town of Obo's doctor until he was murdered last year by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) while transporting medicines by road. Now it serves as an operational

centre in one of America's latest military ventures in Africa. The mission's goal is clear. "(The) focus is the removal of Joseph Kony and senior Lord's Resistance Army leadership from the battlefield," said Captain Ken Wright, a navy SEAL in command of the roughly 100-strong force which deployed in October. Kony has evaded the region's militaries for nearly three decades, kidnapping tens of thousands of children to fill his militia's ranks and serve as sex slaves as he moves through the bush. Thousands more have died in the wake of his brutal army. The deployment of elite American forces to help track Kony and his senior commanders in the dense equatorial jungle across a region that spans several countries has raised hopes the sadistic warlord's days are numbered. The troops are armed but do not patrol the surrounding forests and are allowed to engage the LRA only in self-defense. Instead, their focus is on improving intelligence on LRA positions gathered both electronically and from tip-offs. By meshing stories from hunters and nomadic cattle herders of encounters with the rebels together with sophisticated surveillance imagery, allied forces chart suspected rebel activity and coordinate the regional armies' pursuit of Kony. "You look at patterns to see where LRA might be moving, historic areas where they might operate, so we can predict where they're going and try and head them off and most effectively use the forces on the ground," Captain Gregory, a 29-year-old Texan hidden behind sunglasses and a wide brimmed hat told Reuters. For many of the U.S. troops who have recently served in Afghanistan and Iraq, the humid jungles of central Africa are unfamiliar territory. Their deployment raised expectations locally that U.S. drones would be unearthing Kony. They are not, and this hostile environment is throwing up unforeseen challenges. "Some of the gear we have here is affected by the vegetation ... and acts differently from in the desert. "Vegetation absorbs signals and sounds," said Gregory. INTERNATIONAL BAD GUY Kony, a self-styled mystic leader who at one time was bent on ruling Uganda by the ten commandments, fled his native northern Uganda in 2005, roaming first the lawless expanses of South Sudan and then the isolated northeastern tip of Congo. In December 2008, after last-ditch peace talks failed, Ugandan paratroopers and fighter jets struck the LRA's Congo hideouts. Kony slipped through the net, raising suspicions he had been tipped off. He and many of his combatants moved north into CAR. Kony was thrust back into the spotlight earlier this year when a video, "Kony 2012", highlighting the chilling mutilations, rapes and murders carried out by his spell-bound fighters went viral on the Internet. Bruce Wharton, deputy assistant secretary in the Department of State's Africa bureau said the deployment of special forces was in part a response to legislation in 2010 calling on the Obama

administration to do more to tackle Kony. "I think Kony, for lack of an ideology, for lack of a political agenda, for lack of an intellectually identifiable cause, and for the brutality with which he operates, is at the top of the list of international bad guys," Wharton said. Asked whether hunting Kony offered a convenient way of expanding the U.S. military footprint in Africa, Wharton told Reuters: "I absolutely think that as soon as this mission is accomplished the roughly 100 troops will go away." Facing war crimes charges, Kony has transformed himself from a one-time altar boy to a master of jungle survival and evasion. His fighters have become increasingly savvy in concealing their movements, wading through crocodile-infested rivers and walking backwards and in loops to disguise their tracks. The vicious and often drugged rebels first struck Obo in the early hours of March 6, 2009. They targeted the town's Catholic mission, abducting 76 people. "We were told they were coming but we didn't believe they would attack the town," said Obo resident Ricardo Dimanche who runs a community radio project urging LRA fighters to give up their weapons. "The next year they started attacking the small villages around us. Displaced people started flooding in," said Dimanche. Underscoring the challenge facing the American and regional troops, the LRA launched almost as many attacks in the first three months of this year in CAR as in all of last year, according to U.N. data. "Nobody has peace of mind now," said Dimanche. U.S. military officials are reluctant to bet on if and when they might snare Kony. "The global effort to try to find Osama bin Laden took 10 years with an extraordinary level of effort ... the highest priority for the international intelligence community, and it still took 10 years to find him," General Carter Ham, commander of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) told a media briefing in Germany ahead of the tightly controlled trip. "So this is a tough mission."
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News Headline: US Uses Advanced Intelligence in Fight Against LRA in Central Africa | News Date: 04/30/2012 Outlet Full Name: Voice of America News Text: U.S. Army special forces Captain Gregory, 29, from Texas, center, who would only give his first name in accordance with special forces security guidelines, speaks with troops from the Central African Republic and Uganda, in Obo, Central African Republic, Sunday, April 29, 2012. For years, Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army, or LRA, have terrorized the people of central Africa, abducting thousands of children and killing hundreds of people in a brutal insurgency. Many people hope the arrival of U.S. special forces in the region will bring an end to the group.

