8/7/2019 AFRICOM Related News Clips March 4, 2011 http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/africom-related-news-clips-march-4-2011 1/25 United States Africa Command Public Affairs Office 4 March 2011 USAFRICOM - related news stories TOP NEWS RELATED TO U.S. AFRICA COMMAND AND AFRICA U.S. Military Aircraft to Aid Egyptians Leaving Libya (American Forces Press Service) (Libya) President Barack Obama announced today he has approved the use of U.S. military aircraft to help Egyptians who have fled to the Tunisian border get back home to Egypt. A No-Fly Zone: 'This is not a Simple Operation' - No link available. (NPR) (Libya) During the fighting this week in Libya, government forces have attacked rebels in the eastern part of the country with aircraft. The rebels have asked the international community to consider possible military action. The most widely discussed option is a no-fly zone that would keep Libyan military aircraft out of the skies. Frankfurt Airport Shooting an Act of Islamic Terror, European Officials Say (ABC) (Germany) Authorities in Europe are calling the shooting at a Frankfurt, Germany, airport that claimed the lives of two U.S. servicemen an act of Islamic terrorism, though U.S. investigators said it is too soon to tell. Obama signals willingness to intervene militarily in Libya if crisis worsens (Washington Post) (Libya) President Obama said Thursday that he had ordered plans giving the U.S. military "full capacity to act, potentially rapidly," in Libya if the situation there deteriorates. Fear Stalks the Streets of Gadhafi's Capital (Wall Street Journal) (Libya) The residents of Libya's capital, subject to a clampdown as Col. Moammar Gadhafi loses much of the rest of his country to opponents, are gripped by fear and paranoia. Analyst: Libyan Regime Recovering from Initial Protests (VOA) (Libya) A former diplomat and interpreter for Libya·s embattled President Moammar Gadhafi expresses concern that the Libyan regime is regrouping from the early shock of anti-government protests that, in his words, made regime members act in ridiculous and unpredictable ways.
United States Africa CommandPublic Affairs Office4 March 2011
USAFRICOM - related news stories
TOP NEWS RELATED TO U.S. AFRICA COMMAND AND AFRICA
U.S. Military Aircraft to Aid Egyptians Leaving Libya (American Forces Press Service)(Libya) President Barack Obama announced today he has approved the use of U.S.military aircraft to help Egyptians who have fled to the Tunisian border get back hometo Egypt.
A No-Fly Zone: 'This is not a Simple Operation' - No link available. (NPR)(Libya) During the fighting this week in Libya, government forces have attacked rebelsin the eastern part of the country with aircraft. The rebels have asked the internationalcommunity to consider possible military action. The most widely discussed option is ano-fly zone that would keep Libyan military aircraft out of the skies.
Frankfurt Airport Shooting an Act of Islamic Terror, European Officials Say (ABC)(Germany) Authorities in Europe are calling the shooting at a Frankfurt, Germany,airport that claimed the lives of two U.S. servicemen an act of Islamic terrorism, thoughU.S. investigators said it is too soon to tell.
Obama signals willingness to intervene militarily in Libya if crisis worsens
(Washington Post)(Libya) President Obama said Thursday that he had ordered plans giving the U.S.military "full capacity to act, potentially rapidly," in Libya if the situation theredeteriorates.
Fear Stalks the Streets of Gadhafi's Capital (Wall Street Journal)(Libya) The residents of Libya's capital, subject to a clampdown as Col. MoammarGadhafi loses much of the rest of his country to opponents, are gripped by fear and
paranoia.
Analyst: Libyan Regime Recovering from Initial Protests (VOA)(Libya) A former diplomat and interpreter for Libya·s embattled President MoammarGadhafi expresses concern that the Libyan regime is regrouping from the early shock ofanti-government protests that, in his words, made regime members act in ridiculousand unpredictable ways.
Mass funerals for Libyan rebels (Al Jazeera)(Libya) Hundreds of mourners in Libya have buried victims of clashes between pro-and anti-government forces at a strategically important oil refinery town, where theopposition beat back an offensive by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan
leader.
The Decline of U.S. Naval Power (Wall Street Journal)(Somalia) Last week, pirates attacked and executed four Americans in the Indian Ocean.We and the Europeans have endured literally thousands of attacks by the Somali pirateswithout taking the initiative against their vulnerable boats and bases even once. Suchparalysis is but a symptom of a sickness that started some time ago.
US denounces clashes in Sudan's Abyei region (AFP) (Sudan) The United States on Thursday denounced violence in Sudan's oil-rich Abyei
region and urged all sides to avoid provoking further flare-ups.
As world focuses on Libya, more than 100 killed in Sudan border town (ChristianScience Monitor)(Sudan) A series of attacks that began Sunday in Abyei, Sudan·s hottest north-southflashpoint border town, have left more than 100 dead, again raising the prospect of aless-than-amicable breakup of Africa·s largest country when South Sudan officiallysecedes this July.
Ivory Coast headed for civil war, analysts fear (LA Times)
(Ivory Coast) A spasm of deadly violence in Ivory Coast, including the killings of sixwomen who were shot Thursday as they demanded that the country's intransigentpresident step down, points to an irreversible slide back into civil war in the WestAfrican country, analysts say.
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Websitey Joint UN-African delegation backs delaying Benin·s presidential election
y Sudan: UN reinforces peacekeepers after clashes in disputed Abyei region
y Attack helicopters arrive to reinforce UN peacekeepers in Côte d·Ivoire
y F ighting in Somalia displaces residents of Kenyan border town ² UN
y UN-backed talks on f ut ure of Western Sahara to resume next week-------------------------------------------------------------------------UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:
WHEN/WHERE: Tuesday, March 8, 2011; Johns Hopkins School of AdvancedInternational StudiesWHAT: Civil Society-Military Relations and Human Security
WHO: Rosa Brooks, Deputy Secretary of Defense; Lisa Schirch, Director of 3D Security,Eastern Mennonite University; Col. Mark Mykleby, Joint Chiefs of Staff; Fulco vanDeventer, Policy and Political Advisor, Cordaid.Info: http://www.allianceforpeacebuilding.org/events/event_details.asp?id=147732 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULL ARTICLE TEXT
U.S. Military Aircraft to Aid Egyptians Leaving Libya (American Forces Press Service)By Karen ParrishMarch 3, 2011WASHINGTON ² President Barack Obama announced today he has approved the useof U.S. military aircraft to help Egyptians who have fled to the Tunisian border get backhome to Egypt.
