AFRICOM Related News Clips 20 Jan 2012

8/3/2019 AFRICOM Related News Clips 20 Jan 2012

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United States Africa CommandPublic Affairs Office20 January 2012

USAFRICOM - related news stories

Please find attached news clips related to U.S. Africa Command and Africa for January20, 2012, along with upcoming events of interest and UN News Service briefs.

Of interest in todays clips:-'Dozens' killed in Mali clashes-US Advisers Raise Hopes in Hunt for Rebel Warlord-Cameroon region concerned about Islamist militants

-US plans to defy Khartoum with aid for starving Sudan 01/19/2012 The National-A Military Cutback We Can't Afford: Fighting Tropical Diseases-Clinton Promotes Democracy in Four-Nation Africa Trip

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

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

'Dozens' killed in Mali clashes (Al Jazeera)

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/01/201212005320729639.htmlJanuary 20, 2012Country fears nomadic fighters once employed by Gaddafi regime in Libya have returned

home to renew independence fight.At least 45 rebels and two government soldiers have died this week during fighting innothern Mali, the country's military said.

US Advisers Raise Hopes in Hunt for Rebel Warlord (Spiegel)

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,808793,00.htmlJanuary 19, 2012By Horand KnaupHis troops murder, rape and force children to become killers. For decades, rebel leaderJoseph Kony has savagely terrorized the jungles of Central Africa and evaded all his


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would-be captors. Many are hoping that bringing 100 US military advisers into the fightwill finally end it.

News Headline: The Butchers Of Nigeria (Newsweek)

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/01/15/wole-soyinka-on-nigeria-s-anti-

christian-terror-sect-boko-haram.htmlJanuary 20, 2012By Wole SoyinkaHow a corrupt nation bred Boko Haram, the Islamic sect terrorizing the country'sChristians. Over the past year, Nigeria's homegrown terror group Boko Haram hasescalated its deadly attacks against Christian and government targets, with the aim ofestablishing a Sharia state in the country's north.

Cameroon region concerned about Islamist militants (CNN)

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/19/world/africa/cameroon-boko-haram/index.html?iref=24hours

January 20, 2012By Tapang Ivo Tanku, for CNNMaroua, Cameroon (CNN) -- The governor of Cameroon's Far North Region onThursday said threats posed by militant Islamist group Boko Haram were "very critical."

US plans to defy Khartoum with aid for starving Sudan (The National)

http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/africa/us-plans-to-defy-khartoum-with-aid-for-starving-sudanJanuary 19, 2012JUBA, South Sudan The Obama administration is planning a possible humanitarianoperation to prevent mass starvation in two Sudanese states in defiance of the Khartoumgovernment, which has refused to allow aid groups access.

A Military Cutback We Can't Afford: Fighting Tropical Diseases (The Atlantic)

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/01/a-military-cutback-we-cant-afford-fighting-tropical-diseases/251527/January 20, 2012By Dr. Peter Hotez and Dr. James KazuraIn recent months, many politicians and presidential hopefuls have called for budgetreductions, and many have specifically targeted military spending for cutbacks.Unfortunately, even programs proven to be cost effective are vulnerable to cuts. Medicalresearch for our troops is no exception to this rule -- programs such as the Walter ReedArmy Institute of Research (WRAIR) often find themselves low on the priority listdespite their crucial role in saving the lives of our troops on the battlefield and here athome.

Clinton Promotes Democracy in Four-Nation Africa Trip (Department of State)

http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2012/01/20120118160641elrem0.1124536.html#axzz1jhdrxL5NJanuary 20, 2012


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By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.WASHINGTON Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton completed a four-nationvisit to Africa to promote democracy, good government and economic reforms, and todemonstrate a U.S. commitment to a post-conflict return to peace.

News Headline: Google launches Web project in South Africa (USA Today)http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-01-19/woza-south-africa-google/52674792/1January 20, 2012By Donna BrysonAssociated PressPRETORIA, South Africa Getting more small companies wired will help theirbusinesses grow, and help their country fight unemployment, officials said Thursday asGoogle launched a project that makes it easy to showcase South African entrepreneurshipon the Internet.

Saving lives, making partners in Africa (News Journal)http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20120119/BUSINESS06/201190309/Saving-lives-making-partners-Africa?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CHome%7CpJanuary 19, 2012By Aaron NathansThe News JournalWILMINGTON -- Aid to impoverished countries can produce big returns in the form ofimproved human health and new markets for U.S. goods, the head of the U.S. Agency forInternational Development told a Wilmington audience on Wednesday.

Ethiopia: Journalists, politician found guilty (Arab News)

http://arabnews.com/world/article565385.eceJanuary 19, 2012By Luc Van KemenadeAssociated PressADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia: An Ethiopian court on Thursday found three journalists, apolitician and a politician's assistant guilty of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism, in acase that drew rebukes from rights groups who fear the country's anti-terrorism law isbeing used to suppress dissent.

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UN News Service Africa Briefs

http://www.un.org/apps/news/region.asp?Region=AFRICA

(Full Articles on UN Website)

Eastern, Southern Africa scale up efforts against high AIDS prevalence - UN official

19 January Eastern and Southern Africa, the region most affected by the HIV/AIDS


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epidemic, is making great strides to scale up access to prevention and treatment services,a United Nations official said today, adding that focus is on behavioural change andprevention of mother-to-child transmission.