At Radio Zereda in Obo, Central African Republic, an announcer broadcasts a special program for LRA victims. He tells those who have been kidnapped by the rebel group to escape and go back to their homes, where their families will accept them no matter what atrocities they might have committed. Emmanuel Daba, one of the broadcasters at Radio Zereda and the head of an LRA victim's association was abducted by in 2008, and spent a year with the rebels. "We conducted raids on villages in South Sudan and the Congo," he says. "We killed a lot of people with machetes, with sticks and clubs," he said. Daba was one of thousands of boys and girls abducted by the LRA since the group launched an insurgency in Uganda more than 20 years ago. Since then, the group has expanded into South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. Once numbering in the thousands, the LRA now is believed to have only a few hundred fighters at the most. People here in Obo are optimistic that the recent arrival of U.S. special forces will help deliver the final blow to the elusive group. Inside the Counter-LRA Operations Fusion Center in the Central African Republic, U.S. advisors meet with their counterparts from the Ugandan military and the Central African Armed Forces. Maps of Central Africa line the walls in the main conference room, along with photographs of LRA commanders, including the group's leader Joseph Kony. The center is part of the U.S. advise and assist mission in central Africa, a deployment authorized by President Barack Obama last year. U.S. commanders say the troops are not going out on patrols, but are working in the background, to improve the capacity of regional militaries. Information in this theater is critical, said Navy Captain Ken Wright, the Commander of U.S. Counter-LRA activities. And so our ability to push large amounts of information around the area is where we provide a lot of 'gap fillers,' if you will, where our partner nations do not have those capabilities. And we see those as the strong points where we bring things to the table that a couple more people on a patrol would just not provide as much affect. Ugandan military spokesman Army Colonel Felix Kulayigye says U.S. intelligence support could be the turning point in the hunt for Kony. As you are aware, a military without intelligence is as good as a blind person. We believe this support will definitely help us capture Kony or kill him," he said. Despite advanced intelligence, finding Kony is no easy task. His rebels have all but abandoned using mobile or satellite telephones to communicate with one another, making them very difficult to track. Colonel Kulayigye says intelligence reports suggest that Kony is somewhere in the Central African Republic, although he recently said the rebel leader was in the southern Darfur region of Sudan. The United Nations reports there have 53 LRA attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic during the first three months of the year.

And although LRA attacks have be less frequent and less deadly than in recent years, fear of the group continues to keep people awake at night in the villages of central Africa.
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News Headline: Al-Qaeda is weaker without bin Laden, but its franchise persists | News Date: 04/29/2012 Outlet Full Name: Washington Post News Text: As U.S. helicopters approached in darkness a year ago, Osama bin Laden was woefully unprepared: no means of escape, no way to destroy files, no succession plan. But U.S. intelligence analysts scouring the trove of data he left behind continue to find evidence that al-Qaeda was making provisions for the long term, plans that in some cases remain on track. Among the previously undisclosed records is a lengthy paper by bin Laden's successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, laying out the al-Qaeda strategy for Afghanistan in the years after the United States withdraws, current and former U.S. officials said. Other files show that through his couriers, bin Laden was in touch not only with al-Qaeda's established affiliates but also with upstarts being groomed for new alliances. Among them was Nigeria's Boko Haram, a group that has since embraced al-Qaeda and adopted its penchant for suicide attacks. Tracing clues in the trove against developments of the past year has been a focal point for U.S. counterterrorism officials seeking to assess what has become of al-Qaeda since the U.S. Navy SEAL raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The emerging picture is of a network that is crumpled at its core, apparently incapable of an attack on the scale of Sept. 11, 2001, yet poised to survive its founder's demise. U.S. officials have debated since bin Laden's death what is the trajectory of this organization and when will we know that we've actually defeated it, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said. The answer so far is split. The organization that brought us 9/11 is essentially gone, said the official, among several who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss U.S. intelligence assessments of al-Qaeda with reporters a year after bin Laden was killed. But the movement ... the ideology of the global jihad, bin Laden's philosophy that survives in a variety of places outside Pakistan. That assessment is considerably more measured than some that were offered in the afterglow of the raid in Abbottabad. Most notably, Leon E. Panetta, after leaving his post as CIA director to become secretary of defense, said he was convinced that we're within reach of strategically defeating al-Qaeda. That prospect seemed to grow more tantalizing through the remainder of last year, as CIA drones picked apart al-Qaeda's upper ranks. Among those killed in the flurry of strikes were Ilyas Kashmiri, an operative bin Laden tasked with finding a way to kill President Obama, and Atiyah Abdul Rahman, who was in day-to-day charge of al-Qaeda and served as the main link between bin Laden and the network he built.

When a CIA drone killed Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born cleric accused of helping al-Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen plot attacks, even the network's most aggressive franchise seemed suddenly vulnerable. Since then, however, the momentum has slowed, and al-Qaeda has maneuvered past problems that U.S. officials hoped would hasten its demise. Zawahiri, for example, has defied predictions that he would fail to hold al-Qaeda together without bin Laden to safeguard the brand. U.S. officials still describe Zawahiri as a divisive figure who lacks bin Laden's charisma. He is less compelling, Robert Cardillo, deputy director of national intelligence, said in a conference call with reporters to discuss the status of al-Qaeda. The group's followers will not offer and have not offered [Zawahiri] the deference provided bin Laden. Still, no rivals to Zawahiri have emerged. And instead of coping with defections, Zawahiri has added groups to the al-Qaeda fold. I don't think he's been the disaster people expected, said Bruce Hoffman, a counterterrorism expert at Georgetown University. Noting that al-Shabab, a militant group in Somalia, formally joined al-Qaeda just two months ago, Hoffman said, terrorist groups don't hitch themselves to falling stars. Under Zawahiri, a bespectacled physician from Egypt, al-Qaeda has made subtle strategic shifts. He is seen as less preoccupied than bin Laden with mounting large-scale attacks against the United States, instead emphasizing regional struggles at a time when that message is more likely to resonate with Muslims in the Middle East. By necessity, Zawahiri has narrowed al-Qaeda's short-term ambitions. Unable to point to a sequel to the Sept. 11 attacks, Zawahiri has sought to find victories in the course of world events. In his taped messages, Zawahiri has depicted the pending U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, budget cuts for the Defense Department and even the Arab Spring as evidence of America's shrinking and retreat. He's trying to jump on the bandwagon, said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst and terrorism expert at the Brookings Institution. Zawahiri has gotten the endorsements of the entire global al-Qaeda empire, Riedel said, but he presides over a core that has been staggered and set back. As a result, U.S. counterterrorism officials are increasingly focused on a roster of regional affiliates. Those groups, in total, will surpass the core al-Qaeda remaining in Pakistan, Cardillo said. Several have showed renewed strength over the past year. The network's once-dormant franchise in Iraq has carried out a string of deadly attacks across the country. It has also reversed smuggling routes that used to bring fighters and weapons in through Syria but are now being used to export violence to the uprising against that country's president, Bashar al-Assad. In North Africa, al-Qaeda's franchise has made millions of dollars through kidnappings and other criminal enterprises, U.S. officials said, and is now using the money to stock up on weapons that have flowed out of Libya after dictator Moammar Gaddafi was overthrown. Still, it is al-Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen that we're most worried about, the affiliate we spend the

