RattlerGator Blog

Africa Roundup: Mid-May 2011

Here are a collection of articles pulled from America's National Defense University and their Africa Center for Strategic Studies:

17th Air Force chief: Trust growing in Africa
Maj. Gen. Margaret Woodward has had a busy few months as commander of 17th Air Force. She directed the U.S. air campaign over Libya. Sixty of her airmen just finished teaching the Congolese military how to conduct aeromedical evacuations. And she traveled to Ethiopia with Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz for the African Air Chiefs Conference — sponsored by 17th Air Force. Air Force Times

Libya: ICC prosecutor to seek warrants for officials
The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor is to seek approval for the arrest of three top Libyan officials suspected of crimes against humanity. Luis Moreno-Ocampo said evidence showed Libyan forces had conducted “widespread and systematic attacks” on civilians. BBC

British Commander Says Libya Fight Must Expand
Two months into the NATO bombing campaign against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces, Britain’s top military commander has said that the Libyan leader could remain “clinging to power” unless NATO broadened its bombing targets to include the country’s infrastructure. NY Times

Koussa among defectors ‘helping Nato bomb secret Gaddafi sites’
A network of Libyan defectors, including the former regime stalwart Moussa Koussa, are helping Nato to destroy Muammar Gaddafi’s military sites, including bunker complexes from which much of the war has been run, according to senior officials in Libya. The Guardian

Libya Rebels: Misrata Is Ours
NATO aircraft blasted an oil terminal in a key eastern city at nightfall Sunday, Libyan TV reported, after Britain urged the alliance to widen its assault on areas controlled by ruler Moammar Gadhafi. Libya’s deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim sharply condemned that call, describing it as a “provocation.” The Huffington Post

Rebels fail to get full diplomatic recognition from White House
Following a meeting with the National Security Advisor Tom Donilon Friday, the US said it will not be giving the National Transitional Council full diplomatic recognition for now even though it views it as the “legitimate” voice of the Libyan people. France 24

Military intervention in Libya: Is Congress getting impatient?
On Thursday morning, the Obama administration was supposed to finally report to the Senate on progress in the campaign against Muammar Qaddafi’s Libya, which began March 19. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg took a chair in the foreign relations committee hearing room. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, was ready with questions: Slate

NATO airstrike kills Libyan military spokesman – media
Colonel Milad Hussein al-Fiqhi, spokesman for the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces, was killed on Sunday in a NATO raid that targeted an intelligence headquarters in the capital Tripoli, Al Arabiya television reported. “Colonel Fiqhi is most probably responsible for the crimes that took place in Zawiyah town,” Al Arabiya quoted an opposition source. RiaNovosti

Sudanese candidate wanted on war crimes charges wins governor’s seat
Ahmed Haroun, a Sudanese ruling National Congress Party candidate wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges, was elected governor of a central Sudanese state Sunday in an election opponents say was rigged. LA Times

Danish Navy frees 16 Iranians from suspected Somali pirate ship
After a firefight with suspected Somali pirates, Danish sailors freed 16 Iranian hostages on board an alleged mother ship, according to the Danish Royal Navy. Four suspected pirates were killed and 10 wounded during the firefight Thursday, the Royal Navy said on its website. No one on board the Danish ship Esbern Snare was hurt, and the hostages were also not injured. CNN

Tunisia Is Uneasy Over Party of Islamists
Accused as subversives or terrorists, they bore the repressive brunt of the Tunisian dictator’s reign — two decades of torture, prison or exile. But since the dictator, President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, fled in January, the Islamists of the once-banned Ennahda Party have emerged from obscurity, returned from abroad and established themselves as perhaps the most powerful political force in post-revolution Tunisia. NY Times

Human Rights Watch: 800 killed in Nigeria post-election riots that swept northern states
An international human rights group says at least 800 people died in election-related violence that swept across northern Nigeria. Human Rights Watch said in a statement Monday that last month’s elections in Nigeria “were heralded as among the fairest in the country, but they were also the bloodiest.” The Washington Post

Rediscovering Congo
These are strange, exhilarating times to be working on the Democratic Republic of the Congo. For the first time since full-fledged war broke out in the central African country in 1996, the American public seems to be waking up to the brutality of the conflict there. Over the past year, there has been a flurry of activity inside and outside the Beltway. Foreign Policy

Nigeria: Corruption Commission Probes Nine Governors
NINE outgoing state governors across the country who have enjoyed immunity for the past four or eight years may soon be guests of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, as their tenures expire on May 29. allAfrica

Museveni’s crackdown on Besigye brings tough integration issues into the open
The violent clashes between Ugandan security and Walk to Work protestors demonstrating against the high cost of living, have shocked the world — but done a lot of good for East African integration. The East African

I. Coast militia killed 220 in southwest: government
Militia and mercenaries loyal to Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo killed 220 people while fleeing through the southwest of the country, a spokesman for President Alassane Ouattara said on Saturday. After being chased out of their stronghold in the main city Abidjan on May 4, the fleeing Gbagbo forces committed “atrocities in the southwest of our country,” said Patrick Achi. AFP

Sierra Leone holds both lessons and warnings for Ivory Coast
Sierra Leone recently celebrated its 50th anniversary of independence. The West African nation still bears the scars of a brutal civil war but its fledgling democracy offers lessons to regional neighbor Ivory Coast. Deutsche Welle