Impunity for criminal acts in Darfur camps must stop UN official

19 January The chief of the joint United Nations-African Union operation in Darfur(UNAMID) stressed today his commitment to end impunity for criminal acts indisplacement camps during a meeting with internally displaced persons (IDPs) in thestate of North Darfur.

South Sudan: UN urges redoubling of efforts to end cycle of deadly ethnic violence

19 January The top United Nations envoy in South Sudan today urged an immediateend to the cycle of ethnic violence in the newly independent nation, and called on theGovernment to hold the perpetrators to account and to deploy more forces to key areas toavert further bloodshed.

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Upcoming Events of Interest:

JANUARY 25, 2011

WHEN: 4:00 -7:30 p.m.WHAT: U.S. Institute of Peace, Next Generation Peacebuilding and Social Change inthe Arab World. Featured the U.S. premiere of "Salam Shabab" (Peace Youth), the firstpeacebuilding reality TV series for Iraqi youthWHERE: USIS, 2301 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DCCONTACT: Alexis Toriello at [email protected]: http://www.usip.org/salam-shabab-premiere

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FULLTEXT

'Dozens' killed in Mali clashes (Al Jazeera)

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/01/201212005320729639.htmlJanuary 20, 2012

Country fears nomadic fighters once employed by Gaddafi regime in Libya have returnedhome to renew independence fight.

At least 45 rebels and two government soldiers have died this week during fighting innothern Mali, the country's military said.


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The battles ended several years of fragile peace in the country's northern desert, whichborders Algeria and Mauritania, and appeared to confirm the Malian government's fearthat nomadic Tuareg fighters once employed by the regime of ousted Libyan leaderMuammar Gaddafi had returned.

"Our armed forces have bravely beaten back the attacks of the former Libyan fighters andthe MNLA rebels," the armed forces said in a statement on state media on Thursday,using the acronym of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad.

But Moussa Ag Acharatoumane, a spokesman for the rebels, denied the government'saccount, telling the Reuters news agency that his fighters had killed around 30 to 40soldiers.

The MNLA says it is fighting for independence for the traditional Tuareg homeland ofAzawad, in the Sahara.

"Hunt down the criminals"

The MNLA launched an offensive to seize several northern towns, including Tessalit andAguelhok. Both rebel and government forces claim to be in control of Aguelhoc. TheMNLA spokesman said fighting was suspended in Tessalit to allow for the withdrawal ofAlgerian soldiers who had been helping Mali.

Fighting erupted in Aguelhoc and Tessalit on Wednesday morning, keeping residentsindoors as gunfire was exchanged, a day after the army said it had fought off an attack inthe town of Menaka by bombing rebel positions.

"Lieutenant Oumar Toure, an army officer, said the military "would not allow anyone tomeddle with Mali's sovereignty".

"The instructions are clear: Don't hurt civilians, but use all your energy to hunt down thecriminals," he said.

Sources told Al Jazeera on Thursday that the army was conducting house raids andarrests in the northern towns of Gao and Kidal, targetting Tuareg tribal sheikhs, as well asTuareg military and political figures.

Local government officials in Tessalit and Aguelhoc reported heavy weapons fire onWednesday as the rebels attacked military camps in the two locations.

"Our aim is to flush out the Malian army in several northern towns," said a Tuareg rebelspokesman, who called himself "Moussa Salam", in a telephone interview.

Pro-Gaddafi fighters


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Hundreds of armed Malian Tuareg recently returned from Libya where they foughtalongside troops of toppled leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The MNLA is a movement with no known leader which was founded at the end of 2011after a fusion of rebel groups, including the Northern Mali Tuareg Movement (MTNM),

whose leader died in a road accident last year.

"This new organisation aims to free the people of Azawad from the illegal occupation ofits territory by Mali," the organisation said in its first press statement in October 2011.

The Azawad, a region considered the birthplace of the Tuareg, stretches from the west tothe north of Mali. A nomadic community of some 1.5 million people, Tuareg arescattered between Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Niger and Mali.

Mali and Niger experienced uprisings as the Tuareg fought for recognition of theiridentity and an independent state in the 1960s, 1990s and early 2000 with a resurgence

between 2006 and 2009.

Following these rebellions many fighters left for Libya, where they were integrated intoGaddafi's security forces. After his fall they returned to northern Mali, particularly theAzawad region between Timbuktu and Kidal.

The return of the rebels has added to Mali's woes as the region battles al-Qaeda in theIslamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has carried out many attacks on troops, kidnappings ofWesterners and various trafficking operations, including drugs.

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US Advisers Raise Hopes in Hunt for Rebel Warlord (Spiegel)

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,808793,00.htmlJanuary 19, 2012By Horand Knaup

His troops murder, rape and force children to become killers. For decades, rebel leaderJoseph Kony has savagely terrorized the jungles of Central Africa and evaded all hiswould-be captors. Many are hoping that bringing 100 US military advisers into the fightwill finally end it.

He's like a phantom. Of course, thousands have seen him, tens of thousands have diedbecause of him, and hundreds of thousands have suffered thanks to him and hissupporters. But the people on his trail haven't been able to catch him.