most time on, said the senior U.S. counterterrorism official. They're operating in the midst of essentially an insurgency, a multi-polar struggle for the control of Yemen. And that allows them the opportunity to recruit, to fundraise, to plot. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, as the Yemen-based group is known, has fused itself with a regional insurgency that has seized large portions of the country's southern provinces over the past year. The United States has responded by escalating a covert campaign of airstrikes by the CIA and the U.S. military's Joint Special Operations Command. Earlier this month, Obama gave the agency and JSOC expanded authority to conduct strikes against targets that appear to be part of AQAP, even if the identities of those who could be killed is unknown. AQAP is tied to the most recent major attacks on U.S. targets, including the mailing of parcels packed with explosives to addresses in Chicago in 2010, as well as the failed attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day in 2009. AQAP has devoted more of its recent energies to regional ambitions a shift that U.S. counterterrorism officials attribute to opportunism as well as bin Laden's death. It doesn't mean they've abandoned their global jihadist intentions, the U.S. counterterrorism official said. But they are more focused on their local situation partly so they can free up time and space, so that in the future they can take up the mantle again of the global jihad.
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News Headline: Attack on Christians in Nigeria kills at least 15: witness| Reuters | News Date: 04/29/2012 Outlet Full Name: Thomson Reuters News Text: KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen killed at least 15 people and wounded many more on Sunday in an attack on a university theatre being used by Christian worshippers in Kano, a northern Nigerian city where hundreds have died in Islamist attacks this year. Security sources said gunmen arrived on motorbikes and threw small homemade bombs into the theatre before shooting fleeing worshippers. There was sporadic gunfire in other parts of the city later on from attackers driven from the university by the army, the sources said. "I counted at least 15 dead bodies. I think they were being taken to the Amino Kano teaching hospital," said a witness who did not wish to be identified. He said he saw many more people being treated for injuries. A security source said at least 15 people were dead and a source at the hospital said by telephone he had seen 10-15 dead bodies brought in with gunshot wounds and dozens more wounded were being treated. Bayero University spokesman, Mustapha Zahradeen, said two university professors had been killed in the attacks. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Radical Islamist sect Boko Haram, which wants to carve out an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, has killed hundreds in bomb and gun attacks this year. It mainly targets police and authority figures but has also attacked churches.

The army said it had secured the area. "The attack took place in one of the lecture theatres used as a place of worship by Christians. For sure there are casualties but I can't say how many," said Ikedichi Iweha, an army spokesman. "The elements came, used explosives and guns to attack them. We have repelled them and cordoned off the area," Iweha said. Red Cross officials said they were trying to get access and had no details on casualties. BOMB EXPLOSIONS "For over 30 minutes a series of bomb explosions and gun shots took over the old campus, around the academic blocks," said Mohammed Suleiman, a history lecturer at the Bayero University. "It started at about 0930 (0830 GMT) this morning ... our school security men had to run for their dear lives. You can see smoke all over," Suleiman said. Clashes between Boko Haram gunmen and security forces have flared up several times in Kano since the sect killed 186 people in January, its deadliest attack so far. On Easter Sunday, 36 people were killed when a suspected member of Boko Haram attempted to force a car packed with explosives into a church compound during a service in the northern town of Kaduna. After being stopped by security he turned back and the bomb exploded near a large group of motorbike taxi riders. Boko Haram set off a series of bombs across Nigeria on Christmas Day last year, including one at a church outside the capital Abuja that killed at least 37 people. Africa's most populous nation of more than 160 million is split roughly equally between a largely Christian south and a mostly Muslim north. Suicide car bombers targeted the offices of Nigerian newspaper This Day in the capital Abuja and in Kaduna last week, killing at least four people in coordinated strikes. This Day is based in southern Nigeria and is broadly supportive of President Goodluck Jonathan's government - the main target of Boko Haram's insurgency. Jonathan has been criticised for failing to get a grip on the sect's wave of violence, which has gained momentum since his presidential election victory a year ago. The president has relied mostly on a heavy-handed military approach to dealing with the violence and an attempt at mediated dialogue with the sect broke off last month after details of negotiations were leaked to the media. On a visit to the This Day bomb site in Abuja on Saturday Jonathan refused to be drawn on whether talks with Boko Haram were ongoing but he did not count them out. "Just like a war situation, you may dialogue, you may not dialogue, depending on the circumstances. But we will exploit every means possible to bring this to an end," Jonathan told reporters.

