United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

8 November 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

U.S. Sweetens Offer to Take Sudan Off Terrorist State List (New York Times)
(Sudan) President Obama has told Sudan that if it allows a politically sensitive
referendum to go ahead in January, and abides by the results, the United States will
move to take the country off its list of state sponsors of terrorism as early as next July,
administration officials said Sunday.

U.S. Navy rescues 62 Somali refugees in Kenya (Xinhua)

(Somalia/Kenya) The U.S. Navy has rescued 62 Somali refugees who were stranded in
a troubled vessel in the sea and handed them over to the Kenyan authorities, officials
said on Friday.

U.S. Senator John Kerry Makes a Quick Return Trip (Sudan Tribune)
(Sudan) The U.S. senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
made a previously unannounced visit to Khartoum, his second one to the country in a
little over a week.

U.S. Calls for Return to Democratic Rule (AllAfrica.com)

(Madagascar) A senior United States diplomat told the Malagasy people this week that
the political structures and processes created by their de facto government were
“insufficiently democratic and consensual.”

US explains targeted sanctions (The Zimbabwean)

(Zimbabwe) The United States embassy in Harare has released a statement clarifying
Washington’s policy towards Harare, in an effort to dispel the much publicised claims
by President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu (PF) party that visa and financial sanctions
on the former sole ruling party’s top officials are responsible for the collapse of
Zimbabwe’s economy.

Libya orders U.S. diplomat to leave: reports (Reuters)

(Libya) Libya has ordered a diplomat at the United States embassy in Tripoli to leave
the country within 24 hours for breaching diplomatic rules, two Libyan newspapers
reported on Sunday.

US seeks to extradite Nelson Mandela's son-in-law (AFP)

(South Africa) The United States has sent South Africa an extradition request for the
husband of Nelson Mandela's oldest daughter, an official said Sunday.

UN: 700 sexual attacks seen on Congo-Angola border (Associated Press)

(Congo/Angola) United Nations officials said Saturday they were investigating reports
that some 700 Congolese women were sexually attacked along the country's border
with Angola.

Voting Underway in Guinea (Voice of America)

(Guinea) Voting is underway in Guinea to choose a new president. The vote is meant to
end nearly two years of military rule.

Fresh crisis in Somalia (Daily Monitor)

(Somalia) Regional leaders are due to hold an emergency summit in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia this week to thrash out action points to handle the dicey security and
governance situation in Somalia.

Striking Terror in the Horn of Africa (Quantara.de)

(Somalia) The bomb attacks it has carried out in Uganda and the US citizens it has
succeeded in recruiting have propelled the Somali Islamist group Al-Shabab into the
international headlines. The organisation in fact partly owes its existence to the
intervention of Ethiopia and the US.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
 Darfur: UN humanitarian chief urges authorities to facilitate aid delivery
 Angola-DR Congo: Senior UN official calls for probe into reported rape of
expellees
 UN humanitarian chief urges better protection of civilians in south Sudan
 Ban praises Tanzanians after peaceful elections
 Civilian, military leaders must do more to bring stability to Guinea-Bissau –
Ban
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Thursday, November 18, 1:30 p.m.; Center for Strategic and
International Studies
WHAT: Foreign Policy and Development Structure, Process, and Policy
WHO: Jerry Hyman, President, Hills Program on Governance, CSIS; Jim Kolbe, Senior
Transatlantic Fellow, German Marshall Fund; Former Chair, House of Representatives
Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related
Programs; Larry Garber, USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator for Africa; Dan
Runde, Director, Project on Prosperity and Development, CSIS
Info: http://csis.org/event/foreign-policy-and-development-structure-process-policy
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULL ARTICLE TEXT

U.S. Sweetens Offer to Take Sudan Off Terrorist State List (New York Times)

WASHINGTON — President Obama has told Sudan that if it allows a politically

sensitive referendum to go ahead in January, and abides by the results, the United
States will move to take the country off its list of state sponsors of terrorism as early as
next July, administration officials said Sunday.

The offer, conveyed to the Sudanese authorities over the weekend by Senator John
Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, represents a significant
sweetening of the package of incentives the administration offered to Sudan in
September for its cooperation with the vote.