Burkina Faso: Angry soliders in late night rampage through streets of Po
Angry soldiers in Burkina Faso fired their weapons into the air late into the night on Saturday a month after widespread army and police mutinies. The incident took place in the key garrison town of Po in the south of the country near the border with Ghana. RFI

Family Law At The Crux Of Algerian Women’s Futures
Algeria, which shares a border with both Tunisia and Libya, is so far just watching the upheaval across the Arab world. Most Algerians say their country is still too scarred by a decade of violence in the 1990s to endure another uprising. Nearly every Algerian now calls that a lost decade, but no one feels it more acutely than Algerian women. NPR

Has France lost its grip on Africa?
The headstone was in place, the epitaph inscribed. Throughout last year, as 17 African countries headily celebrated the 50th anniversary of the parting of ways with their former colonial master, the unanimous view was that France’s once considerable influence on the continent was on its deathbed. Daily Monitor

No democracy relies so much on the military
Makerere University law professor Joe Oloka-Onyango made a presentation at the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) post-election 2011 conference in Kampala on 27 April 2011. President Museveni, who closed the conference, was very critical of Professor Oloka’s presentation, accusing him of poisoning the minds of ‘our children’. Uganda’s The Observer published a slightly edited version of the paper that got Museveni so worked up. Pambazuka News

Using Radio to Facilitate Dialogue on Governance in Africa
The increasing penetration of mobile telephone in Africa is widening opportunities for people to take part in discussions about governance. Radio is a widespread medium through which communities can tune-in to listen to debates on topics such as health, the environment and politics. FrontlineSMS:Radio is a software, which is being designed to help facilitate radio listener interaction via text message. Africa The Good News

Mobile Phones, Radio Promote Rights in Africa
Much needs to be done to secure human rights in Africa, but “the tide is turning” and mobile phones and FM radio have arguably done more than most other conventional methods to pursue this objective, reports Amnesty International in its annual report. allAfrica

I haven't done an Africa Roundup in a bit more than two years. I've been so perplexed by the whole Barack Obama thing, and my certainty that he was on a high-speed rail toward abject failure, that it -- the false phenomenon of Obama -- has given me pause in ways I'm sure I don't quite understand yet. The recent nailing of Osama bin Laden, something I unashamedly celebrated with gusto, has removed our President from my abject failure list.

Is he still a failure, however? Absolutely, positively. If I'm going to go down on this score, I will go down as resolutely certain as I was (and still am) that he never should have been elected in the first place.

Arab Man Dies for His Country

People fighting to be free is a constant around the globe, especially wherever totalitarian regimes rule. Libya, for instance. Thanks to Galrahn at Information Dissemination, I've been introduced to a man who died today -- Muhammad Nabbous. In the video posted below, we hear from his widow who is announcing his death. I have always been something of a sucker for a woman crying out of grief. I often marvel at what it does to me; this was a tough video to watch and listen to:

libya17feb on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

I salute you, Nabbous, though I know very little of you. May the master of the universe have mercy on your soul. Whittaker Chambers was right; life must be cherished, but it is such an everyday struggle.

Saluting Leo Linbeck III

About a week ago Wretchard announced that "Houston, we've got a problem." It was a nice little play on a familiar NASA communications phrase that simultaneously jabbed a less-than-diligent education writer who is described thusly at examiner.com, where she writes:

Caroline Grannan was an editor at the San Jose Mercury News for 12 years. Currently she contributes to a number of Internet sites dealing with education and schools. She is a San Francisco public school parent, advocate, and volunteer and has followed education politics locally and nationwide.

Unfortunately, Grannan embarrassed herself with the poorly researched write-up that sought to cast aspersions on a gentlemen named Leo Linbeck III. The Belmont Club readers do a good job of setting things right in the post and Leo himself does a great job of defending himself and his work with KIPP:Houston. I invite you to read the full thread.

As for my salute to Linbeck, I'd like to do it this way because it speaks volumes to me about the man. Here 'tis: I don't remember when I first took notice of Linbeck at the Belmont Club but Wretchard's November 2008 post, Which was made of brass, still bounces around in my brain.

The AFP describes a police raid on a baby trafficking syndicate in Nigeria. Babies were being bred for resale at a hospital “in Enugu, a large city in Nigeria’s southeast”

The doctor in charge, who is now on trial, reportedly lured teenagers with unwanted pregnancies by offering to help with abortion.

They would be locked up there until they gave birth, whereupon they would be forced to give up their babies for a token fee of around 20,000 naira (170 dollars, 135 euros).

The babies would then be sold to buyers for anything between 300,000 and 450,000 naira (2,500 and 3,800 dollars) each, according to a state agency fighting human trafficking in Nigeria, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).

What is the market for children in Africa? The BBC describes the various uses to which the traffic in humans, which may be as large as 200,000 individuals per year, are put:

In the eastern Nigerian city of Benin, girls and young women are sent to west Africa and Europe to work as prostitutes. Many go willingly, but some are tricked.

They are taken to a witch doctor, sworn to secrecy and end up in effective slavery to the middle men who smuggle them abroad. Other children are trafficked for work inside the country. Girls and boys as young as six are taken from desperately poor homes and placed as domestic workers with strangers in the city.

Those are the lucky ones. The AFP report says “In 2005, a Lagos-based orphanage suspected of ties to child trafficking rings, was shut down. There, charred baby-bones were discovered on the rubbish tip, leading to suspicion the orphanage was involved in the peddling of human body parts, possibly for use in rituals or for organ harvesting.”