Speaking from the White House, Obama said the United States and the world continue
´to be outraged by the appalling violence against the Libyan people.µ
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has ordered U.S. Africa Command totake the lead for defense planning regarding the situation in Libya, according to aPentagon statement. The DOD will continue to work in close coordination with theState Department and other agencies as needed.
Since Feb. 17, Libyan citizens have protested against Col. Moammar Gadhafi, who hasruled Libya since 1969. Gadhafi·s forces have since engaged in increasingly violentclashes with protesters throughout the country, while Libya·s military forces are
divided between the two sides. An estimated 180,000 people have fled Libya, manygathering along the border with Tunisia.
´The United States is helping to lead an international effort to deter further violence,put in place unprecedented sanctions to hold the Gadhafi government accountable, andsupport the aspirations of the Libyan people,µ Obama said.
The United States also is responding to the urgent humanitarian needs that aredeveloping, he said.
´Tens of thousands of people, from many different countries, are fleeing Libya,µ thepresident said. ´We commend the governments of Tunisia and Egypt for their response,even as they go through their own political transitions.µ
The president also has authorized the U.S. Agency for International Development tocharter additional civilian aircraft to help people fleeing Libya return to their homes.
´We·re supporting the efforts of international organizations to evacuate people as well,µthe president said. ´I·ve also directed USAID to send humanitarian assistance teams tothe Libyan border, so that they can work with the United Nations, [non-governmentalorganizations] and other international partners inside Libya to address the urgent needsof the Libyan people.µ
The United States will continue to send a clear message that the violence in Libya muststop, and Gadhafi must go, the president said.
Libya·s ruler ´has lost legitimacy to lead, and he must leave,µ Obama said. ´Those whoperpetrate violence against the Libyan people will be held accountable. And theaspirations of the Libyan people for freedom, democracy and dignity must be met.µ----------------------------A No-Fly Zone: 'This is not a Simple Operation' - No link available. (NPR)Reporters: Steve Inskeep and Tom Bowman
March 3, 2011
(Libya) During the fighting this week in Libya, government forces have attacked rebelsin the eastern part of the country with aircraft. The rebels have asked the internationalcommunity to consider possible military action. The most widely discussed option is ano-fly zone that would keep Libyan military aircraft out of the skies.
As NPR's Tom Bowman reports, no-fly zones have been enforced before, but they are amilitary and diplomatic challenge.
MR. BOWMAN: Retired Navy Captain Tom Parker knows a few things about no-flyzones. He took part in one, flying a Hawkeye surveillance plane over the Balkans backin the mid-1990s to prevent Serbian forces from targeting civilians. And he says it mightwork in Libya.
CAPTAIN TOM PARKER (Retired, U.S. Navy): It limits the freedom of action ofColonel Gadhafi and his government, and also puts enormous pressure on him becausenow you've got Big Brother there breathing over his shoulders, garlic breath on hisneck.
MR. BOWMAN: But Captain Parker says breathing down Gadhafi's neck would requirelarge numbers of American aircraft, from fighter jets to surveillance planes. There's aU.S. aircraft carrier in the region with dozens of warplanes, but not enough crew for 24-hour operations.
CAPT. PARKER: The big limiting factor is the flight deck crew. If you're doing full-time,round-the-clock operations, they'll run out of gas, that is, they'll get physicallyexhausted and it becomes unsafe after about a day.
GENERAL DAVE DEPTULA (Retired, U.S. Air Force): This is not a simple operation.
MR. BOWMAN: That's retired Air Force Lieutenant General Dave Deptula.He was the principal attack planner for the 1991 Gulf War. A few years later, he flew an
F-15 fighter over Iraq, enforcing a no- fly zone. General Deptula says before the UnitedStates deploys warplanes, it needs to get backing from other nations, at the U.N. forexample. And Deptula says the Obama administration must answer a basic question:What are you trying to do?
GEN. DEPTULA: Do you want to enforce a humanitarian effort? Do you want to assistthe rebels in overthrowing Gadhafi? Do you want to instigate regime change on yourown?
MR. BOWMAN: Then there are practical military considerations.
Gadhafi's radar and missile threat would have to be eliminated before puttingAmerican pilots in the skies over Libya. That reality prompted Defense Secretary RobertGates to chide those calling for a no-fly zone.Here he is testifying on Capitol Hill yesterday.
DEFENSE SECRETARY ROBERT GATES: There's a lot of, frankly, loose talk aboutsome of these military options. And let's just call a spade a spade.
MR. BOWMAN: Gates told lawmakers that a no-fly zone is essentially an Americaninvasion from the sky.
SEC. GATES: A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya, to destroy the air defenses.That's the way you do a no-fly zone. And then you can fly planes around the countryand not worry about our guys being shot down.
MR. BOWMAN: Another issue? A large number of Air Force refueling tankers wouldbe needed so warplanes could gas up in the sky and continue their mission. Again,Captain Tom Parker who now teaches at the Naval War College.
CAPT. PARKER: If you're going to be flying fighter aircraft down, you're going to needlots of tanker assets to fly from Italy down to the vicinity of Libya.
MR. BOWMAN: But refueling tankers are a key tool in Afghanistan.Secretary Gates worries that a long operation in Libya could hurt the Afghanistanmission.
SEC. GATES: If we -- if we move additional assets, what are the consequences of thatfor Afghanistan? For the Persian Gulf? Those are some of the effects that we have to
think about. We also have to think about, frankly, the use of the U.S. military in anothercountry in the Middle East.
MR. BOWMAN: But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says questions about thedifficulty of setting up a no-fly zone have been heard before --
15 years ago in the Balkans.
SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON: Eventually, it was determined that itwas in the interests of the peace and stability of the region, et cetera.
MR. BOWMAN: Still, Secretary Clinton said, the United States is a long way fromdeciding what to do.