Under a peace agreement that ended years of civil war in Sudan, the government in
Khartoum agreed to a referendum, now scheduled for Jan. 9, in which the people of
southern Sudan will decide whether to secede from the north. They are expected to vote
overwhelmingly to do so.

But as the date for the vote nears, there are persistent reports of foot-dragging by the
Sudanese authorities in preparing for it, as well as fears of a new outbreak of violence if
the north does not honor the results. Dividing Sudan is hugely complicated, since most
of its oil fields lie in the south.

In September, the administration presented Sudan with incentives ranging from modest
steps like the delivery of agricultural equipment to more sweeping measures, including
debt relief, normalized diplomatic relations, the lifting of sanctions and the removal of
Sudan from the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, which it has been
on since 1993.

Administration officials said then that they did not expect to take that last step until late
2011 or 2012, one official said, because it was also linked to a resolution of the violence
in the Darfur region. But now the United States has made it contingent only on the
referendum. The Sudanese government, another official said, had pushed in recent
weeks for more clarity in the incentives.

“I believe a broad agreement is within reach if they act with the sense of urgency that is
necessary to seize this historic opportunity,” Mr. Kerry said in a statement on Sunday as
he left Sudan.

Sudan has long petitioned to be removed from the State Department list, which also
includes Iran, Cuba and Syria. Under President Bill Clinton, the administration
designated its placement there on the grounds that it harbored Osama bin Laden and
other terrorists. But in recent years, Sudan has cooperated in counterterrorism efforts.

Over time, Sudan’s designation has been expanded to include its role in mass killings in
Darfur. Economic sanctions against Sudan remain linked to the violence in Darfur,
officials said, and cannot be lifted without approval from Congress. Earlier this week,
Mr. Obama renewed those sanctions. The president can remove Sudan from the
terrorism list after notifying Congress.

The United States, an official said, will not relax “our commitment to solving the
problems that have dogged Darfur.”

The administration’s offer does not depend on resolving another sticking point: a
separate plebiscite by people in the contested border region of Abyei to decide to join
northern or southern Sudan. The two sides have not agreed on the terms of that vote,
also scheduled for January.

With diplomats still struggling to break the impasse, administration officials said they
recognized that the plebiscite on Abyei may have to be deferred until after the broader
vote on independence by southern Sudan.

North Korea was the last nation the United States removed from the terrorism list. That
was done by the Bush administration in 2008, in an effort to encourage Pyongyang to be
more pliant in talks over its nuclear program — a goal that has been largely unmet,
given North Korea’s recent intransigence.
--------------------
U.S. Navy rescues 62 Somali refugees in Kenya (Xinhua)

MOMBASA, Kenya - The U.S. Navy has rescued 62 Somali refugees who were stranded
in a troubled vessel in the sea and handed them over to the Kenyan authorities, officials
said on Friday.

The group, comprising Somalis and Ethiopians, were on their way to Yemen to look for
greener pastures, after running away from their war-torn countries, according to
security details.

Deputy port police chief Benjamin Rotich said on Friday the group, which included
women and two under-age children, were stranded after their vessel developed
mechanical problems, forcing the American Naval ship to intervene. "They sent a
distress call and since the navy was on regular patrols at the Gulf of Aden, they were
rescued and brought here," Rotich told journalists in Mombasa, Kenya's Indian Ocean
port city.
It was claimed due to the presence of the two children, aged 15 and 12, and the women
among the group, they could not be suspected of piracy activities.

As soon as they arrived at the port police station and all details finalized on Friday, the
group was then transported to Kakuma refugee camp in northeast Kenya.

"As we speak, the refugees have already arrived at the Kakuma camp to begin new
lives," Rotich said.

The U. S. ship which had docked at the port as it handed over the group, left soon
afterward.

The incident came barely hours after another batch of 97 illegal Somali immigrants were
arrested in a remote island in South Coast, as they were being trafficked to South Africa
and other countries.
--------------------
U.S. Senator John Kerry Makes a Quick Return Trip (Sudan Tribune)

Khartoum — The U.S. senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
made a previously unannounced visit to Khartoum, his second one to the country in a
little over a week.