In an age where strength has become synonymous with barbarism, it is important to remember that weakness is no virtue in itself. Evil is attracted to the defenseless . . . .

Well, it was a disturbing post and I highlighted Wretchard's comment at the end because so many on the left aggravate me so with their indifference to this truth. Back to my subject, click this link for a quick bio of Linbeck from Rice University. If you read the bio, it will not surprise you that the post on the baby trafficking syndicate also captured the attention of Linbeck, who offered up this compelling comment:

Good stuff. A topic worth engaging.

The philosophical core of “the concentration camp oven, the post-partum dumpster and infant trafficking” is the notion that some human beings have greater value than others. Germans are worth more than Jews, gypsies, gays, and members of the underground. Women are worth more than fetuses. Western babies with a terminal illness are worth more than Nigerian babies with healthy organs.

The Judeo-Christian culture - with elements wonderfully described above by Pascal et. al. - has always had this fundamental notion that each human stands as an equal before God. This does not mean that everyone is equal; that is absurd and clearly contradicted by our personal experience. Rather, God is infinite, and therefore as finite beings we are all equal on a comparative basis (1/infinity = 1,000,000,000,000/infinity).

The practical implications of this cultural norm are extremely important. Without equality before God, all sorts of horrible behavior is easily justified by the perpetrator, who is the only one who needs justification. It is but a small stretch to say that the belief in fundamental inequality has been the source of all the great evils: communism (vanguard>proletariat>bourgeoisie), Nazism (Aryans>everyone), Rwanda (Hutus>Tutsis), apartheid (whites>blacks), slavery (masters>slaves), the Inquisition (Catholics>Protestants), jihadism (Moslems>everyone), materialism (rich>poor), eugenics (beautiful>ugly, smart>dumb, light skin>dark skin, etc.), and so on. Add to the list as you see fit.

In all cases, it’s “Us” vs. “Them,” which always implies Us>Them.

This is why the fight is always so difficult for those of us on the Us=Them team. We’re not really saying we’re better in some ontological sense. We’re saying they’re not better than us. This is, by its nature, a defensive argument, which is why just wars are defensive. But it’s hard to win on defense, a fact that multi-cultis have turned to their advantage. And there is always the fact that the best defense is a good offense, which tempts us into buying into the same Us>Them logic. But we do so at the cost of our own soul.

Population control is an excellent example of an intellectual tradition founded upon Us>Them inequality. When “population” is determined to be a problem in need of solution, the next step is to decide who to control to solve the problem. The world is quickly divided into those who “breed responsibly” and those who need to be spayed or neutered like a dog. Initially, attempts are made to convince people that birth control is in their interest. But when these attempts fail to address the “problem,” birth control is imposed. One couple, one child. Abort or abandon.

Not much of a choice.

L3

Us greater than them inequality. Good stuff, Leo. Us=Them, a defensive argument. What a shame that Caroline Grannan, a former editor for twelve years at a major paper, couldn't be bothered to take the time to read up on you just a little bit more. All the greater is the shame that had she done so, she would still quite likely not have been able to see that Us=Them.

America's Policy in Africa in the 21st Century

I'm presenting in full an address from a few months ago on a topic of great interest to me: Africa and America. I backed away from doing an "African Roundup" on this blog many months ago after the absurd posturing with respect to the Department of Defense's Africa Command and its stand-up along with relocation to the continent became quite clear to me.

Somehow, we can have a European Command and it doesn't generate stupidity. Talk about setting up an equal command, the establishment of an Africa Command, and all manner of Africans (and African Americans) start talking stupid.

Or so it seems to me.

That said, here's the address.

U.S. Policy in Africa in the 21st Century

Phillip Carter, III

Acting Assistant Secretary

Bureau of African Affairs

The Africa Center for Strategic Studies

Washington, DC

February 9, 2009

Good morning. It is an honor to be here with you today -- I will discuss the outlines of U.S. policy in Africa, and six priorities that I see as important in the relationship between the United States and Africa. This seminar, organized by the African Center for Strategic Studies, is consistent with the US Government’s ongoing efforts to support the professionalization of Africa’s security sector, and we are proud to be part of that effort here at the Department of State. I want to leave time for your questions and comments so that we can engage in a clear dialogue about relations between the United States and Africa. I am here as much to learn from you, and to hear thoughts that may be different from those I hear everyday in Washington.

U.S.-AFRICA POLICY IN CONTEXT

Let me say up front that I believe firmly that the one foreign policy success of the previous administration is Africa, although even there we have met with challenges and frustration.

For too long Africa has been an afterthought in U.S. foreign policy interests. In World War II, Africa was a strategic stepping stone to the places that mattered in Europe. In the Cold War, Africa was a pawn in East-West struggles. Even as we Americans set in place well-intentioned economic development policies, it was too often with the idea of trying to do good for Africa, rather than to do good with Africa.

This has changed. Instead, the U.S. has implemented a strategy to operate more effectively in a world where non-state actors and illegal trans-border activity can pose major threats to even the most powerful of countries.
The goal is to develop a network of well-governed states capable through responsible sovereignty of protecting themselves and contributing to regional security. By so doing, they also protect the international system. Our new Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, last week reaffirmed the extremely high priority of security. She said that, “…we all know that there are real threats to the United States and our friends and allies around the world. And the State Department has an important role to play…to be a good leader and a good partner…” In a word, this means partnership. This vision supports African leaders as strategic partners and seeks to build up Africa's institutional capacity. In other words, doing things with Africans, not for Africans.