The man is 49-year-old Joseph Kony, the self-appointed general of God, guerrilla fighterand mass murderer. For more than two decades, he and his Lord's Resistance Army(LRA) have terrorized people living in an area of roughly 100,000 square kilometers


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(40,000 square miles) of jungle in Uganda, the Central African Republic (CAR), theDemocratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and South Sudan.

At times, his forces have included several thousand armed men, women and children,though they have reportedly now dwindled to only several hundred. On his behalf, they

have murdered, robbed, plundered and raped. Uganda has sent out elite soldiers to hunthim down. In 2005, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued awarrant for his arrest on charges of committing crimes against humanity. But no one hassucceeded in capturing him.

In October, US President Barack Obama announced that he was sending US forces tojoin in the hunt for Kony. The roughly 100 military advisers will reportedly be stationedin Uganda, where they will help prepare the missions of elite troops hoping to finally gethold of the murderous rogue. However, American officials in Kampala, Uganda's capital,currently decline to provide any detailed information on the mission.

The Roots of Kony's Terror

In 1986, Kony and his followers retreated into the jungle after Uganda's President for abrief time, Tito Okello, from Kony's Acholi tribe in the country's north, was driven frompower by Yoweri Museveni, the country's current ruler, causing the Acholi to fear losingtheir influence and rights. Since then, Kony has called himself a "mouthpiece of God." Atfirst, he assembled a radical group of people that primarily directed its recruiting effortstoward children and youths. His supporters revere him as something of a messiah withprophetic powers. His ideology has always been crude, and he has never had a well-defined political platform. His only motto has been: "We fight for God's TenCommandments."

Over the years, Kony's army has grown larger and more brutal. Children have beenabducted and their parents murdered. LRA members regularly execute those who try torun away.

Merciless Murder

Kony is believed to have recruited over 100,000 children over the years, primarily byforce. He turns them into soldiers who murder, rape and pillage. A while back, FlorenceAmeny, a former member of the LRA, described what it meant to be kidnapped byKony's forces. "I was 13 when I was kidnapped," she said. "That was 1992. All the girlswere raped. I was eventually married to a 50-year-old fighter." Long marches werecommonplace, she says, and the children were forced to carry heavy loads, which causedmany of them to collapse from exhaustion. Raids and fighting were part of everyday life,as were the frequent executions of fellow fighters. The children were systematicallytaught to have no pity, sympathy or other feelings. Florence was also a soldier. And shealso killed the defenseless, including women and children.


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Florence says that anybody caught trying to escape was killed. Some were burned todeath, others drowned, others hacked to pieces. Kony has never known any mercy. After12 years, Florence finally succeeded in escaping with her three children and reaching arefugee camp in northern Uganda.

Having failed to capture Kony with various special operations, the Ugandan governmenttried to play nice for a while. Government negotiators tried to get him to give up, goingso far as to guarantee him safe passage, despite the ICC's demands for extradition. Butafter the talks broke down in 2008, Kony retreated back into the jungle, where he hascontinued the killing ever since.

Evading His Pursuers

On several occasions, Kony has narrowly escaped capture. Last October, officials thoughtthat they had detected him in Ndjema, in the Central African Republic. But when theystruck, they only found a basin of water and a towel that had just been abandoned. Kony

had vanished.

Before that, in late 2008, Ugandan forces almost captured him in Garamba National Park,in Congo's remote northeastern corner. More than a dozen US military advisers had cometo Uganda and provided native forces with support in the form of night-vision goggles,fuel and satellite telephones. After pursuers led by President Museveni's son MuhooziKainerugaba had pinpointed Kony's location using satellite images, Ugandan helicoptersdropped bombs on the camp. What they didn't know, however, was that he had alreadyabandoned it. Ugandan soldiers who reached the camp days later said they liberated 100children. Otherwise, their only spoils were cookware, three rifles, a wig and a guitar.Kony took his revenge some days later by raiding several villages not far from the park.

These kinds stories feed the myth of the general's invulnerability. Even Florence Amenybelieves he has magical powers. "He told everyone outright whether they would die, fleeor rise in the LRA hierarchy. It was always correct."

But the truth is much more commonplace. Kony is clever. And careful. For example, toavoid detection, he has banned the use of satellite phones around him.

Beefing Up the Hunt

Kony has also benefited from the fact that Uganda, the DRC, the CAR and Sudan havenever teamed up to try to capture him. On the contrary, the Sudanese government inKhartoum supplied him with weapons and vehicles for a long time because it was upsetthat Uganda harbored sympathies for the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), therebel force in the south. Over the years, Ugandan troops have also been active in the CARand what is now South Sudan. But they haven't been in the DRC, which has not allowedUgandan troops to chase after Kony on its territory after they reportedly plundered someof its local natural resources.


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In the meantime, the African Union (AU) has also announced plans to put together aforce and coordinate Kony's pursuit. Until this force is ready to act -- which can oftentake a long time with AU forces -- the Americans want to get back in the act. And thistime they mean business. US officials have already held talks with their counterparts inthe CAR, the DRC and South Sudan. They don't want to be prevented from crossing the

borders that Kony has crossed so freely.