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News Headline: Journalists in Nigeria, long threatened, become target of radical Islamist sect |

News Date: 04/28/2012 Outlet Full Name: Washington Post News Text: ISHERI, Nigeria Nigeria journalists, already the targets of threats and bribes, face a new danger after a radical Islamist sect bombed the offices of a major newspaper in the country and vowed to hit the media hard in Africa's most populous nation. The sect known as Boko Haram claimed the suicide car bombing Thursday at the offices of the influential newspaper ThisDay in Nigeria's capital Abuja and an attack on an office the publication shared with others in the city of Kaduna, violence that killed at least seven people. The sect later issued a statement via an Internet publication saying it would target media groups that published stories it found unfair, a major threat by a group known to have killed at least two journalists already in its ongoing sectarian battle with Nigeria's weak central government. It's no longer like it was before, when you could pick up your bag and stroll into town and start reporting, said Deji Bademosi, a journalist who supervises reporters at the private network Channels Television. The press in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with more than 160 million residents, at times resembles the age of newspaper barons and yellow journalism in the U.S. Oligarch families and politicians own many of the major newspapers that circulate in the country, while military rulers previously handed out television broadcast licenses to trusted friends. ThisDay is owned by media mogul Nduka Obaigbena, whose flashy events in Nigeria have drawn celebrities from former U.S. President Bill Clinton to rapper Jay-Z. Obaigbena also has strong ties to the country's elite and the ruling People's Democratic Party. Outside of shortwave radio newscasts by the BBC and others, newspapers remain the dominant messenger in Nigeria, where electricity is scarce and most people live on under $2 a day. Hawkers stroll through traffic in major cities waving newspapers with bold, screaming headlines. Those in Friday's editions ranged from Media Under Attack to Now, news hunters become the hunted. This is a throwback to the military era, when journalists were hounded and hunted by security agents. It was a terrible era when a number of journalists were killed, reporter Emeka Madunagu wrote in Friday's edition of the widely published Nigerian newspaper The Punch. The media has not fared better since the return of civilian rule in 1999, as journalists have been targeted and killed. Journalists themselves remain woefully underpaid, sometimes seeing their salaries arrive months late. ThisDay suffered an embarrassment several months ago when someone took control of the publication's Twitter account and began sending messages demanding Obaigbena pay his staffers their overdue wages. The newspaper later deleted the messages. The lack of pay has prompted many journalists to ask interview subjects for money to cover their transport and other expenses. So-called brown envelope bribes routinely get handed to reporters covering news conferences, with journalists sometimes writing down their absent colleagues' names to collect more money. Despite those ethical concerns, Nigeria's press largely enjoys the freedom to publish what it

wants. Columnists routinely take on powerful politicians and the country's elite. However, security agencies and thugs have harassed and beaten journalists in the past. A letter bomb killed prominent journalist Dele Giwa in 1986, which many believe the military government of the time orchestrated. Since 1992, at least 10 journalists have been killed because of their work, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Eight others have been killed for unclear reasons. In recent months, Boko Haram killed two journalists. Sect gunmen shot and killed Zakariya Isa, a videographer for the state-run Nigerian Television Authority, in the northeast city of Maiduguri in October 2011. In January, sect members shot and killed Channels Television journalist Enenche Akogwu as he reported on an ongoing attack in the northern city of Kano that killed at least 185 people. Foreign journalists working in Nigeria routinely travel with bulletproof vests and helmets, as well as medical supplies, when covering violence in the country. Others have hired advisers from private security companies to take along on assignments. However, their local colleagues rarely have such equipment, training or assistance. They also live with their families in communities where ethnic, religious and political violence remain common and police protection often remains inadequate at best. At Channels Television, managers have repeatedly talked to reporters about working safely in the field, Bademosi said. However, he acknowledged some in the industry have begun considering self-censoring their reports about Boko Haram out of fear of being targeted next. As journalists, we have to be very careful, Bademosi said. We have become targets.
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News Headline: Mali coup leader rejects ECOWAS troop deployment | News Date: 04/29/2012 Outlet Full Name: France 24 News Text: AFP - The captain who led a coup in Mali last month before handing power back to a civilian president rejected Saturday the decision by West African states to send troops. "All the decisions announced in Abidjan were reached without consulting us," Amadou Haya Sanogo told reporters. "I do not agree with the deployment of soldiers from the Economic Community of West Africa States", or ECOWAS. "No foreign soldier will step on Malian soil without being invited by the Malian government," he added. Sanogo also rejected an ECOWAS decision to set a 12-month transition until presidential and legislative elections, and said he should be judged on his work after interim President Dioncounada Traore's mandate runs out. "ECOWAS took its decisions unilaterally, which means they do not bind us," said Sanogo. "The interim president will serve 40 days, after that I'll assume responsibility." Leaders from the 15-state regional bloc, gathered for an extraordinary summit on the crises in Mali and Guinea-Bissau, decided Thursday to deploy a stabilisation force to both countries. Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, current head of ECOWAS, pledged a firm response to the instability "to prevent our sub-region from giving into terrorism and transnational criminality".