We believe these sentiments coincide with Africa's own growing emphasis on the values of freedom, the rule of law, and collective security, as embedded in the African Union's New Partnership for African Development. The New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) Peer Review mechanism reinforces African leaders' own efforts to promote democracy and good governance among their peers.

The U.S. understands that there are new, rising strategic powers around the world, including Sub-Saharan Africa. Nations such as South Africa and Nigeria have used their diplomatic, economic, and military power to shape the continent for the better. Mali, Mozambique, Liberia, Ghana, Botswana, Benin and many other African countries are leading the way as examples of the power of democratic rule of law.

We are pursuing the shared goal of ending conflict in Africa by supporting African conflict mediation and strengthening African capacities to mitigate conflict and carry out peace support operations. To do so, we work directly with lead African mediators, bilaterally with African Governments, and multilaterally with the African Union, the United Nations, and African sub-regional organizations. To put it more simply, we want to support African leadership and African solutions to African problems.

There is considerable evidence that this approach works. We've had success working with African partners in ending seven major conflicts in the past seven years: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, North-South Sudan, Ethiopia-Eritrea, and Angola. Although the current peace is fragile in several of these countries -- and challenges persist in Darfur, Eastern Congo and Somalia -- Africa has demonstrated that it is committed to resolving conflict and promoting stability.

Let me now focus on four U.S. priorities in our relations with African nations:

Our first priority is providing security assistance programs that are critical to securing the objective of a peaceful African continent. We are working with our African partners to build capacity at three levels: (1) at the level of the African Union, (2) at the sub-regional level, and (3) at the level of individual states. At the level of the AU, we are supporting the Strategic Planning and Management Unit at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa with advisors and equipment. At the sub-regional level, we have provided assistance to peacekeeping training centers in Senegal, Ghana, South Africa, Mali, and Kenya. The United States provides a peace and security advisor at ECOWAS headquarters, and continues to support the ECOWAS logistics facility in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

An important step was taken in early 2007 when the decision was made to create a Department of Defense Unified Combatant Command for Africa – the U.S. Africa Command, or "AFRICOM." This decision to create AFRICOM marks the beginning of a new era where African security issues can be addressed from an Africa-centric perspective. AFRICOM is a new type of command that will focus on building African regional security and crisis response. Its objective is a more secure Africa, but it is not expected to have any assigned forces to the African continent. Rather, AFRICOM is a headquarters staff that coordinates the kind of support that will enable African Governments and existing regional organizations to have greater capacity to respond in time of need.

Through programs like the International Military Education and Training (IMET) Program and the Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA) Program, we are working to build the capacity of the African militaries to respond to African problems. Over 100,000 African peacekeepers have been trained by ACOTA or by ACOTA-trained trainers, and eight African nations are now in the top 20 of all contributors to UN peacekeeping operations. African states are contributing peacekeepers to missions not only in Africa but also to UN operations in Lebanon and Haiti. We will continue to work with the AU, sub-regional organizations, and member states as they work to stand up the Africa Standby Force. This includes civilian aspects of the African Peace and Security Architecture, such as the Continental Early Warning System and Panel of the Wise.

In Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, and southern Sudan, we are helping to rebuild professional military forces for these post-conflict states, and are looking to engage in similar Security Sector Reform (SSR) activities in Somalia as soon as the situation will permit.

In addition to long-term capacity building, we are working to provide logistics support and equipment for African peacekeeping units deploying to Darfur and Somalia. The United States has supported the deployment of additional infantry battalions to the UN-AU Hybrid Mission in Darfur, with more than $100 million in peacekeeping operations funding for equipment and training. The United States has made the largest contribution of any international donor to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), and will continue to provide equipment and logistics support to troop- contributing countries in the future.

We will continue to work with our African partners to build the necessary sustained capacity to disrupt and ultimately eliminate the ability of terrorists to operate in the region and secure safe havens, recruits, popular support, finance, and freedom of movement across borders. The Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP) and the East Africa Regional Security Initiative (EARSI) are two initiatives that seek to identify resources throughout the United States government to support specific areas of cooperation identified by our partners in the region.

Maritime security is gaining in importance. For example, Nigeria has now surpassed Somalia as the most dangerous maritime region in Africa, with only Indonesia registering more incidents in 2007. The US Government will continue to work with African maritime security forces to secure their maritime domains from threats such as piracy, illegal fishing, and trafficking in persons and illicit goods. Through AFRICOM’s deployment of the African Partnership Station, we are building the capacity or West and Central African states to protect their territorial waters, respond to oil spills and other disasters, and patrol vital oil and gas platforms.

Our second priority on the continent is promoting democratic systems and practices -- we are engaged in supporting the rise of freedom and democracy on the continent. It is not enough to just end wars, but we must move beyond post-conflict transformation to consolidate democracies. Moreover, we must work with African societies on the critical issues of governance, transparency, and accountability as a means of helping establish pluralistic communities where open political dialogue is the channel for reform and progress. During the past two decades, progressive democratic reform has adapted to local values, customs, and practices throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Outgrowths of democratic, well-governed states that adhere to the rule of law, support the will of their people, and contribute responsibly to the international system are developing. One U.S. think tank that has studied Africa, Freedom House, has determined that three quarters of African countries are now “free or partly free,” as opposed to less than half the states in 1990.