Tom Bowman, NPR News, Washington.----------------------------
Frankfurt Airport Shooting an Act of Islamic Terror, European Officials Say (ABC)By RICHARD ESPOSITO, LUIS MARTINEZ and MARTHA RADDATZMarch 3, 2011Authorities in Europe are calling the shooting at a Frankfurt, Germany, airport that
claimed the lives of two U.S. servicemen an act of Islamic terrorism, though U.S.investigators said it is too soon to tell.
'Saddened and Outraged' By Attack in GermanyThe suspected gunman, 21-year-oldArid Uka, who was captured immediately after Wednesday's shooting, admitted to thedeadly attack and said he acted alone, German Interior Minister Boris Rhein said today,
according to a report by The Associated Press. Uka, an ethnic Albanian from Kosovowho was described as a long-time resident of Germany, had been apparentlyradicalized over the last few weeks, Rhein said.
Uka allegedly shouted "Allahu Akbar" as he opened fire on a bus carrying U.S. airmenin Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, killing two and wounding two others before hisgun jammed, officials said.
The U.S. has launched an FBI-led investigation into the shooting and officials told ABCNews it is too soon to determine whether the attack was an act of terror and if thesuspect acted alone. However, a senior U.S. intelligence official told ABC News theattack was likely terror-related.
Uka is another "dot in the matrix" of a rising threat of fundamentalist terror originatingin the Balkans, the official said. Another man from Uka's home town in Kosovo that wasamong those arrested in Raleigh, North Carolina, on terrorism charges in July 2009.
While airport security in Germany has been heightened following the shooting, the U.S.will also examine whether security for troops in transit is satisfactory, officials said.
Obama 'Saddened and Outraged'President Obama made an unscheduled appearance before reporters Wednesday to say
he was "saddened and I am outraged by this attack" and that U.S. investigators wouldwork with German authorities and "spare no effort" to ensure that "all of theperpetrators are brought to justice."
He added that the killings were a "stark reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices" ofAmerican service members.
Sources told ABC News that the victims were on a bus at Frankfurt airport. The bus wasmarked United States Air Force and was carrying 13 or 14 people, plus the driver. U.S.intelligence is trying to determine whether the shooting occurred while the gunman
was on the bus or while he was trying to board the bus.
In the attack, Uka allegedly fired nine times, killing two and critically wounding twoothers before the gun jammed and he was subdued by other passengers. While beingwrestled into submission, the suspect shouted either "Jihad Jihad" or "Allahu Akbar,"sources said.
One of the dead was the bus driver, military officials said.
The service members who were attacked were members of a Security Forces team
assigned to RAF Lakenheath in Great Britain. They were being transported to RamsteinAirbase and were en route to Afghanistan to support Operation Enduring Freedom,according to a statement posted on the Ramstein Air Force Base website.
Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa., said at a House Homeland Security Committee hearingtoday that the shooting looks like it could be a terrorist attack. Meehan said he wasbriefed by his staff, who are continuing to collect information.
Who Was Gunman at Frankfurt Airport?The gunman was identified by sources to ABC News as Arid Uka, although otherspellings give his name as Arif Uka. Although he has lived in Germany for years, he is acitizen of Kosovo and his family is from the northern town of Mitrovica.
U.S. intelligence officials are running Uka's name through its terrorism data bases to seeif he has come to their attention before.
The names of the deceased are being withheld until 24 hours after notification of next ofkin.
President Obama said Thursday that he had ordered plans giving the U.S. military "fullcapacity to act, potentially rapidly," in Libya if the situation there deteriorates.
"I don't want us hamstrung," Obama said. He cited the possibility of a humanitariancrisis, or "a situation in which defenseless civilians were finding themselves trappedand in great danger," or "a stalemate that over time could be bloody" if Libyan leaderMoammar Gaddafi continues to resist international demands that he step down.
Gaddafi "has lost legitimacy to lead, and he must leave," the president said.
But in his first public statement on Libya since the outbreak of widespread armedconflict between opposition forces and those loyal to Gaddafi, Obama expressed severalnotes of caution, stressing that the United States must act only "in consultation . . . withthe international community."
"The region will be watching carefully to make sure we're on the right side of history,"Obama said at a White House news conference with visiting Mexican President FelipeCalderon. As with Egypt and Tunisia, he said, U.S. interests were best served if theUnited States was not seen as engineering or imposing a particular outcome.
Having raised the possibility of imposing a no-fly zone over Libya and after movingwarships into the Mediterranean, the United States and its allies appeared Thursday tostep back from military intervention, even as opposition forces in Libya continued tocall for assistance from foreign air power.
After their unexpected victory Wednesday over well-armed Gaddafi forces in the oilport of Brega, rebel fighters regrouped to bury their dead and to lay plans to carry thefight toward Tripoli, Libya's embattled capital.
Brega was hit Thursday by at least three powerful airstrikes, while rebels clashed withGaddafi loyalists in the nearby Mediterranean town of Bishra. In Tripoli, there weresigns of a government crackdown in an attempt to head off planned street protests afterFriday prayers.
Activists in Benghazi, the eastern city that serves as the rebel capital, were calling for amillion people to protest, but little independent information emerged from Tripoli,where Gaddafi has asserted his apparent control in at least two public appearancessurrounded by cheering supporters.
Meanwhile, at least some international leaders appeared chastened by warnings fromtheir military forces that intervention was complicated and fraught with uncertainty.Although the United States, Britain, France, Canada and others have indicated theywould participate, if conditions warranted, Italy and Germany, among others, have said
they would not.
At the United Nations and at NATO headquarters, diplomats and officials said that nodecisions were pending and that no meetings were scheduled to discuss options inLibya.
"We're not proposing a no-fly zone. We're simply proposing the planning," BritishForeign Secretary William Hague told the BBC. "None of these options are pain-free orsimple."
"If there's a debate, it's over to what extent we should now decide how we're going tomake a decision, if, in fact, we're going to decide," said a NATO official, who spoke onthe condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.
The Obama administration and its European allies have indicated they would not actwithout authorization from the U.N. Security Council. Last weekend, that bodyunanimously adopted tough economic sanctions against Libya and warned it would nottolerate human rights abuses.
Arab and African governments have expressed serious reservations about granting the
authority to use force, as has Russia. China's U.N. envoy, Li Baodong, told reportersWednesday that Beijing wants the dispute to be resolved through dialogue.