Though they have only just arrived, the advisers have already been training Ugandanunits on how to prepare air-dropped packages meant to help better organize the resupplysystem on the front. They have observed Ugandan troop operations in the western part ofSouth Sudan and the southern part of the CAR. They have also helped by providingsatellite imagery, though it has been of only limited use in some cases owing to the denseforest cover. Lastly, plans call for the local population to play a significant role in helpingtrack Kony down.

Experts predict that the capture of the self-proclaimed general is already drawing near. In

November 2011, the International Crisis Group, which has focused on the LRA and itsleader for some time now, wrote a report in which in questioned whether the LRA wasapproaching its "end game." Likewise, Gen. Margaret Woodward, the commander of USAir Force operations in Africa , told the Ugandan newspaper Daily Monitor in mid-December that Ugandan military forces "are going to win here in a short time, and it isnot going to be that long before they are victorious in the war and the LRA will no longerbe a problem."

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News Headline: The Butchers Of Nigeria (Newsweek)

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/01/15/wole-soyinka-on-nigeria-s-anti-christian-terror-sect-boko-haram.htmlJanuary 20, 2012By Wole Soyinka

How a corrupt nation bred Boko Haram, the Islamic sect terrorizing the country'sChristians.

Over the past year, Nigeria's homegrown terror group Boko Haram has escalated itsdeadly attacks against Christian and government targets, with the aim of establishing aSharia state in the country's north.

Nearly 30 years ago, in the largely Christian heartland of a multireligious Nigeriannation, and at that nation's pioneer institutionthe University of Ibadana minister ofeducation summoned the vice chancellor and ordered him to remove a cross from a sitededicated to religious worship. Some Muslims had complained, he claimed, that the crossoffended their sight when they turned east to pray.


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The don's response was: Mr. Minister, it would be much easier to remove me as vicechancellor than to have me remove that cross. Christians mobilized. A religious war wasbarely averted on campus. Today the Christian cross occupies that same spot, with theIslamic star and crescent raised only a few meters away. As I observed at a lectureseveral years later, there has been no earthquake beneath, no convulsions of the

firmament above that space, no blight traceable to the cohabitation of that spot byChristian and Muslim symbols.

I evoked that occurrence when the latest torch bearers of fanaticisma group calledBoko Haramemerged. I did so to draw attention to the fact that religious zealotry is notnew in the nation, nor is it limited to the unwashed masses who have been programmedinto killing, at the slightest provocation or none, in the name of faith. Unfortunately, fartoo many have succumbed to the belligerent face of fanaticism, believing that any formof excess is divinely sanctioned and nationally privileged.

Sectarian killingsnumbered in the thousandspreceded Boko Haram, much organized

butch-ery, sometimes announced in advance, always tacitly endorsed by silence andinaction, escalating in intensity and impunity. It was consciousness of the geographicalexpansion and the increasingly organized nature of the fanatic surge and its internationallinkages that compelled me to warn on three public occasions since 2009 that theagencies of Boko Haram, its promulgators both in evangelical and violent forms, areeverywhere. Even here, right here in this throbbing commercial city of Lagos, there are,in all probability, what are known as sleepers' waiting for the word to be given. If thatword were given this moment, those sleepers would swarm over the walls of this collegecompound and inundate us.

Much play is given, and rightly so, to economic factorsunemployment,misgovernment, wasted resources, social marginalization, massive corruptionin thenurturing of the current season of violent discontent. To limit oneself to these factorsalone is, however, an evasion, no less than intellectual and moral cowardice, a fear ofoffending the ruthless caucuses that have unleashed terror on society, a refusal to starethe irrational in the face and give it its proper nameand response. That minister was notone of the unwashed masses. He was, quite simply, the polished face of fanaticism. Hisprolonged career as secretary of the Universities Commission and minister of educationinflicted on the nation a number of other policies of educational separatism that left ahuge swath of Nigeria open to fanatic indoctrination.

Yes, indeed, economic factors have facilitated the mass production of these foot soldiers,but they have been deliberately bred, nurtured, sheltered, rendered pliant, obedient toonly one line of command, ready to be unleashed at the rest of society. They were bred inmadrassas and are generally known as the almajiris. From knives and machetes, bowsand poisoned arrows they have graduated to AK-47s, homemade bombs, and explosive-packed vehicles. Only the mechanism of inflicting death has changed, nothing else.

This horde has remained available to political opportunists and criminal leaders desperateto stave off the day of reckoning. Most are highly placed, highly disgruntled, and thus


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paper on religious studies. How does one convey scenes where killers perform ritualrecitations before or after the meticulous throat-slitting of schoolchildren, in theconviction that this carries the same potency of immunity as papal indulgences once didin the decadent era of Christianity? For decades, leaders of those communities remainedmute or uttered pietisms. Now the foot soldiers have matured on the taste of blood. They

understand the essence of power. Some have come to realize they have beenprogrammed, used, abused, and discarded. Now they seek to exercise power and haveturned on all, mentors and appeasers alike.

Nigeria is at war. The Somalia scenario nibbles at her cohesion. When we insisted thatthe nation had become a prime target of al Qaeda, the reply was that Boko Haram was ahomegrown phenomenonas if this were ever the question! The reality is that it has,inevitably, developed ties with al Qaeda and its borderless company of religiousinsurgency. Only a few have sown the wind, but that wind was fanned by the breath ofappeasement. Only one choice remains: to ride, or else reap, the whirlwind.