Sanogo led a group of renegade soldiers who toppled Amadou Toumani Toure on March 22, shattering the landlocked country's image as a democratic success story in the region. Under diplomatic pressure from Mali's partners and military pressure from an advancing rebellion in northern Mali, he agreed to hand power over to Traore, the former speaker, who was sworn in as president on April 12. ECOWAS on Thursday urged the military to return to the barracks, amid allegations that the former junta still interferes with the country's political life and that the return to constitutional rule is not complete. Political leaders and diplomats in Mali also suspect the coup leaders may be reluctant to return to the barracks, and former colonial master France on Friday called on them to abide by signed agreements and give up control of public ORTM radio and television.
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News Headline: S. Sudan says 21 dead in clash with Sudanese-backed militia | News Date: 04/29/2012 Outlet Full Name: Thomson Reuters News Text: JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan, embroiled in a border dispute with its northern neighbour Sudan, said on Sunday at least 21 people died in two days of clashes between the South's army and Khartoum-backed rebels in the South's oil-producing Upper Nile state. The clash, which erupted on Friday and continued into the next day, took place in Wau, near Malakal, the administrative centre of Upper Nile, a volatile area that borders Sudan and Ethiopia. "Twenty-one bodies were counted on the ground, some of whom were from the north and some from the south," said Philip Aguer, spokesman for South Sudan's army (SPLA), adding that three militia members and four trucks had been captured. South Sudan's Information Minister told Reuters on Saturday two SPLA soldiers had died in that attack. Sudan's army denied Khartoum supported militias in South Sudan and spokesman al-Sawarmi Khalid said Sudan had nothing to do with the clash. "We have nothing to do what is happening in Malakal. We don't support any militias in South Sudan," he said. Khartoum and Juba accuse each other of supporting rebel militia to destabilise their opponents, and each denies the other's charges. Malakal is a base for many U.N. agencies and international aid groups. Aguer also said the SPLA was pursuing Sudanese-backed militia near Western Bahr al-Ghazal. He said rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army and the Popular Defence Force were responsible for the attack late on Saturday. "The SPLA is trying its best to clear that area," he said. Weeks of fighting between Sudan and South Sudan have threatened to escalate into all-out war, despite intense diplomatic efforts to bring the former civil war foes back to the negotiating

table. The African neighbours have failed to resolve a string of disputes over oil revenues, border demarcation and citizenship since the South seceded from Sudan nine months ago.
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News Headline: Sudan 'declares emergency' on border with South Suda | News Date: 04/29/2012 Outlet Full Name: BBC News News Text: Sudan has reportedly declared a state of emergency along its border with South Sudan after weeks of clashes. The decree will apply in the border districts of the South Kordofan, White Nile and Sennar states, according to the state-run Suna news agency. Meanwhile, South Sudan has said it is willing to pull its police forces out of the disputed Abyei border region. The current clashes began earlier this month when South Sudan occupied the Heglig oilfield area for 10 days. The state of emergency "gives the right to the president and anyone with his mandate" to establish special courts, in consultation with the chief justice, according to Suna. There were fresh skirmishes between the two countries' forces on Sunday, reports the BBC's Andrew Harding from the Sudan-South Sudan border. South Sudanese forces fired at helicopter gunships, prompting Sudanese artillery to respond, our correspondent says. South Sudanese authorities have meanwhile informed the United Nations that it is prepared to withdraw police forces from the disputed region of Abyei. "The minister of interior will enhance the withdrawal of South Sudan's police force from Abyei... as long as the UN and African Union will look after its citizens in the area", a South Sudanese spokesman told AFP news agency. 'Abduction' Also on Sunday, a South African de-mining company said two of its employees, who were among four foreigners detained by Sudanese forces on Saturday, were there for "humanitarian work". "We are doing... landmine clearance on a UN contract and our members have full UN immunity. The abduction took place well within South Sudan territory," Ashley Williams, CEO of stateowned Mechem, told AFP. The four - from the UK, Norway, South Africa and South Sudan - have been flown to the Sudanese capital Khartoum for "further investigations". Sudanese officials insist the men were aiding South Sudan, a charge rejected by the South. Tension between the countries has been rising since the Heglig oilfield was occupied by forces from South Sudan earlier this month.

They left about a week ago, after holding the area for 10 days. Sudan has been accused of carrying out a number of air raids on South Sudan this week. It denies the charges. South Sudan became independent from Sudan last year after a civil war that lasted two decades and in which an estimated 1.5 million people were killed.
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News Headline: Libya's ruling council keeping Cabinet in place despite criticism, no-confidence vote | News Date: 04/29/2012 Outlet Full Name: Washington Post News Text: TRIPOLI, Libya Libya's interim ruling council decided Sunday to keep its current Cabinet despite an internal row over dismissing it for alleged incompetence, with a crucial election less than two months away. The head of the National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, told reporters the Cabinet will stay in office to ensure the election is held on time. The June vote is meant to choose a 200-member assembly to form a government and prepare for writing Libya's new constitution. Time is short, and any changes or new measures could obstruct the election of the national council, which is a date that is most important for Libyans and internationally at this critical phase, he said. Both the NTC and the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib have faced persistent criticism that they have been ineffective in tackling the multiple troubles facing the deeply divided nation. The two sides have traded accusations over who is to blame. The NTC has struggled to impose its authority over the vast desert country since the overthrow of longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi last year. Much of the nation is ruled by tribes and militia forces, and clashes among them have been frequent. The central government in Tripoli has been almost powerless to stop them. Last week the NTC voted no confidence in the Cabinet but failed to agree on who would head a new one. The discussions in the council over dismissing the government reflected confusion over decision-making and power struggles among different groups ahead of the election. On Sunday, Abdul-Jalil renewed his confidence in the government, saying it will deal also with security issues and monetary rewards for revolutionaries. He said putting former regime officials on trial is another priority.
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News Headline: Sudan defends use of air strikes in South Sudan conflict | News Date: 04/29/2012 Outlet Full Name: Thomson Reuters News Text: KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations has defended his country's right to use air strikes against South Sudanese troops who Khartoum says are