Sudan official news agency (SUNA) quoted the foreign ministry spokesperson
Muawiya Osman Khalid as saying that Kerry's visit aims at continuing his talks on a
number of issues particularly sticky issues such as the deadlock over Abyei and borders
as well as implementing the outstanding items in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
(CPA).

The U.S. lawmaker said during his trip in the last week of October that he received
written assurances from the Sudanese government that it would respect the January 9,
2011 date for the referendum in the South of the country despite mounting challenges to
meet the deadline.

The peace agreement signed in 2005 called for a referendum on whether the south will
become its own state. But the agreement did not spell out how the north and the south
will resolve a host of complex and contentious issues, including citizenship, wealth
sharing, national debt and water agreements.

Kerry had warned during his last visit of tougher sanctions if either the North or South
governments places obstacles in the way of the independence vote.

But the presidential adviser and former spy chief Salah Gosh told reporters after a
meeting with the U.S. senator that the latter has received "firm promises" that decades-
long economic sanctions would be lifted should the referendum be completed smoothly
as scheduled.

Gosh also said Kerry gave his word that Sudan would be removed from the list of
countries that sponsor terrorism.

A well-placed source in Khartoum told Sudan Tribune that Western diplomats in the
capital believe that Kerry likely came back with a detailed proposal for normalizing ties
should Sudan heeds to U.S. demands. The offer would also include U.S. support for
deferring the arrest warrant against Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir
through the UN Security Council for one year that can be renewed indefinitely.

Kerry is the lead author of legislation in the US Congress to cement Washington's

engagement with Sudan after the referendum, including certain types of US aid for
security forces and civil aviation.

The United States has banned virtually all trade with Sudan since 1997.

Sudan has been on the US sanctions list as an alleged supporter of Islamic militant
groups and over the situation in its war-torn western region of Darfur.
--------------------
U.S. Calls for Return to Democratic Rule (AllAfrica.com)

A senior United States diplomat told the Malagasy people this week that the political
structures and processes created by their de facto government were “insufficiently
democratic and consensual.”

Karl Wycoff, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State responsible for east Africa, said on
a visit to the capital, Antananarivo, that there were “a number of significant problems
with the current political process.”

These included “the creation and operation of a variety of transitional bodies, the
constitutional referendum now scheduled for November 17th and the proposed
electoral calendar," he said.

Madagascar has been in political crisis since Andry Rajoelina, a media personality and
the former mayor of Antananarivo, dissolved Madagascar's parliament, replaced high
court judges and swore himself in as transitional head of state in March last year. He
deposed the constitutionally-elected president, Marc Ravalomanana.

Since then the country has not been ruled democratically, the economy has been
damaged and the Malagasy people have faced hardships. Diplomatic efforts aimed at
returning the country to constitutional rule, mediated by the Southern African
Development Community (SADC), have so far failed.
Speaking during a visit to the island nation on Tuesday, Wycoff said the U.S. was
“committed to a return of durable democratic, constitutional governance in
Madagascar.”

He called on all parties to re-engage in discussions to find an acceptable roadmap

resulting in the return to democratic rule with free and fair elections.

"The de facto holders of political power bear a special responsibility and have a unique
opportunity to create the conditions for an open political process," he stressed. He said
opposition and other political figures, as well as Madagascar’s vibrant non-
governmental and civil society organizations, have an important role to play.

"The U.S. calls on all parties to avoid actions that might lead to violence and calls on the
security services to avoid actions that would be seen as interference with or
intimidation by political and civil society actors, as those actors seek to resolve the
ongoing crisis," he added.

Wycoff said that the political crisis has wrought much damage on the economy and
imposed unnecessary hardship on the Malagasy people. He told them the U.S. had been
legally obliged to suspend Madagascar’s participation in the African Growth and
Opportunity Act (AGOA) program. A return to democratic rule would allow the
restoration of the benefits of the programme.

The United States has enjoyed “a positive, long-standing relationship with the people of
Madagascar,” he said. The U.S. continued its commitment to help the Malagasy people
with humanitarian assistance totaling U.S. $85 million a year.