Despite significant progress, the recent military coups in Mauritania and Guinea and the flawed elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe have hindered these advances. The international community is urging Mauritania to restore its democratically-elected government and is pressing Guinea to hold democratic elections this year. The Kenyan and Zimbabwean elections, marked by voting irregularities, contestable results, and post-election violence, demonstrate that the path to democracy is often difficult. As a result, we must and will continue to assist and encourage our African partners in building democratic institutions, conducting free and fair elections, and governing justly. This means providing support to civil society and media, strengthen political parties and elections monitoring mechanism, providing support to legislatures, building the capacity of key ministries, and encouraging political transparency.

Our third foreign policy priority is promoting sustainable and broad-based, market-led economic growth. While sub-Saharan Africa has experienced impressive growth rates in recent years, Africa can still be characterized as a rich continent in an impoverished state. The United States must help our African partners raise income levels, promote sustainable growth that benefits all in a society, opens markets for African exports, reduces barriers to investment, and identifies opportunities and comparative advantages.

Responding to this challenge, the United States implemented the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), a revolutionary foreign assistance program that seeks to reduce poverty through sustainable economic growth by awarding sizeable grants -- not loans -- to countries that practice good governance, seek to take responsibility for their own development, and are committed to achieving results. Of the 18 compacts signed to date, ten totaling over $3.8 billion have been signed with sub-Saharan African countries. Two other African countries, Senegal and Malawi are in the process of developing compacts.

The United States Government has also enacted the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a program that allows responsive and responsible partners in Africa to benefit from preferential access to American markets. With 40 countries presently qualified for this program, AGOA has become a cornerstone of our trade and investment policy in Africa. The United States has been in the forefront of efforts to forgive the debts owed by poor countries – but only if those countries’ governments first demonstrate their commitment to poverty reduction and good economic management. MCC and AGOA are important programs strengthening African economic health and underscore the cardinal interest of the United States in the continent’s economic affairs.

I should note that even in this tough time of economic recession overtaking the world, the United States does not anticipate any reduction in the support that we have provided to African nations. We want to continue to be a leader in supporting development on the African continent.

Related to this effort is our focus promoting enhanced food security and agricultural development. This means reducing poverty and hunger, raising agricultural output and reducing dependence on imported food, raising rural incomes, improving the livelihoods of women, children and families, and improving land management.

Between FY2008 and FY2009, the United States will have committed over $1 billion in food assistance worldwide, with much of this assistance focused on Africa. U.S. efforts in West Africa include programs designed to increase the productivity of staple crops, stimulate supply response, and expand the trade of staple foods. In East Africa, the United States has supported a targeted response to meet urgent food security needs and strengthen staple food markets. 

Our fourth U.S. foreign policy priority in Africa is promoting health and social development. As the leading cause of death on the continent, disease is one of the greatest challenges to Africa’s future. Rising to meet this challenge, the United States, through public health initiatives targeting the prevention, care and treatment of disease, is partnering with sub-Saharan nations to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

The United States has responded to the severe and urgent HIV/AIDS crisis with the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. PEPFAR is the largest commitment ever by a single nation toward an international health initiative. Through PEPFAR, the U.S. Government has already provided $18.8 billion in HIV/AIDS funding, with a reauthorization of up to $48 billion for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria over the next five years.

Thus far, PEPFAR has provided treatment for 2.1 million people, care for more than 10 million people living with HIV/AIDS, including more than 4 million orphans and vulnerable children, and prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission during nearly 16 million pregnancies, thus allowing nearly 240,000 children to be born HIV-free.

Responding to the malaria crisis, the United States launched the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) in 2005. The U.S. committed $1.2 billion in new malaria funding to reduce malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in 15 African countries. In 2007, the Malaria Initiative reached more than 25 million people with effective prevention and treatment interventions. Under this program we have virtually eradicated malaria from the island of Zanzibar and are making great strides in other places on the continent through aggressive indoor spraying, the distribution of treated bed nets, and the distribution of medication.

Through the prevention and treatment of disease, programs such as PEPFAR and PMI are touching the lives of millions. In collaboration with our regional partners, we will continue to develop sustainable healthcare infrastructure so African nations can address these challenges through their own national institutions.

CONCLUSION

I would like to now open the floor for a discussion and to answer your questions. As I have just outlined, the goal of the United States is to work with African nations to find solutions to the challenges and problems facing African nations. Working together, I believe that we will see more progress and less frustration, more peace and less conflict, and ultimately, more stability in the world.

D'Souza on Solzhenitsyn: A Must Read

Actually, the post, The Prophet at Harvard, is all about Solzhenitsyn at Harvard way back in 1978 and it informs the reader why our leftwing and many on the right who criticized the hell out of D'Souza's "The Enemy At Home" were severely off the mark.

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Imagine the scene at Harvard in the spring of 1978 when Alexander Solzhenitsyn gave his now-famous address. Solzhenitsyn had already won the Nobel Prize for The Gulag Archipelago and other great works exposing the murderous nature of atheist Communism. But at Harvard Solzhenitsyn touched on a topic much closer to home. Even though he was second to none in his denunciation of totalitarian socialism, Solzhenitsyn said, "should someone ask me whether I would indicate the West such as it is today as a model to my country, frankly I would have to answer negatively." The whole address is worth reading, but here are some highlights.