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Cameroon region concerned about Islamist militants (CNN)

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/19/world/africa/cameroon-boko-haram/index.html?iref=24hoursJanuary 20, 2012By Tapang Ivo Tanku, for CNN

Maroua, Cameroon (CNN) -- The governor of Cameroon's Far North Region onThursday said threats posed by militant Islamist group Boko Haram were "very critical."

Speaking in Mokolo, Gov. Joseph Beti Assomo told reporters that all senior state securityofficials, divisional heads and religious leaders have been put on the alert.

Some 600 soldiers in the Far North region have been ordered out of their barracks andstrategically deployed in localities close to the border with Nigeria, he added.

Cameroon's regional governments have intensified rigorous checks after NigerianPresident Goodluck Jonathan ordered border closures with some neighboring countries,including Cameroon, due to threats from the Boko Haram. Residents in the Far Northcapital of Maroua have been reporting to police a growing number of strangers andunusual occurrences.

The Far North Region is largely Muslim and shares a border with northern Nigeria,where the Boko Haram is based.

Trade and custom officials in Maroua say nearly 80% of its regional economy has shrunksince the closure of the borders.


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Consumers of Nigerian sugar, flour, cement and other manufactured products areconcerned about plummeting supplies, while smuggled Nigerian fuel, locally called"zoua-zoua," is the object of sharp price hikes.

The Far North Region is home to more than 2 million people, according to an official

head count.

Recent weeks have seen an escalation in clashes between Boko Haram and securityforces in Nigeria's northeastern states of Borno and Yobe, as well as attacks on churchesand assassinations.

Boko Haram (which according to the group means "Western civilization is forbidden") isdemanding the imposition of Islamic sharia law across Nigeria.

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US plans to defy Khartoum with aid for starving Sudan (The National)http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/africa/us-plans-to-defy-khartoum-with-aid-for-starving-sudanJanuary 19, 2012

JUBA, South Sudan The Obama administration is planning a possible humanitarianoperation to prevent mass starvation in two Sudanese states in defiance of the Khartoumgovernment, which has refused to allow aid groups access.

"We are simply not going to sit back and watch while 100,000 people starve to death," astate department official, speaking on condition of anonymity told The National.

"We are actively planning and Khartoum knows this."

Humanitarian agencies pulled out of the two states when fighting between Khartoum andinsurgents erupted in June in Southern Kordofan and spread to neighbouring Blue Nile inSeptember.

On Wednesday, the US' special envoy to Sudan, Princeton Lyman, told reporters in SouthAfrica that about half a million people could face "emergency conditions bordering onfamine".

"That's something that our government at the highest levels cannot let happen," said thestate department official.

He refused to divulge details of how aid would be moved into Southern Kordofan andBlue Nile states, saying the plan is "obviously quite sensitive".

Mr Lyman told reporters that as Khartoum continues to block international and UNagencies access to the area, pressure is mounting to "provide assistance across the border


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against the wishes of the government of Sudan", but added, "We have made no decisionto do that."

Zach Vertin, a Sudan analyst with the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, said thatthe US faces a difficult decision.

"Washington has given this a great deal of thought, as it and others have made clear thatit will be difficult to ignore further catastrophe in Southern Kordofan. The challenge willbe to minimise any broader costs in doing so," he said.

Mr Vertin added that providing aid without Khartoum's consent could have negativeconsequences.

"It's a very tough call, but with Khartoum providing no avenues for cooperation and aneven greater humanitarian crisis looming, Washington feels pressed to act," he said.

"Such a move could potentially prompt a negative response from Khartoum, cause furtherdeterioration of US-Sudan relations, and generate consternation from those already madewary by international intervention in Libya."

John Ashworth, an expert on the region who has spent 28 years in Sudan and SouthSudan, said a US push to move aid into Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile could worsenKhartoum's already troubled relations with the US as well as South Sudan.

"Khartoum will certainly try to portray it as South Sudanese assistance to a rebel group,rather than as a humanitarian response to Khartoum's own intransigence," said MrAshworth.

The insurgents are former armed divisions of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement,which is now the ruling party in South Sudan. The movement fought a two-decade civilwar that led to South Sudan's secession. When the south declared independence on July9, the Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile divisions declared themselves a separate politicalparty and added "North" to their name.

Khartoum has accused Juba of backing the rebels - a charge South Sudanese officialsincluding the president, Salva Kiir, have repeatedly denied.

But in a November 21 statement, the White House noted that Mr Lyman had discussedwith South Sudan "the need to respect the sovereignty of Sudan, including by endingsupport for the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) in SouthernKordofan and Blue Nile."

The nature of that support "is both material as well as command and control", said thestate department official. He added that the UN Security Council "is basically paralysed"because it does not want to intervene in Sudan, even on humanitarian grounds, whileSouth Sudan is backing the SPLM-N.


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"I imagine that a number of council members will for now be reluctant to sanction anymove that further infringes Sudan's sovereignty," said Aly Verjee, an analyst with the RiftValley Institute. "The situation will probably have to deteriorate further before any realaction is contemplated."

Meanwhile, Juba has accused Khartoum of arming militia groups in an attempt todestabilise South Sudan. Those allegations are backed up by organisations such as theGeneva-based Small Arms Survey. "We've gathered evidence that strongly links weaponsused by southern militias to Khartoum," said Jonah Leff, a researcher with the group."Weapons in rebel stocks seem to correlate closely with Sudan Armed Forces' small armsarsenal."