“We fully support continued mediation by SADC and believe that the international
community must play a constructive, facilitative role, as they have with other countries
that have gone through sustained political crises," he concluded.
--------------------
US explains targeted sanctions (The Zimbabwean)

The United States embassy in Harare has released a statement clarifying Washington’s
policy towards Harare, in an effort to dispel the much publicised claims by President
Robert Mugabe and his Zanu (PF) party that visa and financial sanctions on the former
sole ruling party’s top officials are responsible for the collapse of Zimbabwe’s economy.

The statement said in part: “US sanctions are not blocking Zimbabwe’s economic
recovery. The US does not maintain sanctions against the people of Zimbabwe or the
country of Zimbabwe. US sanctions target individuals and entities that have
undermined democratic processes or institutions in Zimbabwe.”
Sharon Hudson-Dean, spokesperson for the embassy, told SW Radio Africa that the
issue of these so-called “illegal sanctions” has been heard and seen a lot in the media in
Zimbabwe, and the embassy felt it was time to set the record straight.
Regarding the use of the term sanctions, Hudson-Dean said: “We prefer to call them
restrictive measures or targeted sanctions because they only focus on a small number of
individuals and entities that are mostly controlled by these individuals.”
She explained that the measures restrict these individuals from travelling to the United
States, investing money or doing business in the United States and restrict American
companies from doing business with them as well. The current list has approximately
100 people.
The embassy statement said this list is modified when “blocked Zimbabwean officials
demonstrate a clear commitment to respect the rule of law, democracy and human
rights.”
In his public speeches Mugabe always says that Zimbabwe’s economy is restricted from
growing by the ‘illegal sanctions’. Hudson-Dean refuted that argument, saying that
there is no economic embargo against the country.
“In fact the economic data shows that in the first half of 2010 our trade volume, that is
the bilateral trade between the U.S. and Zimbabwe, went up 25% over last year. There is
actually a lot of trade going on.”?
Hudson-Dean also stressed that humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe has never been cut off.
Last year the U.S. donated over $300 million and more than $200 million has already
been donated this year for humanitarian, food and health assistance, as well as
democracy and governance issues.
--------------------
Libya orders U.S. diplomat to leave: reports (Reuters)

ALGIERS – Libya has ordered a diplomat at the United States embassy in Tripoli to
leave the country within 24 hours for breaching diplomatic rules, two Libyan
newspapers reported on Sunday.

The Libyan authorities gave no confirmation of the reports while a spokesman for the
U.S. embassy in Tripoli, contacted by Reuters, said he had no comment. In Washington,
the State Department said it had no immediate comment.

"The Libyan authorities asked the Political Affairs Secretary at the U.S. embassy in
Tripoli to leave Libya within 24 hours," the Internet edition of the Oea newspaper
reported.

Citing what it called informed sources, the newspaper said the expulsion followed the
diplomat's visit to the city of Ifrane, 130 km (80 miles) south-west of the capital.

The was "considered by the Libyan authorities to be contrary to the rules and norms of
diplomacy," the newspaper said, without giving any more details.
A second Libyan newspaper, Quryna, also reported that a U.S. diplomat had been
ordered to leave the country.

The United States and Libya had no diplomatic relations for decades until 2004, after
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi renounced weapons of mass destruction.

Ties between the two countries hit a rocky patch earlier this year after a U.S. State
Department official made disparaging remarks about a speech by Gaddafi. The row
was resolved after the official apologized.

U.S. firms Exxon Mobil, Hess and ConocoPhillips are among international energy
companies with operations in Libya, an OPEC member and home to Africa's largest
proven oil reserves.
--------------------
US seeks to extradite Nelson Mandela's son-in-law (AFP)

JOHANNESBURG – The United States has sent South Africa an extradition request for
the husband of Nelson Mandela's oldest daughter, an official said Sunday.

The US embassy in Pretoria is working with South African authorities to extradite Isaac
Kwame Amuah, husband of Makaziwe Mandela, the eldest daughter of South Africa's
first black president, said embassy spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau.

"This is an ongoing criminal investigation so we cannot talk in detail about this issue,"
Trudeau told AFP.

"However, generally in the case of any extradition request we work in close cooperation
with the host government and no actions are taken without the knowledge and support
of the host government."

According to South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper, Amuah is wanted on a 1993 rape
charge in Hartford, Connecticut.