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D'Souza goes on from there and quotes select paragraphs from the address. They are stunningly prescient and (you'll not be surprised to learn) were thoroughly ridiculed at the time. For illustration, I will post these three:

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On the rights of criminals: "Legal frames especially in the United States are broad enough to encourage not only individual freedom but also certain individual crimes. The culprit can go unpunished or obtain undeserved leniency with the support of legions of public defenders. When a government starts an earnest fight against terrorism, public opinion immediately accuses it of violating the terrorists' civil rights. There are many such cases."

On the abuses of freedom: "Destructive and irresponsible freedom has been granted boundless space. Soceity appears to have litle defense against the abyss of human decadence, such as misuse of liberty for moral violence against young people, motion pictures full of pornography, crime and horror...Such a tilt of freedom in the directionof evil has come about gradually but it was evidently born out of a humanistic concept according to which there is no evil inherent to human nature."

On freedom of the press: "The press, too, enjoys the widest freedom. But what use does it make of this freedom? The press has become the greatest power within the Western countries, more powerful than the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. One would then like to ask: by what law has it been elected and to whom is it responsible? How many hasty, immature, superficial and misleading judgments are expressed every day, confusing readers, and without any verification? Thus we see terrorists made into heroes, or secret matters pertaining to the national defense publicly revealed, or shameful intrusion into the privacy of people under the false slogan: everyone has the right to know everything."

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Remarkable. Here is D'Souza's close:

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[T]oday when you go to Asia you hear everywhere the slogan, "Modernization, yes; Westernization, no." Throughout the Muslim world there is a reaction--exploited of course by the Islamic radicals--against what is perceived as the shamelessness and decadence of Western values and culture. Even in the West there is deep ambivalence about what has happened to cherished notions of liberty, the rule of law, freedom of the press, and the pursuit of happiness.

We don't have to agree with Solzhenitsyn on everything to say that, far from being a reactionary, here was a man who was ahead of his time in diagnosing some of the serious ailments of the modern era. Not only was he right about the Gulag; in many respects this forlorn Russian hermit was also right about us.

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And, of course, wrong. Like most Europeans, he still doesn't quite know how to grasp the fact that America is of the so-called Western World but our nation is not a European nation. Not even close, although I understand why that's a controversial point to many. I personally believe most of those folks overestimate the import of not being a European nation just as they underestimate the import of being substantively influenced by the cultures of the world. To me, there are ways in which Argentina is substantively more of a European nation than America is but . . . big deal.

We Americans, African Americans included, owe a tremendous debt to Alexander Solzhenitsyn. He was in the belly of the beast and somehow figured out a way to alert the world. His Harvard address goes far, in my estimation, of explaining the black decline so lamented in African America since the Great Society legislation passed in the 1960s. Perhaps (perhaps!) we've been far too focused on past grievances (segregation, slavery, reparations, etc.), and not focused enough on the basic requirements and responsibilities of life in the here and now.

Wubete

Last night, completely by chance, I happened upon the beginning of a show on PBS titled "A Walk to Beautiful." I thought it looked interesting and the titled grabbed me so I decided to stay put and watch it until the end. I'm glad I did. The program discussed the problem of women having a problematic child birth, often ending in a still-birth, and developing an obstetric fistula. As a result, they become incontinent. Thus unable to control their discharge of urine or feces (or sometimes both), they (the program was an examination of the problem of poor women in Ethiopia) become outcasts because of the unsanitary problem that is with them always.

All the featured women captured me but one tiny youngster particular grabbed my heart -- Wubete:

I hate to see a female cry; it does something really weird to me. Wubete told her story, or the narrator did -- I can't really recall, but the upshot was she was on her third trip to the hospital and had not been cured of the problem. She cried and was resolute that she would not return to her village. She had no one there, she said.

I was now fully invested in the show and hooked. I was going to be supremely angry if they didn't help this girl even though I know that not everyone with an obstetric fistula can be completely "cured." The girl said she would beg on the streets before going back to that village.

"No, no, no, no, no," I was now thinking, "don't let the girl have to beg for a living."

They couldn't completely cure her, they did provide her with a tube of some sort that allowed her to control the time and place of her urinary discharge and that seemed to be good enough to Wubete so it was good enough for me. Eventually, she was placed in a home caring for children orphaned when their mothers died from AIDS. Wubete now had a place, a purpose, and some children to care for.

Well done, Dr. Catherine Hamlin. Well done. Associated with a Santa Clara, California-based organization, here is how

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Having a baby can be one of the most joyous events in a woman's life. Yet for the millions of young women in the developing world who develop severe injuries called fistulas from obstructed labor, it's the beginning of a living nightmare, one that can last the rest of their lives. Since 1974, when she and her late husband Reginald established the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia, Dr. Catherine Hamlin has given her all to curing fistulas and restoring life to these women, many of whom are just teenagers. In this interview, conducted at the fistula hospital by "A Walk to Beautiful" codirectors Mary Olive Smith and Amy Bucher, Hamlin talks about just how heartbreaking this tragedy can be for poor women—and how miraculous the cure.

Note: To learn more about the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital and the U.S.-based Fistula Foundation, see www.fistulafoundation.org.

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For an interesting additional bit of information on Dr. Hamlin, read this citation she received from her alma mater, the University of Sydney.

U.S.-Africa Policy and Florida

Presented below, in full, is a speech delivered by Gregory L. Garland, Public Affairs Chief, Bureau of African Affairs in the State Department and delivered to the Tallahassee Kiwanis Club (and no, I was not present; I had no idea it was being given and I'm not sure I was in town) on March 18th:
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Good afternoon. It is an honor to be here today in Tallahassee.