Mr Ashworth said a US-backed humanitarian aid operation into Southern Kordofan andBlue Nile could hurt relations between Khartoum and Juba, but it would be better thanJuba providing support itself.

If South Sudan were to unilaterally assist beleaguered civilians in Sudan, it would beeasier for Kharin toum to justify some form of retaliation," he said. "But if the USA isfronting an international humanitarian effort, that might prove more difficult.

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A Military Cutback We Can't Afford: Fighting Tropical Diseases (The Atlantic)

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/01/a-military-cutback-we-cant-afford-fighting-tropical-diseases/251527/January 20, 2012By Dr. Peter Hotez and Dr. James Kazura

In recent months, many politicians and presidential hopefuls have called for budgetreductions, and many have specifically targeted military spending for cutbacks.Unfortunately, even programs proven to be cost effective are vulnerable to cuts. Medicalresearch for our troops is no exception to this rule -- programs such as the Walter ReedArmy Institute of Research (WRAIR) often find themselves low on the priority listdespite their crucial role in saving the lives of our troops on the battlefield and here athome.

One important area of research is tropical medicine. During World War II and theVietnam War, more than one million service members acquired tropical infections suchas malaria, dengue fever, hookworm, and typhus, and many of these diseases continuedto plague our veterans after they returned home. Today, American troops in Iraq andAfghanistan still face formidable tropical disease threats, especially from a diseasetransmitted by the bite of sand flies known as leishmaniasis, which can cause adisfiguring ulcer in one form, and a serious systemic condition that clinically resemblesleukemia in another. In the coming years leishmaniasis may become the most importantcondition you have never heard of among veterans.


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We now risk sending U.S. troops into harm's way deprived of our nation's most importantresource for preventing tropical infections.

For over 100 years, WRAIR has been the U.S. military's premier institution for

preventing these types of tropical infections. Beginning in 1893 as the Army MedicalSchool, WRAIR physicians developed some of the first treatments for dysentery andmalaria, and developed methods to disinfect drinking water. They developed vaccines fortyphoid fever, dengue, Japanese encephalitis, meningitis, and respiratory infections. TheirMilitary HIV Research Program led to the first human clinical trial demonstrating someinitial evidence of vaccine protection from the AIDS virus. And some WRAIRdiscoveries contributed to the recent success of the new malaria vaccine that justunderwent clinical trial testing in Africa.

Despite this extraordinary track record of important global health discoveries, WRAIRfaces massive budget cuts from Congress and the Department of Defense. Since WRAIR

already has difficulty maintaining staff and expertise to fight the leishmaniasis outbreaksaffecting our troops and veterans, these new cuts will only further jeopardize the future ofWRAIR and the health of our soldiers.

WRAIR's leishmaniasis diagnostic laboratory is the only one of its kind in the world, soeach time funding is slashed our military loses considerable expertise and capabilities inthe diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of this devastating disease. For example, in theyears prior to the Gulf War, the WRAIR leishmaniasis program was officiallydecommissioned and all research was halted. Only after cases of leishmaniasis amongU.S. forces exposed to sand-fly bites in the Iraqi desert were the remaining leishmaniasisexperts at WRAIR quickly assembled and tasked with making up for lost time. In 2002,the WRAIR leishmaniasis program was again dissolved only to be urgently activatedonce more with the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. The interruptions to theWRAIR leishmaniasis program are part of much larger budget cuts across all ofWRAIR's tropical infectious disease research programs. There is no end to the irony ofsuch cutbacks given that they coincide with the activation in 2008 of the U.S. AfricaCommand (AFRICOM), charged with fighting the war on terror across the Africancontinent. Today, sub-Saharan Africa has the largest number of cases of tropical diseasesanywhere in the world. Many of these tropical infections, such as river blindness andAfrican sleeping sickness, have been shown to destabilize communities and may actuallypromote conflict in the region.

We now risk sending U.S. troops into harm's way in Africa deprived of our nation's mostimportant resource for preventing tropical infections.

We need a strong and active military medical presence in global conflict hotspots such asthe Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa. Strangling WRAIR with ever worseningbudget cuts threatens the safety of our troops and their mission readiness, as well as thehealth of our returning veterans. Cutting WRAIR will deprive our troops and also the


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world's poorest people of one of America's greatest global health treasures. Both ournational and our global security depend on a strengthened and robust WRAIR.

(Drs. PeterHotez and James Kazura are past president and president, respectively, of the

American Society of Tropical Medicine andHygiene)

###

Clinton Promotes Democracy in Four-Nation Africa Trip (Department of State)

http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2012/01/20120118160641elrem0.1124536.html#axzz1jhdrxL5NJanuary 20, 2012By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.

WASHINGTON Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton completed a four-nationvisit to Africa to promote democracy, good government and economic reforms, and to

demonstrate a U.S. commitment to a post-conflict return to peace.

Clinton led a U.S. delegation to the January 16 inauguration of Liberian President EllenJohnson Sirleaf at the start of her two-day trip, which included visits to Cte d'Ivoire,Togo and Cape Verde. U.S. Senator Christopher Coons of Delaware and General CarterHam, the commander of the U.S. Africa Command, accompanied her.