Also Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned against what hecalled "loose talk" about the ease of establishing a no-fly zone. "Let's just call a spade aspade," Gates said. "A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya."
Gates's spokesman Geoff Morrell dismissed suggestions that the Pentagon was pushingback against administration officials, including Secretary of State Hillary RodhamClinton, who said last week that a no-fly zone was under active consideration.
Gates and military leaders were providing a range of options for Obama, Morrell saidThursday on MSNBC. But "people should be under no illusions" about what would beinvolved in such intervention.
Although there were no reports of outright dissension among policymakers, severalsenior administration officials said they read Gates's comments, and similar statements
by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as aimed at blocking amilitary role in Libya.
That point was also made Thursday by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who last weekendcalled for serious consideration of a no-fly zone. "Personally, I don't think it's loose talk .
. . that this option should be given the strongest consideration," McCain said at a Senatehearing.
A wide range of U.S. and European officials said they doubted that any decision tointervene would come, absent a dramatic, highly visible event such as the widespreadbombing of civilians.
"It's got to be graphic, it's got to be real," the NATO official said. "Then people say, 'Ohmy God, it's enough.' "
Reports from Libya have indicated government airstrikes on munitions dumps and oilinstallations. On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch reported a missile strike,apparently aimed at rebels in a main square in Brega, that caused no injuries.
In Rome, the World Food Program said that a ship carrying more than 1,000 metric tonsof wheat flour to Benghazi had returned to port in Malta without unloading, afterreports of aerial bombardments near the Libyan city.
"It's difficult to know exactly what the situation on the ground is in terms of air raids," aEuropean diplomat said. "We are looking, like everybody else, at the reports we get . . .
To be honest, it's very difficult for us to know precisely what is going on hour by hour."
Even as they hesitate to use military force, the United States, Britain and otherscontinued to position military assets in the region. On Thursday, about 400 Marinesarrived in Athens en route to the USS Kearsarge, one of two U.S. amphibious assaultships that arrived in the Mediterranean this week.
Obama said that he has also authorized the use of U.S. military aircraft "to help moveEgyptians who have fled [Libya] . . . to get back home to Egypt," adding that the U.S.Agency for International Development would charter additional aircraft to returnnationals from other countries. Britain and France made similar announcements earlierin the week.
A Dutch Defense Ministry spokesman said his government was in "intensivenegotiations" to gain the release of a Dutch helicopter crew involved in relief efforts thatwere captured over the weekend by Gaddafi forces.------------Fear Stalks the Streets of Gadhafi's Capital (Wall Street Journal)
By Margaret CokerMarch 3, 2011TRIPOLI, Libya - The residents of Libya's capital, subject to a clampdown as Col.Moammar Gadhafi loses much of the rest of his country to opponents, are gripped byfear and paranoia.
Pro-Gadhafi security forces, visiting homes at night, have made scores of arrests.Families of some anti-government activists have gone into hiding after receiving threatsfrom officials. Doctors say patients with gunshot wounds³a sign the injured personmay have been at a street demonstration³have been arrested and taken from hospitals.
Some residents of Tripoli, home to 2 million of Libya's 6 million people, on Thursdaydescribed these and other incidents that form what they say is a tapestry of terror in thecapital. As Col. Gadhafi has rallied his base, these people say, reprisals have escalatedagainst those who protest his rule. Political uncertainty has warped the fabric of once-
quiet neighborhoods, residents say, with some saying they are afraid to speak tolongtime neighbors.
One Tripoli resident said that after anti-Gadhafi rallies first swept the city, a long-timeneighbor, a widow, set off for work the next morning wearing the uniform of Libya'sspecial forces, who have since conducted an at-times fatal crackdown on antiregimeprotesters. "It was the first time she wore such a thing," this person said. "We alwaysknew we were being watched³and now we understand who have been the watchers."
The mood of uncertainty was deep in the hours before Friday, the Muslim world's
traditional day of prayer and in recent weeks the major day of antiregime protestsacross the region.
"It is impossible to distinguish between the pro-, the anti- or the indifferent³evenamong people you have known for years," said another Tripoli resident who, likeseveral who spoke for this article, communicated online out of fear of being seenspeaking with journalists invited by Col. Gadhafi's government. "Who will take to thestreets in this situation?"
Col. Gadhafi, in a speech Wednesday, reiterated the governnment line³that protestersin the capital were al Qaeda sympathizers. "All Libyans love Moammar," he said.
Much of the country's east is in the hands of opponents. Anti-Gadhafi forcesconsolidated their westernmost positions in the oil-refinery town of Brega on Thursdaywith gun emplacements and anti-tank batteries, a day after repulsing an offensive bypro-Gadhafi forces.
Col. Gadhafi's fighter jets dropped bombs on or near the city early in the morning,Brega residents said, but it wasn't clear what had been hit. Two craters were visiblealong roads leading to the city's university, site of Wednesday's fiercest fighting.
Thursday in Brega, a pickup truck sped into a parking lot coming from a rebel position
further west. Inside the back seat were four men the rebels said they had capturedduring a reconnaissance patrol.
The men looked like teenagers. One was in tears. They said they were from Niger andhad been brought to Libya with promises of jobs. Once they arrived, they had beengiven guns and told to fight. Rebel officers said they would be taken into custody andtried in a court of law. What court or legal system might hold a hearing wasn't clear.
Officials with Col. Gadhafi's government in Tripoli have issued permission for visitingjournalists to move freely, an assurance renewed in the daily press conferences held the
luxury hotel that houses the foreign reporters.
On Wednesday, a journalist traveled with an independent driver toward Zawiya, animportant oil-refinery center 30 miles west of Tripoli. The car was stopped by armysoldiers at a fortified military checkpoint on the city's outskirts, where soldiers saidreporters were forbidden from entering the city.
When the government offered an official tour through Zawiya on Thursday,government-appointed guides bypassed the town center, which residents say iscontrolled by antiregime protesters. Instead, they sped to the government-controlled
Zawiya Oil Refinery Co. There, as officials declared their readiness to put the country'senergy back online for consumers, one man quietly broke ranks.
The man whispered to one journalist that security forces were making widespreadarrests in the center of town. "We are besieged, and we do not even have children'smilk," said the worker, before quickly moving away.