I am especially please to follow a speaker from the Florida League of Cities. You are music to my ears. Cities, countries, and states all play a role in international affairs. I worked at one point with one of your member cities, Jacksonville, where I handled international affairs. I have served in six countries overseas and have witnessed the other side. I know what community involvement can mean. Multiply that by hundred and thousands across the country, and you have a dynamic message of positive citizen-to-citizen foreign policy. My hat is off to the Florida League of Cities, and I want you to know that you have a friend in the U.S. Department of State.

In fact, I came to Tallahassee principally to help celebrate the establishment of a new Sister City relationship with Assanti District North, Ghana. I spoke yesterday at the Tallahassee Sister Cities Committee Africa Awareness Month Conference at Florida A&M. The audience was very different, of course, and mostly young. I addressed Florida-Africa relations, looking at our state's 440 year history of links between our state and Africa. I won't burden you with that today, but I do want to leave with the fact that there were Africans in Florida at least as early as 1565. They were very much a part of the oldest city, St. Augustine, and the oldest continuous European settlement in the United States, Northeast Florida.

U.S.-AFRICA POLICY IN CONTEXT

Last month, President Bush traveled to Africa for second time. In 2004, he visited Nigeria and South Africa. This time, he went to five countries not often in the news back here: Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, and Liberia. In fact, that was the point. Much of the continent is doing well, economically, socially, and politically. Yet to read the papers and watch CNN, you would think that Darfur was all of Africa.

There is a quiet revolution going on in Africa. It is one of democratic rule of law, growing economic, a rising middle class, and end of conflict. The president chose to take the opportunity to show the quiet and prosperous side of Africa.

He took along with him, as is always the case, the White House press corps. Now, this is a cynical bunch who have witnessed a lot. Coverage before the trip was oriented more toward the question of why the President would not travel to any country in a crisis, notably Kenya or Sudan. Let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that these reporters had seen little of Africa, and their preconceptions were rooted pretty much in what they read in their own papers. By the time the trip got to Tanzania, attitudes started to change. This Africa was an interesting place, even when there was a war going on. They witnessed the extraordinary welcome all these countries laid out for the President, one greater than he would receive back in the U.S. They witnessed an Africa that is a wonderful host, human, tolerant, and alive with life in all its permutations. Finally, the coverage started to reflect that maybe the President was on to something.

For the United States, Africa for too long was on the margins of U.S. foreign policy interests. In World War II, Africa was a strategic stepping stone to the places that mattered in Europe. In the Cold War, Africa was a sideshow to the struggle that mattered -- in Europe and East Asia. Even as we Americans set in place well-intentioned economic development policies, it was too often with the idea of doing good for Africa, rather than with Africa.

All that has changed. In 2001, the U.S. changed its foreign policy strategy, a move long overdue with the close of the Cold War. We decided not to rank U.S. interests according to the traditional hierarchy of regions. In that ranking, Europe was considered a vital national security interest, Asia and the Middle East important, and Latin America and Africa mainly of humanitarian interest. We no longer operate according to this hierarchy.

Instead, the U.S. has implemented a strategy to operate more effectively in a world where non-state actors, and illegal trans-border activity, can pose essential threats to even the most powerful of countries.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has applied this vision to her strategy of transformational diplomacy. The goal is to develop a network of well-governed states capable through responsible sovereignty of protecting themselves and contributing to regional security. By so doing, they also protect the international system.

She has described her approach as "doing things with people, not for them." Note the key prepositions: with, not for. In a word, this means partnership. This vision supports African leadership as strategic partners and seeks to build up Africa's institutional capacity. In other words, doing things with Africans, not for them.

ECONOMIC SUCCESS

Contrary to impressions that many have, let me say that Africa is doing well now by traditional economic criteria. In 2006, the economy of all sub-Saharan Africa grew by 5.5 percent -- the same rate the world economy grew. Put differently, twenty-three African nations grew at a rate faster than 5 percent. Only one – Zimbabwe – failed to grow at all.

U.S. policy seeks to support and sustain that growth over the long term. It has become a truism that trade is the best aid. Creating the basis for a healthy, open trading relationship with Africa is a key objective.

AGOA

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has brought increased trade flows and new industry to Africa. Thanks in part to AGOA, two-way trade between the U.S and Africa has risen from $29 billion in 2000 to over $71 billion last year. In just one year, 2005-6, U.S. exports to sub-Saharan Africa rose by 17 percent (to $12 billion). Imports from Africa also rose by 17 percent (to $59.2 billion).

These figures didn't happen by chance. AGOA has helped jump-start the rise in bilateral trade. AGOA has become the cornerstone of our trade and investment policy in Africa. It was and is a great idea that has worked.

MCC

I said that it is crucial to support Africa's quest for building accountable democratic institutions. To succeed in the global economy, nations need fair and transparent legal systems; free markets that unleash the creativity of their citizens; banking systems that serve people at all income levels; and a business climate that welcomes foreign investment and supports local entrepreneurs.

We're doing this through a new program, the Millennium Challenge Account. This program works in countries that have already demonstrated commitment to fight corruption, implement democratic reforms, invest in health and education, and promote economic freedom. African governments -- not Americans -- must come up with ideas, a change in our way of doing development. Once again, we seek a partnership of equals, Americans and African, where Africans take ownership and responsibility.