Clinton was pleased to attend Sirleaf's second inauguration because I've known Ellen fora long time, Clinton told U.S. Embassy staff in Monrovia January 16. I have a greatdeal of admiration and appreciation for the work she is doing, along with her othercolleagues in government.

In her inaugural address, Sirleaf invited opposition leaders to come forward and toparticipate in helping to govern Liberia. Sirleaf, who was first elected to office in 2005,shared in the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for efforts to stabilize the country and promotewomen's rights.

There has to be a recognition that in elections sometimes you win and sometimes youlose, Clinton said. I have done both of them, and I think it's important that the lessonsthat we have learned over more than 235 years of trying to perfect our union beunderstood by other democracies and countries that are really making such strides.

Clinton said that it doesn't matter if you always win in politics, but it does matter that youput the common good of the nation ahead of any personal and political interests. But sheadded that it is important for any healthy democracy to continue to allow opposingopinions.

At the end of the day you have to agree upon certain values and then work together tofulfill them, she said.


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The United States' relationship with the people of Liberia goes beyond elections, Clintonsaid. The work includes security issues, health care and education.

It's a whole-of-government effort, because that's what it takes to support thisextraordinary journey that Liberia is on, and we're going to do everything we can to make

sure they get to the destination of democracy, prosperity, peace and security safely,Clinton said.

In Cte d'Ivoire, Clinton met with President Alassane Ouattara to showcase U.S. supportfor national reconciliation and strengthening democratic institutions after legislativeelections in December 2011.

Clinton told Ouattara during a press conference after their January 17 meeting that sheadmired the progress that the country is making in a steady return to peace andreconciliation as well as continued economic and social development.

This is an exciting time for Cte d'Ivoire, as it is for West Africa as a whole, Clintontold reporters. We have seen successful elections in Nigeria, the restoration of a civiliangovernment in Niger, the establishment of the first elected government in Guinea.

And yesterday [January 16], I had the privilege of representing my country, as didPresident Ouattara, at the inauguration of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for her secondterm after another free and fair election, Clinton said. Securing these gains fordemocracy, prosperity, peace and security for the people here as well as for yourneighbors will take consistent hard work.

After consultations in Cte d'Ivoire, Clinton traveled to Togo for meetings with TogolesePresident Faure Gnassingb at the presidential palace in Lom. It was her first visit assecretary of state. She said national elections to be held later in 2012 will be an importantmilestone.

The United States will be a partner to the government of Togo as it builds on its recentdemocratic gains, brings dissenting voices to the table for an inclusive dialogue, increasespolitical participation of women and carries out a successful constitutional reformprocess, Clinton said, according to news reports.

Clinton met with Prime Minister Jos Maria Pereira Neves of Cape Verde to discusscooperation on issues including counternarcotics, good governance, economic reformsand Cape Verde's second Millennium Challenge Corporation compact.

###

News Headline: Google launches Web project in South Africa (USA Today)

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-01-19/woza-south-africa-google/52674792/1January 20, 2012


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By Donna BrysonAssociated Press

PRETORIA, South Africa Getting more small companies wired will help theirbusinesses grow, and help their country fight unemployment, officials said Thursday as

Google launched a project that makes it easy to showcase South African entrepreneurshipon the Internet.

With a few clicks Thursday, the first entrepreneurs used Google's Woza Online to createtheir own websites. Woza Online, which Google launched with help from South Africangovernment researchers and cash from mobile phone company Vodacom, offers freedomain names with South Africa's co.za tag for the first 10,000 applicants.

It took Rajis Reddy less than 15 minutes to set up a website for her company, whichemploys 10 craftsmen and other workers in rural eastern South Africa to createtraditional, brightly colored wooden toys.

"We've developed a website!" Reddy said. "I can't believe it."

South Africa has the most vibrant economy in Africa, but also is beset by high rates ofunemployment and poverty. The government sees small business as a key weapon in thebattle to create jobs.

Businesses with Web presence "are able to be part of the globe," said Elizabeth Thabethe,South Africa's deputy minister of trade and industry, who joined Google executives atThursday's launch.

"Small businesses are an incredibly important part of a vibrant economy," said LukeMckend, head of Google's South African operations.

The numbers in South Africa bear that out, said Taddy Blecher of South Africa's HumanResource Development Council. Blecher said small businesses employ 65% of the 13.8million South Africans with jobs.

"If we can just increase that presence by 10%, that will create 1.4 million jobs, just likethat," Blecher said.

Officially, a quarter of the labor force in this country of 50 million is unemployed.

Researcher Arthur Goldstuck, who regularly surveys small businesses in South Africa,says about 400,000, or two-thirds, are online. Woza Online is designed to address someof the most common reasons entrepreneurs give for not having websites that they aretoo busy, and lack funds and expertise.

Bryan Nelson, Google's business development manager, described Woza Online as "non-techie, simple, easy to understand."


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Toy entrepreneur Reddy's unfamiliarity with the Web was apparent in her hesitantkeyboard touch Thursday. But she easily navigated a fill-in-the-blanks process similar tocompleting an online order form. Entrepreneurs can dress up their sites with their ownimages or graphics provided by Google.

Blecher said services South Africans can turn to now would charge at least 1,000 rand($125) to design a website, beyond the budget of many small businesses.