He is accused of raping a student while he was an assistant professor at a community

college there, the paper said.

Amuah, a native of Ghana, allegedly skipped bail in the United States and came to
South Africa to take up a job as director of the state-run Foundation for Research
Development, according to the Sunday Times.

Makaziwe is the daughter of Mandela and his first wife, Evelyn Mase.
Born in 1954, she grew up largely without her liberation hero father, who lived as a
fugitive from the apartheid regime before being jailed in 1964, spending nearly 27 years
in prison before his release in 1990 cemented the end of white-minority rule.
--------------------
UN: 700 sexual attacks seen on Congo-Angola border (Associated Press)

KINSHASA, Congo – United Nations officials said Saturday they were investigating
reports that some 700 Congolese women were sexually attacked along the country's
border with Angola.

Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the U.N.'s humanitarian agency, said the women
were among a group of some 7,000 Congolese expelled from Angola in October. He said
many women said Angolan soldiers were responsible for their attacks. He said the U.N.
has called on Angola and Congo to investigate the reports.

"We call on them to investigate these allegations and to prevent any human rights
violations during any future expulsions," he said.

U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman Celine Schmitt said Friday that U.N. agencies will
launch their own investigation this month.

The allegations follow a report last week in which the U.N. said at least 30 women said
they were imprisoned, gang-raped and left without clothes in the bush along the
border. Guiliano said doctors examined the 30 women in the Congolese town of Tembo
and confirmed they were raped.

Congolese frequently cross Angola's border to work as laborers in the mining districts
between the two Central African nations.
--------------------
Voting Underway in Guinea (Voice of America)

Voting is underway in Guinea to choose a new president. The vote is meant to end
nearly two years of military rule.

Nineteen weeks after this presidential election began, the two remaining candidates are
finally facing off in a second round vote to determine Guinea's first truly-democratically
elected leader.

Former prime minister Cellou Diallo and long-time opposition leader Alpha Conde are
members of the country's two largest ethnic groups. And violent clashes between their
supporters have delayed this vote several times over the past few months.
Guinea's acting military leader, General Sekouba Konate, was on television ahead of
this vote warning that the army would not tolerate any violence. It is easy to start, he
said, but difficult to end.

There is a special security force in place for this election. Human Rights Watch says that
unit should act with discipline, neutrality, and the minimum use of force.

"The tension in Guinea is extremely high," said Corinne Dufka, the West Africa director
for Human Rights Watch. "There is a great deal of ethnic and political tension that has
risen, particularly in the last two or three weeks. Now what we are calling on is for the
security forces to remain neutral and disciplined and abide by regulations that call on
them to use minimum use of force because we think the possibility for violence from
one party or the other is quite high."

Following the first round of voting, security forces used tear gas instead of live
ammunition. But Dufka says that discipline broke down at the end of October in
response to clashes between Diallo and Conde supporters. As Guinea moves to
complete a transition to civilian rule, Dufka says security forces must help lead the way.

"The roll of the security forces is to protect the population and in this case the electorate
as they cast their votes. Guinea has for over 50 years been ruled by authoritarian and
abusive governments," added Dufka. "And this very important and historic election
signals a transition from that previous authoritarian rule into a democratic and civilian
one. So it is very, very important that security forces maintain discipline and
accompany Guineans on this very important transition."

In a joint statement, the U.S. and French governments expressed deep concern about
pre-election violence and asked security forces to refrain from the use of excessive force.
Washington and Paris say they support General Konate's efforts to ensure the army's
neutrality and say everyone in Guinea must place national interests above their own
personal, ethnic, or political considerations, refraining from provocations or harassment
that could incite violence.
--------------------
Fresh crisis in Somalia (Daily Monitor)

Regional leaders are due to hold an emergency summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia this
week to thrash out action points to handle the dicey security and governance situation
in Somalia.

The Inter-Government Authority on Development (IGAD) meeting, at which Foreign

Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa is representing Uganda, comes amid reported defection of
Somali government troops to al Shabaab militants.
Security and diplomatic sources say President Sheikh Sharif’s beleaguered Transitional
Federal Government is corrupt, deeply divided and unable to pay soldiers and police
who get attracted to lucrative offers by insurgents.
“There is no proper military command structure and as a result, some of the soldiers
either opt to join al Shabaab or sell off their guns and desert,” a diplomat familiar with
goings-on in the restive Mogadishu, said.