Later on the trip, officials drove reporters as far west as the Tunisian border,demonstrating its control of country's west. Near the border, pro-Gadhafi civilianmilitiamen manned checkpoints at intersections. On the return trip, the convoy passedroads leading to Zawiya that were blocked with earth berms and truck tires. Closer toTripoli, tanks and heavy artillery in firing position were seen at multiple checkpoints.Tanks stood next to several mosques.
Tripoli's protests began Feb. 18, after much of eastern Libya was in the control of anti-government groups. Demonstrators in multiple districts of Tripoli say security forcesloyal to Col. Gadhafi have sprayed crowds of protesters with live ammunition,
especially in the industrial suburb of Tajura, the working-class Fashloom and thedowntown Souq al-Jouma'a district.
Libya's Public Security department placed the death toll across the country during theprotests at 374, which includes 111 security officers and 263 civilians. The Paris-based
International Federation for Human Rights estimates that at least 3,000 people havebeen killed so far.
In Tripoli, nine families interviewed this week said their relatives had been shot whiledemonstrating on Feb. 20 and Feb. 25, describing how security forces encircled protestsand opened fire.
These 11 wounded men have had operations to remove their bullets at home byrelatives who are doctors, after being counseled by these medical professionals not to goto the emergency rooms.
One person said Wednesday that a doctor removed a bullet lodged in his relative'supper thigh in such a home operation, using pliers and commercial disinfectant. It isunclear what the status of the wounded person is.
"Our relatives are doctors, and they say the injured [from demonstrations] are not safein the hospital," said one resident. In interviews, two doctors said hospitaladministrators require them to report gunshot injuries and other suspicious wounds tothe security service.
Libyan rebels Thursday take position near the oil-refinery town of Brega. The daybefore, rebels repulsed an offensive by forces loyal to the regime..On Feb. 21, a family in a southern Tripoli district said they were visited by an officerfrom the revolutionary committee based in their district. These paramilitary brigadesreport directly to the office of Col. Gadhafi, residents say, and comprise a parallelsecurity corps to the capital's regular military forces.
The officer, a man who spoke with an accent common from Col. Gadhafi's hometown ofSirte, sat in their living room and told the family that an informer had relayed how theirson had played a prominent role in demonstrations a day earlier. The officer said thefamily would face reprisals for the son's actions unless they left the area.
The family fled to the home of relatives outside the capital.
In Tajura, the industrial district to the east of the capital and a hotbed of anti-Gadhafisentiment, at least 22 people have been arrested since Monday, say opposition leadersthere. Since Feb. 20, pro-Gadhafi security forces have made nighttime sweeps through
the city, scooping up men and raiding homes of people related to protest organizers,these people said.
Residents said security forces have arrested teenage boys in what they call a bid topressure families to keep their older children away from demonstrations. One protester
said his 15-year-old brother had been arrested and now his parents are pleading withhim not to go to a planned demonstration Friday.
"The message they are sending is that your whole family is vulnerable³your babies aswell as you," this protester said.-------------------------Analyst: Libyan Regime Recovering from Initial Protests (VOA)By Peter ClotteyMarch 03, 2011A former diplomat and interpreter for Libya·s embattled President Moammar Gadhafi
expresses concern that the Libyan regime is regrouping from the early shock of anti-government protests that, in his words, made regime members act in ridiculous andunpredictable ways.
Abubaker Saad, professor of history and non-Western cultures at Western ConnecticutState University in the United States, says it is unlikely that Gadhafi will adhere todemands by President Barack Obama and the rest of the international community tostep down and cede power.
´From the events that I have seen so far, he does not intend to step down at all. The
Libyan government spokesman was just repeating the same things that Gadhafi wassaying more politely because he is a diplomat and he was using a softer language. Thatactually began to disturb me,µ said Saad.
´It gave me another indication, which is that Gadhafi and his regime are beginning torecover from the shock of the early protest. That actually shook them in the sense thatthey were acting irrational and erratic. Now, what I see is a regime that·s regrouping,and they are doing a better job at regrouping, and that is why they have begun usingthe international media.µ
Saad also warns that Gadhafi·s regime has the ability to retake the areas under thecontrol of anti-government protesters.
´He has more elite forces than the opposition. The opposition has really meager power.If he decides to re-invade these areas, he has the power to do it because he has theairplanes; they don·t have a single plane. He is much superior to them since he also hasthe air force.µ
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says he is launching aninvestigation against Gadhafi, his key aides and some of his sons.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Thursday that he will probe allegations of crimes againsthumanity in Libya's violent crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Saad says senior members of the Libyan regime should also be investigated for humanrights abuses for the more than four decades of Gadhafi·s rule.
´They have to be investigated, too, because, if they were not the instigators of the action(killings), they will tell us who gave them the orders. If it is Gadhafi·s sons, or Gaddafihimself, or some other high officials who actually instructed them to do or commit thisparticular atrocity, basically, the ICC is going to try to get to the source of it. Who isresponsible for all of these deaths?µ said Saad.
Meanwhile, Libyan warplanes launched new air strikes Thursday against the keyeastern oil port of Brega, a day after rebels drove Gadhafi forces from the city.
Witnesses say the strikes targeted Brega's airport near the oil terminal. Oil officials sayLibyan oil production has been ´halvedµ due to the nationwide unrest.-------------------------Mass funerals for Libyan rebels (Al Jazeera)By - Unattributed AuthorMarch 3, 2011Hundreds of mourners in Libya have buried victims of clashes between pro- and anti-
government forces at a strategically important oil refinery town, where the oppositionbeat back an offensive by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader.
The town of Brega, which saw fresh violence erupt on Thursday, was the site of anearlier attempt by the pro-Gaddafi forces to retake control. A hospital official said atleast 12 people had been killed while defending the town on Wednesday.
In Benghazi, Libya's second city and a stronghold of the opposition, which has beendemanding that Gaddafi step down, about 1,000 people turned out to bury six people,the AFP news agency reported.
A crowd of anti-government activists packed into vehicles and drove to the cemetery,where they fired into the air and said prayers honouring those who had been killed.
In Ajdabiya, 150km to the west, dozens marched in a funeral procession, with fivecoffins held aloft en route to the cemetery there.