"We've been very slack online," said Reddy, who said advertising until now hadconsisted of word of mouth and flyers. She sells her toys and other crafts at craftsmarkets in Johannesburg.

She had been considering going online to reach a broader market when a Googlerepresentative saw her wares at a market and approached her about Woza Online.

###

Saving lives, making partners in Africa (News Journal)

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20120119/BUSINESS06/201190309/Saving-lives-making-partners-Africa?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CHome%7CpJanuary 19, 2012By Aaron NathansThe News Journal

WILMINGTON -- Aid to impoverished countries can produce big returns in the form ofimproved human health and new markets for U.S. goods, the head of the U.S. Agency forInternational Development told a Wilmington audience on Wednesday.

Rajiv Shah spoke to a standing-room-only crowd of hundreds at the University ofDelaware's Wilmington campus at the Opportunity: Africa conference, sponsored by theoffice of Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.

The event was focused on ways for businesses in Delaware and other states to dobusiness with developing African nations. Coons said the conference provided a vision ofAfrica as "a continent of immense opportunity."

U.S. innovations, especially those by Delaware companies like DuPont, are helping makea big difference in Africa, Shah said. DuPont is making seeds for crops in Tanzania, hesaid. Proctor & Gamble is making water purification systems that are providing cleanwater to Kenya, he said.

And J.P. Morgan is providing loan guarantees to entrepreneurs in East Africa.

"We can lift entire nations out of poverty and into a position where they can be effectivelong-term partners with us," Shah said.


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Shah's agency had $7 billion in aid budgeted for Africa last year, his office reported.

Shah illustrated the impact of foreign aid by showing nighttime satellite photographs ofNorth and South Korea. Fifty years ago, the United States gave aid to South Korea to

help bring it out of poverty.

Now it is flourishing, he said. The photograph showed lights streaming from SouthKorea, while North Korea, still a dictatorship, was largely dark. That, he said, is symbolicof the human suffering that continues in North Korea.

"The future has never been stronger to bring billions of people who have not benefitedfrom a global economy into a global economy," Shah said.

He said a massive aid campaign to famine-stricken countries in the Horn of Africaeffectively helped limit the number of deaths there. The aid, he said, brought food to

markets and vaccines to children.

Shah's remarks came on a day that the groups Oxfam and Save the Children issued areport that said the international response to the famine was too slow, costing thousandsof lives.

Tim McCoy, vice president of the Corporate Council on Africa, said there's plenty ofopportunity in a country like Benin -- whose ambassador, Cyrille Oguin, was on one ofthe panels -- to grow cotton and cashews, to extract fossil fuels and produce solarelectricity.

Panel discussions included locally known business leaders like Rebecca Faber of theDelaware World Trade Center, which connects regional businesses with foreign markets;and Mike Haney, whose Wise Power is active placing solar power systems in Africancountries.

Stephen Morrison of the U.S. Export Assistance Center said there's opportunity for U.S.companies to provide transportation, agricultural and medical equipment to Africa.Morrison told the group that much of the planning can be done from afar, but it takes anactual handshake -- a visit to Africa -- to properly seal the deal.

"The consumers of tomorrow are in Africa today," said Daniel Yohannes, chief executiveofficer of the Millennium Challenge Corp.

###

Ethiopia: Journalists, politician found guilty (Arab News)

http://arabnews.com/world/article565385.eceJanuary 19, 2012By Luc Van Kemenade


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Associated Press

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia: An Ethiopian court on Thursday found three journalists, apolitician and a politician's assistant guilty of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism, in acase that drew rebukes from rights groups who fear the country's anti-terrorism law is

being used to suppress dissent.

The five were charged under Ethiopia's controversial anti-terrorism laws. Governmentspokesman Shimeles Kemal has said they were involved in planning attacks oninfrastructure, telecommunications and power lines.

Alemu Gobebo, a private lawyer and a father of one of the defendants, called the casepolitically motivated. The five will be sentenced Jan. 26. They could face the deathpenalty.

Among the three journalist convicted were Reeyot Alemu, a columnist for the

independent weekly Fetah and a former opposition member; Elias Kifle, editor-in-chiefof a US-based opposition website, who was tried in absentia; and Wubshet Taye, deputyeditor-in-chief of the recently closed-down weekly newspaper Awramba Times.

International rights groups have been calling for the release of the journalists. Ethiopiarecently found two Swedish reporters guilty of supporting terrorism and sentenced themto 11 years in prison.

Ethiopia has arrested close to 200 people, among them journalists and oppositionpoliticians and members, under last year's anti-terrorism proclamation.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, more journalists have fled Ethiopiathan any other country in the world.

No evidence of guilt

Amnesty International said it does not believe there is any evidence that the five wereguilty of any criminal wrongdoing. Claire Beston, the group's Ethiopia researcher, calledthe five prisoners of conscience. She said a significant amount of the prosecution'sevidence relied on the defendants' reporting of and alleged involvement in calls forpeaceful protest against the government.

Human Rights Watch said the anti-terrorism law violates free expression and due processrights.

The verdict against these five people confirms that Ethiopia's anti-terrorism law is beingused to crush independent reporting and peaceful political dissent, said Leslie Lefkow,senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. The Ethiopian courts are complicit inthis political witch-hunt.


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