inside Sudanese territory. Dafallah ElHaj Ali Osman, however, stopped short of saying whether Sudan had carried out the air strikes over the past few weeks that Juba claims Khartoum had launched on its territories. Weeks of fighting along Sudan and South Sudan's 1,800 km (1,100 mile) contested border has brought the neighbours close to a full-blown war. The United Nations Security Council has demanded that Sudan immediately stop the air strikes. Sudan has denied carrying out the air strikes and accused Juba of starting the fighting and troop build-up at the border. "The Sudanese government has the right to defend the unity of its territories using all means, including the use of aircraft weaponry against these forces, especially because they are inside the territories of the Republic of Sudan," Osman was quoted as saying on the state news agency on Sunday. SUNA said he also called on the Security Council to "be accurate and precise about reports of aerial bombardments during the time that aggressor troops are present inside Sudanese territories, carrying out military operations against Sudan". South Sudan's army is known to have 10 helicopters and a light transport aircraft. The Sudanese armed forces are known to have 61 combat capable aircraft, including 23 fighter aircraft. On Monday Juba said Sudanese warplanes dropped bombs that killed two people in Bentiu, the capital of the South's Unity state and on Saturday it said eight bombs were dropped in Panakuach, also in Unity state. SUNA said Osman urged the Security Council to condemn the South Sudanese army's (SPLA) "aggression on Sudanese lands". The neighbours have failed to resolve a string of disputes, including oil export revenues and citizenship, since South Sudan gained independence from Sudan nine months ago. Tensions between Khartoum and Juba worsened after Sudan said on Saturday it had detained three foreigners it accused of being spies for the SPLA, allegations denied by Juba. The foreigners included one U.N. staff member as well as demining workers from Norwegian People's Aid and MECHEM, a South African-based demining company.
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News Headline: Report: Gadhafi gave to Sarkozy's 2007 campaign | News Date: 04/28/2012 Outlet Full Name: CNN.com News Text: (CNN) -- The campaign of French presidential front-runner Francois Hollande called for a criminal investigation into President Nicolas Sarkozy after a media report Saturday accused the president of taking 50 million euros ($66.3 million) for his 2007 campaign from then-Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi. Mediapart, a French online magazine, claimed in its report to have a Gadhafi government document, detailing an agreement to fund the campaign. The alleged document, dated

December 10, 2006, states that then-Libyan intelligence chief Moussa Koussa authorized secret payments to Sarkozy through an intermediary, Mediapart reports. CNN was not immediately able to confirm the authenticity of the published document. Sarkozy has dismissed the allegation as "grotesque." During a television interview aired by TF1 last month, Sarkozy addressed the accusation, which has surfaced periodically since at least last year: "If (Gadhafi) had funded (my campaign), frankly, I would not have been very grateful," he said. France supported the 2011 NATO intervention in Libya that helped to topple the longtime leader. Gadhafi was ousted, then was fatally wounded in a gunbattle that broke out after his capture on October 20. His son and one-time heir apparent Saif al-Islam Gadhafi was captured by Libya's new authorities and is awaiting trial. During a televised interview with Euronews in March 2011, after France recognized the National Transitional Council as the legitimate authority in Libya, Gadhafi's son claimed Libya contributed to the Sarkozy campaign. "The first thing we want this clown to do is give the money back to the Libyan people. He was given assistance so he could help them, but he has disappointed us," Saif al-Islam Gadhafi said. The deposed Libyan leader's son then claimed that Libya had "all the bank details for the transfer operations." Despite pledging to make these transactions public, the Gadhafi regime, before and after its downfall, never produced any evidence it financed the Sarkozy campaign. "When one quotes Mr. Gadhafi, who is dead, or his son, who is standing trial, the credibility is zero. And when you drag up their accounts with these questions you are asking, you quite degrade this political debate," Sarkozy said in the TF1 interview. But Hollande's campaign is calling for the president to come clean. "The fact that these revelations take place within days of the second round of the presidential election is not sufficient to demonstrate that they are 'grotesque.' It is now up to justice to reveal the truth: Either establish the facts and prosecute, or otherwise provide proof that these are false allegations," said Hollande spokeswoman Delphine Batho. French records for the 2007 presidential election show that the Sarkozy campaign declared 21.3 million euros ($28.2 million) in contributions it received, according to the National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing, the French government body that monitors and records campaign financing. Hollande and Sarkozy face a runoff vote for the presidency on May 6. Sarkozy, who leads the center-right UMP party, received 27.2% of the vote in the first round of voting, just behind Hollande's 28.6%. Hollande is a member of the center-left Socialist party. If elected, Hollande would be France's first left-wing president since Francois Mitterrand left office in 1995. Sarkozy has been president since 2007. The two contenders are expected to take part in their first head-to-head televised debate on Wednesday.
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News Headline: Blood, sweat and jungle: Hunting Kony with squads |

News Date: 04/28/2012 Outlet Full Name: Daily Monitor News Text: Sweat dripping from his unkempt beard, second lieutenant Kasim Lukumo halted briefly to point at the thick tangle of the central African jungle. See how difficult it can be to find someone here if they want to hide from you, Lukumo told AFP, as he adjusted the straps of his 30-kilo pack and the automatic rifle slung across his chest. You can't see more than just some few metres around and in front of you -- sometimes you can't see someone even when they are near. If there is a frontline in the hunt for Joseph Kony and his rebel Lord's Resistance Army, then Lukumo and the 60 other soldiers in 77-Juliet squad are on it. The unit is one of several dozen Ugandan army hunting squads -- backed up since late last year by 100 American special forces troops -- searching for any traces of the brutal rebel group in an inhospitable 400-kilometre stretch in the far eastern corner of the Central African Republic. For the past two months, 77-Juliet have trekked almost a thousand kilometres across an unpopulated wedge of land between two rivers -- dense stretches of jungle alternating with open patches of sun-scorched rocks -- where the Ugandan military believe Kony and his top commanders are hiding out. Waking before dawn each morning they pack up last night's camp before receiving the coordinates for that day's march from intelligence officers at the nearest base a 100 kilometres away. They usually face a march of some 20 kilometres. The plan is to use the squads to constantly harry the rebels, who have splintered into small groups, denying them breathing space to regroup and resupply. And the Ugandan army says those tactics are paying off. The man is weak -- he is feeling pressure and in a bad condition because he has no supplies, no food, captain Daud Muhamad, the commander of 77-Juliet, told AFP. He leaned against a towering tique tree, swatting away at the swarm of tiny flies buzzing ceaselessly around his head. Infamous for mutilating their victims and abducting children to use as sex slaves and porters, the LRA have terrorised the region for over two decades. Last month a video calling for the arrest of Kony, a former altar boy who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, became an unlikely Internet sensation. The Kony2012 film -- made by US advocacy group Invisible Children -- was watched by over 100 million people and the group has urged supporters around the world to put up posters of Kony in their cities this Friday night. Now the Ugandan army says the rebels in this area number just 120 fighters -- with another 100 women and abducted children. They have stopped attacking local communities and survive by feeding on wild yams or whatever animals and fish they can catch, the army says. But after more than 25 years waging a brutal insurgency, the LRA remain masters of evasion. They have been told not to fight with us and that if they see us they should just run away -- they are difficult to catch, said Muhamad. He has been part of the Ugandan operation chasing the LRA across three countries since the country's air force bombed the rebels' camps in Congo