Mr Abdirahman Omar Osman, the Somali government Information minister, in an e-

mail interview, admitted defections by their troops but said the problem has now been
fixed.

“Yes, we had very few of our soldiers defecting in the past due to lack of resources to
maintain regular payments and al-Shabaab’s propaganda, in particular how they
portray the image of Islam,” he wrote.

Presently, international actors are scratching their heads on what to do as mandate of

TFG that they have been propping up in power to stablise the Horn of Africa nation
runs out, opening the possibility for worse violence.

Power struggle
Shiekh Sharif’s government, already ruptured by internal bickering and bitter power
struggle, under present the arrangement will cease administering Somalia by August
2011.

However, anticipated reforms for smooth succession, among which is drafting of a new
Constitution, remain wet in the wings. A fall out with President Sharif forced Prime
Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke to resign while naming of his successor, Mr
Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, whom Parliament approved on October 31, initially
unsettled power brokers there.

“We are concerned about the continued bickering and internal fighting as well as the
mandate of TFG that’s about to expire,” Uganda’s State Minister for International
Affairs Oryem-Okello, said. “We have warned leaders in Somalia already,” he added.

Uganda helps
Uganda contributes the bulk of the 7, 000 foreign troops, otherwise called peacekeepers,
guarding key state installations in Mogadishu under the aegis of the African Union.

Mr Alberto Merlan, the principal information officer at the European Union Training
Mission - Somalia, said on Friday that the first batch of 1, 000 Somali forces whose
training in Uganda they are financing, graduate this month at Bihanga Training Camp.
“The European Union Training Mission – Somalia will provide specialist training, and
support to the recruit training provided by Uganda, up to two thousand Somali trainees
in two intakes,” he wrote in reply to our e-mail enquiries.

It has emerged that EU and other international stakeholders are in the dark about secret
training of about 1, 000 Somalia police officers by Germany in Ethiopia.
This week, the United States that has directly and through the UN Logistical Support
Package, spearheaded funding for AMISOM operations, called on partners to put in
more money to halt Somalia from slipping into a terrorism hotbed.

America’s Shs500 support

Mr Matt Goshko, the US public affairs officer for the Somalia Unit, said they had since
2007 spent $229 million (Shs526b) on Somalia and Washington remains committed to
the Djibouti Peace Process and supports TFG.

“We are also broadening our engagement with regional and local administrations, civil
society groups, and clan leaders in Somalia who share the same goals of peace and
stability.”

This newspaper was told both EU and US representatives will attend the IGAD
meeting, but as observers.
--------------------
Striking Terror in the Horn of Africa (Quantara.de)

If the Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, had his way, he would send 20,000
soldiers to Somalia to put paid once and for all to the Harakat Al-Shabab al-Mujahedin
(The movement of youthful fighters). "We should take them on," he said in August
during the 15th meeting of the African Union (AU) in Kampala. "This reactionary group
has carried out aggression against our country. We have the right to self-defence."

The firm tone of his declaration followed attacks in the Ugandan capital on 11th July, in
which two bombs exploded in a sport club while people were watching the Football
World Cup final, and killed 76 people. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility.

"The Kampala bombs are just the beginning," said Al-Shabab's leader, Ahmed Abdi
Godane, in a radio broadcast. He described them as revenge for atrocities which the
Ugandan army had committed against the civilian population of Somalia. But the AU
did not follow the Ugandan president's request, and only increased the number of its
6,000 peace-keeping troops in Somalia by 2,000.

"That's not a significant increase and will have virtually no effect," says Abdi Samatar,
Somali-born Professor of Geography at the University of Minnesota. "The most it will
do is to stiffen the resolve of Al-Shabab to fight against the occupation."
Ethiopian invasion

The "fight against the occupation" is of central significance for Al-Shabab. In an

interview with the Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera, Sheikh Abu Mansur, one of its
commanders, described it as a "God-given task". "We were attacked in our own country
and had to defend ourselves," he explained. "If that makes us terrorists, we're proud of
it." The US has put Al-Shabab on its terror list. "It's a shame we're only number 41," says
Abu Mansur ironically. "We'd like to be number one."