"For the people of Ajdabiya, these men are marytrs to their revolution. And the more oftheir comrades who are killed, the more they are determined to defeat MuammarGaddafi," reported Jacky Rowland, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the city.
Mourners shouted slogans against Gaddafi, including: "The blood of marytrs will not be
spilled in vain"; "Gaddafi get out, Libyans don't want you!"; and "Gaddafi you'recrazy!".
Struggle intensifies
Witnesses in Ajdabiya and Brega reported fresh fighting on Thursday, with witnessessaying that more government fighter jets had bombed positions near the oil refinery.
"Warplanes dropped a bomb in the area between the oil company and the residentialarea," Fattah al-Moghrabi, director of supplies for Brega hospital, told the AFP news
agency.
"As far as I know, there was no casualties," he said.
Al Jazeera's Rowland reported that the rebels, though poorly equipped and not welltrained, set up advanced positions 50km west of Brega on Thursday.
The reported strike in Brega comes in the wake of a counter-offensive launched byGaddafi, aimed at taking back lost territory in the country's east. About 300 men loyal tothe Libyan leader attacked Brega, some 500km east of the capital, Tripoli, on
Wednesday.
A short while later, an air force bomber encircled the town, firing a missile withoutcausing any casualties. The warplane struck a beach near where the two sides werefighting at a university campus.
Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley, who was about 70 metres from the missile when it hit, said theopposition managed to repel the strike - maintaining control of the town they seized aweek ago.
Located between Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte - still under government control - and theopposition-held eastern port of Benghazi, Brega also sits near ethnic fault lines betweentribes loyal to Gaddafi and eastern groups opposed to him.
"They tried to take Brega this morning, but they failed," Mustafa Gheriani, a spokesmanfor the February 17th Coalition, an anti-government group, told the Reuters newsagency on Wednesday.
Government forces were also reported to be battling to regain control of rebel-heldtowns close to Tripoli, trying to create a buffer zone around what is still Gaddafi's seatof power.
Meanwhile on Thursday, government officials from the Netherlands were trying to win
the release of three Dutch marines in Libya.
They were captured on Sunday by forces loyal to Gaddafi after they landed in thecoastal city of Sirte. They were trying to rescue two Europeans who have since beenhanded over to the Dutch embassy in Tripoli.---------------------The Decline of U.S. Naval Power (Wall Street Journal)By MARK HELPRINMarch 2, 2011Last week, pirates attacked and executed four Americans in the Indian Ocean. We and
the Europeans have endured literally thousands of attacks by the Somali pirateswithout taking the initiative against their vulnerable boats and bases even once. Suchparalysis is but a symptom of a sickness that started some time ago.
The 1968 film, "2001: A Space Odyssey," suggested that in another 30 years commercialflights to the moon, extraterrestrial mining, and interplanetary voyages would beroutine. Soon the United States would send multiple missions to the lunar surface,across which astronauts would speed in vehicles. If someone born before Kitty Hawk'sfirst flight would shortly after retirement see men riding around the moon in anautomobile, it was reasonable to assume that half again as much time would bring
progress at a similarly dazzling rate.
It didn't work out that way. In his 1962 speech at Rice University, perhaps the high-water mark of both the American Century and recorded presidential eloquence,President Kennedy framed the challenge not only of going to the moon but ofsustaining American exceptionalism and this country's leading position in the world.He was assassinated a little more than a year later, and in subsequent decadesAmerican confidence went south.
Not only have we lost our enthusiasm for the exploration of space, we have retreated onthe seas. Up to 30 ships, the largest ever constructed, each capable of carrying 18,000containers, will soon come off the ways in South Korea. Not only will we neither build,own, nor man them, they won't even call at our ports, which are not large enough toreceive them. We are no longer exactly the gem of the ocean. Next in line for gratuitousabdication is our naval position.
Separated by the oceans from sources of raw materials in the Middle East, Africa,Australia and South America, and from markets and manufacture in Europe, East Asia
and India, we are in effect an island nation. Because 95% and 90% respectively of U.S.and world foreign trade moves by sea, maritime interdiction is the quickest route toboth the strangulation of any given nation and chaos in the international system. FirstBritain and then the U.S. have been the guarantors of the open oceans. The nature ofthis task demands a large blue-water fleet that simply cannot be abridged.
Forty percent of the world's population lives within range of modern naval gunfire, andmore than two-thirds within easy reach of carrier aircraft..With the loss of a large number of important bases world-wide, if and when the U.S.projects military power it must do so most of the time from its own territory or the sea.Immune to political cross-currents, economically able to cover multiple areas,hypoallergenic to restive populations, and safe from insurgencies, the fleets areinstruments of undeniable utility in support of allies and response to aggression. Fortypercent of the world's population lives within range of modern naval gunfire, and morethan two-thirds within easy reach of carrier aircraft. Nothing is better or safer than
naval power and presence to preserve the often fragile reticence among nations, toprotect American interests and those of our allies, and to prevent the wars attendant toimbalances of power and unrestrained adventurism.
And yet the fleet has been made to wither even in time of war. We have the smallestnavy in almost a century, declining in the past 50 years to 286 from 1,000 principalcombatants. Apologists may cite typical postwar diminutions, but the ongoing 17%reduction from 1998 to the present applies to a navy that unlike its wartimepredecessors was not previously built up. These are reductions upon reductions. Norcan there be comfort in the fact that modern ships are more capable, for so are the ships
of potential opponents. And even if the capacity of a whole navy could be packed into asmall number of super ships, they could be in only a limited number of places at a time,and the loss of just a few of them would be catastrophic.
The overall effect of recent erosions is illustrated by the fact that 60 ships werecommonly underway in America's seaward approaches in 1998, but today³despiteopportunities for the infiltration of terrorists, the potential of weapons of massdestruction, and the ability of rogue nations to sea-launch intermediate and short-rangeballistic missiles³there are only 20.
As China's navy rises and ours declines, not that far in the future the trajectories willcross. Rather than face this, we seduce ourselves with redefinitions such as the vogueconcept that we can block with relative ease the straits through which the strategicmaterials upon which China depends must transit. But in one blink this would move usfrom the canonical British/American control of the sea to the insurgent model of lessernavies such as Germany's in World Wars I and II and the Soviet Union's in the ColdWar. If we cast ourselves as insurgents, China will be driven even faster to construct anavy that can dominate the oceans, a complete reversal of fortune.