over three years ago. Since the start of the year small groups remaining close to the border with Congo -- where the Ugandan army does not have permission to operate -- have started attacking civilians again, prompting fears that the rebels could try to push south to Congo. Recently the African Union announced it had set up a 5,000-strong force to combat the LRA and improve coordination between regional armies, but there is no evidence of the much-heralded taskforce on the ground. The Ugandan operation got a boost late last year from the world's most powerful military when 100 US special forces deployed to the region following a directive from President Barack Obama. In the forward base at Djema, roughly 150 kilometres from the border with South Sudan, a clean-cut captain makes brief small talk about local beer. But he refuses to answer any questions about the work the US troops are doing. Beyond that they are just seven names signed in the base's guest book. US officials have said that the troops -- most of whom are based in Uganda -- will help bolster the Ugandan forces where they need help most -- intelligence gathering and coordination and logistics. So far, the soldiers in 77-Juliet say none of the US troops have been out in the bush with them. But they communicate regularly with surveillance planes they say are flown -- sometimes at night -- by Americans and have seen their supplies and morale boosted in recent months. Joseph Balikudembe, the overall commander of the Ugandan operation, said the US deployment added value to the current operation. He hoped the mix of a weakened LRA, US intelligence and the Ugandan hunting squads on the ground could shift the balance definitively. This combination can definitely help us weaken and hopefully eliminate the LRA -- we have to keep on working together to push on and end the threat, Balikudembe said at the main Ugandan operational base at Nzara in South Sudan. But while the US troops may help bolster the hunt, it is down to the Ugandan squads -- slogging their way through perilous jungle rivers and crawling through vines -- to hunt the LRA on the ground, sometimes at a heavy price. On Wednesday a Ugandan soldier died after he was attacked by a crocodile, just weeks after a member of 77-Juliet was seriously wounded as he crossed a river. The death was the second of a Ugandan soldier hunting the LRA this year, after another one was killed in a shootout with rebels.
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News Headline: Freed Moroccan editor says stop jailing journalists | News Date: 04/29/2012 Outlet Full Name: Thomson Reuters News Text: RABAT (Reuters) - A Moroccan editor who rights activists say was unjustly prosecuted for criticising the authorities walked free after completing his one-year jail sentence on Saturday and demanded an end to the practice of sending journalists to prison.

Rights group Amnesty International has described Rachid Nini as a "prisoner of conscience" and said he was punished for highlighting corruption and abuses by the kingdom's authorities, especially the security services. Since Nini's arrest, pressure has been building for Morocco to stop using its criminal justice system to jail journalists over what they write, especially after the "Arab Spring" revolts improved media freedom in many parts of the region. "I hope that I will be the last journalist to be imprisoned and tried under the criminal law," Nini told reporters and supporters who gathered at his home near Casablanca, Morocco's commercial capital, on Saturday. "We want a press law to try journalists and not to be treated as criminals." Nini was arrested in April last year. A court ruled he was guilty of crimes including "discrediting a court, trying to influence the judiciary and publishing information about untrue criminal offences". It had been expected Nini would be released at 0730 GMT on Saturday from Casablanca's Oukacha prison. A crowd gathered outside to greet him. But rights activists said the authorities set him free about four hours earlier, when no one was there. Morocco's new government, led by moderate Islamists who until late last year were in opposition, have said they will try to end old practices of jailing people unlawfully and abusing the rights of dissidents. Rights activists say change is coming slowly. They point to the prosecution of a rapper over a song he posted on YouTube that was critical of the authorities. The rapper, known as El-Haqed, or "the Sullen One," is awaiting trial. "We still have violations of freedom of expression and press freedom, this is still taking place in Morocco," Khadija Ryadi, chair of the Moroccan Human Rights Association, told Reuters.
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News Headline: Eritrean TV shows president after health rumours | News Date: 04/29/2012 Outlet Full Name: Thomson Reuters News Text: ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Eritrean state television has broadcast an interview with President Isaias Afewerki to quash speculation about his health after days of absence from public view. Rumours about the fate of the president, in power since 1993 after leading his country to independence from Ethiopia, made the rounds earlier this week after Isaias failed to make his normally regular appearances on television for several days. "I am lucky, I enjoy robust health," Isaias, 66, told state-run EriTV in what the station said was a live interview conducted late on Saturday. He looked relaxed and was wearing a loose white shirt. "The speculated ill-health is only in the minds of the authors of such a baseless rumor," the president added in the interview, extracts of which were translated by the information ministry. Eritrea's exiled opposition has said repeatedly that the president is suffering from a serious liver