"The Kampala bombs are only the beginning," said Al-Shabab leader Ahmed Abdi
Godane in a radio broadcast
Al-Shabab began as a small group within the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), the
movement which defeated the country's notorious warlords in 2006 and brought peace
and something like security to the country for the first time in fifteen years. "In this
period," remembers Samatar, "there were no more dangerous roadblocks in the capital
Mogadishu. One could move freely. But that all changed with the Ethiopian invasion."

The troops from neighbouring Ethiopia occupied the capital in just two weeks in
December 2006 and reinstalled the transitional government (TFG), which had called for
their help. "That was all done with logistical and financial support from the USA," says
Abdi Samatar. The US military also flew missions itself. Samatar believes there were
just three, "against leading members of the ICU who had gone into hiding".

One of these missile attacks led to the death of Aden Hashi Ayro, a popular leader of
the ICU. According to the US, he had been trained in Afghanistan and had contact to
Al-Qaida.

"Godless enemies"

The Ethiopian invasion was supposed to put a brake on the ICU's Islamism. The
movement was indeed destroyed, but, in the event, this provoked only the emergence
of a substantially more extreme Islamist group in its place.

"Ethiopia and the US created the right conditions for all these crazy guys like Al-
Shabab," argues Samatar. "We told them beforehand that the ICU was a broad and
effective alliance which one should take seriously if one wanted to ensure peace. But
nobody wanted to believe us."

When the Ethiopian troops left, Al-Shabab was ready to exploit the power vacuum.
Thanks to their effectively populist approach the Islamists managed to attract support,
and soon conquered the south and the centre of the country as well as most of
Mogadishu. Most of their weapons are said to have come from Ethiopia's arch-enemy,
Eritrea.
African Union peacekeepers on patrol in Mogadishu. Al-Shabab calls them "Godless
enemies"
Within Mogadishu, the transitional government, on the other hand, only controls the
parliament building, the airport and the harbour. Al-Shabab sees the AU peacekeepers
as "Godless enemies". The transitional government is a "band of traitors who are
collaborating with the enemy." Sheikh Abu Mansur says, "We are happy if we give their
soldiers sleepless nights; each attack makes us stronger and is the will of God."

In January 2009, Sheikh Ahmed Sharif was voted in as president, but, for Al-Shabab,
there is no question of entering into negotiations with him, even though he was once
chairman of the ICU and in those days was attacked as a terrorist by the West. His
appointment was seen as a chance to solve the conflict, but Abu Mansur insists, "The
government of Sheikh Ahmed is illegitimate and corrupt. Only if they ask God for
forgiveness and fight side-by-side with us can there be any reconciliation."

Rejected by the people

The aim of Al-Shabab is to free the whole of Somalia and to introduce Sharia law, which
is already applied in the areas they control. Convicted wrongdoers are stoned, whipped
or have their hands chopped off. Music, satellite television and football, whether live or
televised, are all forbidden.

"Ethiopia and the US created the right conditions for all these crazy guys like Al-
Shabab," says Professor Abdi Samatar of the University of Minnesota
Religious sites belonging to other faith communities have been destroyed. This includes
Christian churches, but it also applies to the graves of Sufi Sheikhs, who have been
honoured in small mosques known as maqamat for hundreds of years. They are seen by
Al-Shabab as an expression of polytheism.

Following Somalia, says Al-Shabab's Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Maqdasi, Islam should rule
"from Alaska and Chile to South Africa, and from Japan to Russia". The aim is a world-
wide Caliphate, such as the Ottoman Caliphate used to be until the 1920s.

"Al-Shabab won't get very far with this religious agenda," says Abdi Samatar of the
University of Minnesota. "The Somali people sees it as a dead end, since they don't have
anything to do with the movement's Islamist practice."
--------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Darfur: UN humanitarian chief urges authorities to facilitate aid delivery

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UN humanitarian chief urges better protection of civilians in south Sudan

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Ban praises Tanzanians after peaceful elections

5 November – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has congratulated the people of
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5 November – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged both the civilian and military
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