The United Sates Navy need not follow the Royal Navy into near oblivion. We have fivetimes the population and almost six times the GDP of the U.K., and unlike Britain wewere not exhausted by the great wars and their debt, and we neither depended upon anempire for our sway nor did we lose one.
Despite its necessity, deficit reduction is not the only or even the most important thing.Abdicating our more than half-century stabilizing role on the oceans, neglecting themilitary balance, and relinquishing a position we are fully capable of holding will bringtectonic realignments among nations³and ultimately more expense, bloodletting, andheartbreak than the most furious deficit hawk is capable of imagining. A technologicalnation with a GDP of $14 trillion can afford to build a fleet worthy of its past andsufficient to its future. Pity it if it does not.-----------------------US denounces clashes in Sudan's Abyei region (AFP)
By Unattributed AuthorMarch 3, 2011WASHINGTON ³ The United States on Thursday denounced violence in Sudan's oil-rich Abyei region and urged all sides to avoid provoking further flare-ups.
Washington "condemns this week's violent clashes in the Abyei region and urges allparties to refrain from taking actions or making statements that could further heightentensions there," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in a statement.
A southern Sudanese army spokesman said Wednesday that at least 70 people have
been killed and two villages razed in two days of fighting in Sudan?s flashpoint oil-producing border district of Abyei.
Fresh clashes broke out on Tuesday between gunmen from the northern-supportingMisseriya and the Ngok Dinka people, who back the south.
Both southern and northern officials accused each other?s armies of backing the attacksin the disputed region.
Tensions in the impoverished area have been high since an independence vote in theneighboring south, which was held under a 2005 pact to end two decades of war andwhich saw almost 99 percent vote to breakaway from the north.
Under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), Abyei had been due to hold asimultaneous plebiscite on its own future as to whether to join north or south, but it hasbeen indefinitely postponed.
In his statement, Crowley said "the United States calls on local and national authoritiesto ensure that the UN Mission in Sudan has the access required to protect civilians,increase patrols where fighting is taking place, and engage with local leaders to restorecalm.
He said Washington also welcomes the fact that officials plan to meet Friday in thetown of Abyei as part of efforts to "finalize arrangements for a peaceful migration inline with agreements already reached."
But, he said, it also urges the parties to the 2005 CPA to renew their efforts to reachagreement on the final status of Abyei."---------------------As world focuses on Libya, more than 100 killed in Sudan border town (ChristianScience Monitor)By Maggie Fick
March 3, 2011Juba, Sudan - A series of attacks that began Sunday in Abyei, Sudan·s hottest north-south flashpoint border town, have left more than 100 dead, again raising the prospectof a less-than-amicable breakup of Africa·s largest country when South Sudan officiallysecedes this July.
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Sudan confirmed Thursday thatapproximately 300 women and children had fled the disputed, oil-rich border town ofAbyei since Wednesday night. These residents headed south toward safety, fearingfurther militia attacks like one on Wednesday some 10 miles north of Abyei that killed
more than 30 pro-southern police and Ngok Dinka men who took up arms to defendthe village of Maker Abyior.
The Wednesday attack came on the heels of a series of attacks earlier in the week onvillages north of the town of Abyei. The spokesman of the southern Sudanese army saidWednesday that more than 70 people were killed in these attacks.
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The UN mission said that their staff in Abyei witnessed a mass burial on Wednesdaynight of 33 fighters from the attacks, many of them wearing police uniforms.
The latest violence is not an unfamiliar experience for the people of Abyei, nor is itsurprising. The unresolved fate of this contested border region ² which has been thesubject of high-level political negotiations, protracted international court hearings, andintense global interest ² has stoked tensions on the ground between the two groups thatare forced to share and coexist on land that they both consider to be their own.
Arab herders vs. non-Arab farmersWhile the Arab cattle-herding Misseriya believe they should be allowed to grazeuninterrupted through this fertile and oil-producing land, the ´resident,µ non-ArabNgok Dinka people ² many of whom traditionally have been farmers ² fear their landwill be usurped if their territory does not join the southern half of Sudan when it
declares independence in July.
This week·s attacks underscore how the Abyei issue has been used as a lightning rod forpolitical leaders in both the northern Sudanese capital of Khartoum South Sudan'scapital, Juba.
Both governments are keen to attribute blame for the violence to the other. And withthe long history of Abyei being used as a proxy during the two north-south civil warsthat have ravaged the country since independence in 1956, it is likely that Khartoumand Juba will continue their finger-pointing instead of reaching an agreement on the
future status of the region.
The top government official in Abyei insists that the well-armed forces that attackedMaker Abyior on Wednesday were not merely Misseriya herders backed by Khartoum.
´These are not militias, these are Sudanese Armed Forces,µ says Deng Arop Kuol,referring to the northern military. ´These are government forces."
The UN mission has not yet visited the site of all the clashes this week, and the southernallegations of northern military involvement in the attacks have not been independently
verified.
´It's hardly a surprise that tensions are mounting, and that violence is ongoing,µ saysClaire McEvoy of the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, a research group that studiesconflict in Sudan.
´Indeed, we can expect more if the issue is not resolved in a just manner,µ she added,noting that the denial of the right of the people of Abyei to determine their future in areferendum is ´likely to lead to continued conflict in the area.µ
No vote on AbyeiThe 2005 north-south peace deal promised Abyei its own referendum that was to beheld simultaneously with South Sudan·s independence vote. This referendum was notheld because of disputes between the south·s ruling Sudan People·s LiberationMovement and the Khartoum-based National Congress Party.
On the eve of the south·s independence vote in early January, clashes erupted in severalof the same villages that experienced violence this week. As with the latest round of
fighting, the uncertain future of the people of Abyei seemed linked to the Januaryviolence.
The bloodshed in Abyei comes as the leaders of north and south are participating inhigh-level talks on a host of issues related to post-July relations between north and
south.