ailment and has been receiving medical attention in Qatar, with which his nation has close ties. Speculation about his health has stirred debate over who might eventually replace him. Isaias has no obvious successor but the opposition says he might be grooming his son, Abraham, for the top job. U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks have also mentioned the possibility of the military elite aiming to take over power in the Red Sea state. Eritrea refuted speculation about his health last week and accused the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of spreading "lies" about it. Asmara often criticises Washington saying it backs arch-rival Ethiopia in the two countries' frontier dispute. Eritrea and Ethiopia have been at loggerheads since their 1998-2000 border war, which killed 70,000 people, and they accuse one another of backing the other's rebels and working to topple the other's government. Isaias accused Washington last month of plotting Ethiopian cross-border raids that targeted alleged rebel camps. The president said "he had been abroad on a 3-day working visit, and that upon return home he has been on a tour of inspection to Gash-Barka, Anseba and the Northern Red Sea regions from 21 to 22 April," the ministry said. Eritrean television is blocked in neighbouring Ethiopia but the interview was posted on internet websites. With no independent media and frequent accusations of harassment of journalists, Eritrea is consistently ranked among the world's top violators of press freedom by rights groups. Eritrea, for its part, accuses media rights groups of launching a smear campaign against the nation.
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News Headline: South African security trainer killed in northern Somalia, government investigating | News Date: 04/28/2012 Outlet Full Name: Washington Post News Text: MOGADISHU, Somalia A South African security trainer was killed by his bodyguard in Somalia's semiautonomous region of Puntland, officials said Saturday. Puntland's government said in a statement Saturday that it had launched an investigation into Friday's killing. The statement identified the man as Lodewyk Pietersen, and said he worked for Saracen International, a security firm that trains anti-piracy forces in Puntland. The statement said the South African was 55 and married with children. South African foreign ministry spokesman Clayson Monyela said Saturday no official word has been received from consular staff handling South African interests in Somalia. We have not yet been alerted to such an incident, he said. The statement said the trainer was killed while accompanying Puntland's maritime forces on a government-approved mission targeting pirates near Hul-Anod, a coastal area favored by

pirates who use it as a base to hijack ships for ransom. Pietersen was shot dead by his Somali bodyguard after an argument, according to a Puntland official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the matter. The official said Puntland's security forces were hunting for the killer. Somalia's prime minister recently said that al-Qaida-linked militants were fleeing to mountainous hideouts in Puntland after facing increasing military pressure around Somalia's capital, Mogadishu. Somalia, which has not had a functioning central government for more than two decades, is one of the most dangerous places for foreigners to work.
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News Headline: Zimbabwe: Mugabe Succession Game Plan Exposed | News Date: 04/29/2012 Outlet Full Name: AllAfrica.com News Text: Harare PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe will only anoint a successor in his Zanu PF party after elections, which the 88-year-old leader wants held this year hoping to win against all odds. Mugabe insisted last week he would not quit power until after all foreign-owned businesses have ceded majority ownership to blacks. Sources in the party said Mugabe has instructed the two leading contenders in the race to succeed him, Vice-President Joice Mujuru and Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, to stop plotting against each other and instead concentrate on ensuring that the party becomes united ahead of elections. The sources said this explained why Mujuru pledged before Mugabe two weeks ago that she would not run for presidency as long as he remained in power. The same week, Mnangagwa also dismissed reports that he had entered a secret pact with Mugabe to take over the leadership of the country. The claim was also rebuffed by Zanu PF secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa and party spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo, who said Mnangagwa was too junior in the party to be the top contender for the post. "Mugabe has separately promised Mujuru and Mnangagwa that he will back them if he wins the election," said a Zanu PF politburo source. "This is why you have seen the two faction leaders displaying loyalty to Mugabe, both claiming that they are not interested in occupying the highest office in the land, yet deep down they are itching to take over from him." Another source said Mugabe still believed he was the only one in the party with a realistic chance to beat Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of MDC-T in elections. He said Mugabe was eager to hold elections this year with or without a new constitution because he fears that if the polls were delayed, it would become almost impossible for him to campaign next year due to old age and deteriorating health. "Mugabe has promised the party he will win the elections by whatever means necessary, even if it means the creation of a GNU 2," said the official. Zanu PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo, said the issue of succession would be discussed by the politburo at the "appropriate" time.

"The politburo is the policy-making body outside congress and this issue of succession will be discussed at some of our forthcoming meetings," he said. Political analyst, Shakespeare Hamauswa, said Mugabe had stopped the succession debate after realising that divisions within the party would likely worsen if the issue continued to be raised. "Mugabe probably thinks that discussing succession is not good for a party which is going for elections. This will cause further divisions and reduce his chances of winning," he said. University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer, Professor John Makumbe, said Mugabe wanted to win the next elections and thereafter hand over power to whoever Zanu PF selects as the next party leader. "What he does not know is that the proposed new constitution might say a new president must be elected in 90 days of his leaving office and he or she may not come from Zanu PF," he said. But former Zimbabwe National Liberation Army (Zanla) commander, Dzinashe Machingura said Mugabe would never appoint a successor as he now behaved like a king with divine power to rule for life. "Since Mugabe assumed power in Zanu PF in 1977, there have been no real elections in the party. We have now regressed into a system of chieftainship, where the issue of succession is only discussed after one's death," he said.
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News Headline: United Nations News Centre - Africa Briefs | News Date: 04/29/2012 Outlet Full Name: United Nations News Service News Text: Security Council welcomes conviction in war crimes trial of Charles Taylor 27 April The Security Council today joined welcomed the guilty verdict handed down against former Liberian President Charles Taylor for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during Sierra Leone's civil war.
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