On the table this week in the Ethiopian town of Debre Zeit are wealth-sharingarrangements ² namely how Sudan·s oil sector will be managed after southernsecession ² and resolution of the impasse over demarcation of the country·s disputed,1,300-mile north-south border, which includes Abyei and will form the sovereigndividing line before the two regions after the south separates.
Insiders to the talks speculated before they got underway on Tuesday that thesenegotiations will be key to determining if and how relations between the two sides have
changed since the South's landslide vote to secede was announced on Feb. 7.------------------Ivory Coast headed for civil war, analysts fear (LA Times)By Robyn DixonMarch 4, 2011Johannesburg, South Africa - A spasm of deadly violence in Ivory Coast, including thekillings of six women who were shot Thursday as they demanded that the country'sintransigent president step down, points to an irreversible slide back into civil war inthe West African country, analysts say.
The United Nations reported Thursday that 26 people had been killed in the preceding24 hours amid a complete breakdown of trust between the country's rival presidents.That toll included the women, who had staged protests in recent days believing theywouldn't be targeted by the army, which is loyal to incumbent President LaurentGbagbo.
Gbagbo refused to step down after he was declared the loser in a U.N.-certified electionlast year. Winner Alassane Ouattara refuses to take part in any compromise unitygovernment that includes his opponent, making a peaceful solution elusive.
Rinaldo Depagne, an analyst with the International Crisis Group think tank, said it wasdifficult to see a resolution because of the distrust between Gbagbo and Ouattara.
"It would be very difficult to find," he said in a phone interview from Dakar, Senegal."You have got Laurent Gbagbo, who doesn't want anything but to stay as president,and for him it's nonnegotiable. And Ouattara doesn't trust Gbagbo at all."
Ouattara controls the central bank, but operates out of a hotel. Gbagbo controls thearmy, but is facing difficulties paying the troops.
Ivory Coast was split in two after an armed rebellion in 2002. A halting peace deal in2007 led to a unity government with Gbagbo as president and northern rebel leader
Guillaume Soro as prime minister. After years of delay, the presidential election finallywent ahead last November.
More than 300 people have died in violence since the balloting, but recent fighting inthe country's commercial capital, Abidjan, and the west of the country broke a six-yearcease-fire and marked the apparent failure of the African Union's efforts to find apeaceful solution to the election standoff.
Tens of thousands of people have fled fighting between Gbagbo forces and a groupknown as the "invisible commando" in Abobo, the pro-Ouattara neighborhood of
Abidjan where the women were killed.
U.N. peacekeepers have been threatened and attacked by pro-Gbagbo forces in recentweeks. Security forces have shot and killed anti-Gbagbo protesters, while hundredshave been abducted from pro-Ouattara neighborhoods.
And a leader of the rebel New Forces, Cisse Sindou, threatened that his men wouldassassinate Gbagbo to end the suffering of Ivorians.
"We're just going to take him out. It's going to be surgical and we know what we're
doing," he said in an interview with the BBC published Tuesday.
Corinne Dufka, a Human Rights Watch expert on West Africa, was pessimistic aboutthe chance of halting the slide into civil war. She said her group was deeply concernedabout the welfare of civilians, particularly if the fighting spreads.
"I think you do have a resumption of hostilities and I don't see this as a blip," she said."The root cause is the transition crisis. Both sides have shown themselves to beabsolutely intransigent. That actually eliminates the possibility of the negotiatedsolution."
The regional body of West African leaders, ECOWAS, has threatened militaryintervention to force Gbagbo to step down, but it would be likely to be a bloody affair.
Dufka said military intervention appeared increasingly likely, after the failure ofeconomic sanctions on Gbagbo's regime, diplomatic isolation and an arms embargo.
"The big question is, once all other options fail, is an armed response justified to ensurethat the voters see justice done?" Dufka said.
With the nation having rival presidents, each with his own Cabinet, the crisis has alsoposed a major challenge to the African Union's democratic aspirations.
The continent-wide body of African leaders includes as many dictators as realdemocrats, and has often turned a blind eye to fraudulent elections or presidents whoengineer constitutional changes to stay in power for decades. But in a departure from itstendency to support incumbents, the AU last year recognized Ouattara as president.
It was an unusually tough, unified position ³ but it didn't last long. In February, theSouth African government distanced itself from the AU position, describing the electionas inconclusive.
South African President Jacob Zuma, who was part of an AU delegation that flew in toAbidjan in a failed attempt at mediation last month, was almost mobbed by angryyoung Ouattara supporters. Meanwhile, Burkina Faso's president, Blaise Compaore,refused to fly in for fear of being attacked by Gbagbo's backers.
A civil war would destabilize one of West Africa's most volatile countries. The disputedpoll also sends an alarming message in a year when 18 African presidential elections aretaking place, including in Nigeria, the region's powerhouse.------------------------UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website
Joint UN-African delegation backs delaying Benin·s presidential election3 March ² A joint delegation of the United Nations, the African Union (AU) and theEconomic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) officials today backed calls fordelaying Benin·s presidential poll, scheduled for Sunday, to allow time to ensure thatthe electoral process is credible.
Sudan: UN reinforces peacekeepers after clashes in disputed Abyei region3 March ² The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) is sending an additional
company of troops to the disputed Abyei region, reinforcing the four companiesalready there, following renewed clashes between forces linked to northern andsouthern Sudan.
Attack helicopters arrive to reinforce UN peacekeepers in Côte d·Ivoire3 March ² United Nations peacekeepers in Côte d·Ivoire have received two attackhelicopters, with a third on its way, to reinforce the world body·s mission as it confronts
increasing violence sparked by former president Laurent Gbagbo·s refusal to step downdespite his defeat at the polls.
F ighting in Somalia displaces residents of Kenyan border town ² UN
3 March ² Fighting between forces of Somalia·s transitional Government and insurgents
has spread to areas near the Kenyan border, forcing some 5,500 residents of the Kenyanborder town of Mandera to flee their homes, exacerbating the plight of people affectedby drought, the United Nations humanitarian office reported today.
UN-backed talks on f ut ure of Western Sahara to resume next week
3 March ² Delegations of the parties to the Western Sahara dispute, Morocco and theFrente Polisario, and the two neighbouring States, Algeria and Mauritania, will gatherin Malta on Monday for two days of United Nations-backed informal meetings asagreed during their last round of talks in January.