INVESTING IN PEOPLE

True commitment means dealing with health: notably, the terrible killing machines of AIDS and malaria. And the place to start is partnership with ministries of health, working with African leaders in their effort to battle disease.

PEPFAR

We have taken on Africa's most daunting health challenges. President Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was launched in 2003 as a five-year, 15 billion dollar program to combat HIV/AIDS in 15 countries, 12 of them in sub-Saharan Africa. A few months ago, President Bush doubled this commitment to $30 billion over ten years.

PMI -- MALARIA

For too long the West has turned a blind eye to malaria, which no longer exists in the developed world but is the #1 killer of Africans. We have begun to right that wrong.

The President's Malaria Initiative, a 1.5 billion dollar initiative to fight this disease in fifteen African countries. This includes insecticide treated bed nets, indoor spraying, and life-saving anti-malaria medications.

To take one case, Zanzibar: This year -- the second year – Malaria has nearly been wiped out on the historical island of Zanzibar in East Africa. That show what commitment, resources, and existing knowledge can accomplish.

THE GRASSROOTS ROLE IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Churches

I have said little about the role of churches. It was American missions who built and operated many of the first school that educated Africans – black Africans. Generations of African leaders got their learning in these American schools, and some went on to study in HBCUs and other American colleges and universities. That is a powerful and positive legacy, one that happened in spite of official U.S. policy.

Today, that tradition continues and is growing. Churches of all denominations have expanded their missions in Africa. I have seen Africans come to speak to congregations that only a generation ago would have kept them out because of the color of their skin, I have seen Americans of all backgrounds from very corner of our society work in Africa as teachers, doctors, nurses, and ministers, beloved by those communities they have dedicated their loves to. And I have seen, as you have, too, Africans make this flow a two-way street, coming to America not just to study, but to minister, teach, and serve, all under the aegis of a church, not Uncle Sam.

Peace Corps

When the Peace Corps started up in the Kennedy Administration, few anticipated one of its greatest impacts: The impact of a community of tens of thousands of former volunteers in Africa. Many of these fell in love with Africa, sometimes with Africans literally, and have dedicated their lives to the continent.

Immigration

I see it in Immigration of Africans to America. Just as the Civil Rights revolution opened many doors to African Americans, it made possible the immigration reform of 1965, which ended race-based favoritism as immigration policy and opened the doors to people of color. Today, large and growing communities of Ethiopian-Americans, Somali-Americans, Nigerian-Americans, and others have spread across America, following the pattern of previous immigrants. One of those patterns is maintaining an interest in their roots, and trying to influence foreign. Just as Cuban, Polish, and Chinese immigrants have done for many decades, African immigrants are learning, and learning well how to press the buttons of power in Washington. Pay attention, I say to my colleagues, this is something new, and you'd better understand it.

And I see it in the private sector. We hear so much about oil, and that is part of the American story in Africa, at least in Nigeria and Angola. And there's bauxite in Guinea and Ghana, iron ore and rubber in Liberia, and so on. Now, however, we are witnessing the broadening of that trading relationship, fueled in many cases by AGOA, but driven by middle and small business. Just to cite one example – shrimp from Mozambique, shipped to Miami for packaging. (Mozambique, I can say, has the best shrimp on earth.)

Presidents come and go. Secretaries of State come and go. Congresses come and go, all something that an elections year reminds us of.

What will not and cannot change is this fundamental shift, a societal shift, of attention towards Africa. It is here for good, at this the grassroots level.

Thank you.

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Greg Garland, sorry I missed you.

Africa Unchained: My Beginning Approach

I am notoriously bad at beginning a book and not finishing it. However, I occasionally come across a book I think I need to give greater attention to and will outline it on the front end and summarize it as I go along. The end product might be a 20-50 page document. This summer, I'm hoping to have completed Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa's Future by George B. N. Ayittey.

The book will be supplemented throughout the summer by other readings, primarily online. For instance, there's an Africa Unchained blog run by an entrepreneur out of New York named Emeka Okafor (apparently not the basketball player who is also maintaining his interest in Africa). This Emeka Okafor blogs based on the focus of the Ayittey book and also has another blog, Timbuktu Chronicles, that he defines thusly:

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A view of Africa and Africans with a focus on entrepreneurship, innovation, technology, practical remedies and other self sustaining activities.

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Which, of course, is also quite similar to the Ayittey book.

I am suspicious of the book, probably unfairly. Ayittey's chapters seem to hint at an approach that is a bit too lackadaisical toward the responsibilities of the general population to, come hell or high water, create the world they deserve. Easy for me to say, I know. Hypocrite that I am, and all that good stuff. And I'll admit, my quick review upon first possessing the book revealed a distaste for Marxist-Leninist stupidity. Thank goodness for that.

Here are his chapters:

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Chapter 1:  Why Africa Is Poor

Chapter 2:  The Wrath of the People

Chapter 3:  The Post-Colonial Elite Development Model

Chapter 4:  The Cultural Betrayal

Chapter 5:  Development Finance

Chapter 6:  The First Generation Problems

Chapter 7:  The Second Generation Problems

Chapter 8:  How to Develop Africa

Chapter 9:  The Indigenous Economic System

Chapter 10:  The Atinga Development Model

Chapter 11:  Epilogue and Conclusions

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Interestingly, he compliments Botswana in the book (quoting an article in the January 17, 2004 United States edition of The Economist which printed this statement: "Only one African country, Botswana, has consistently been well governed since Independence.") and it is Botswana where I expect America's Africa Command to ultimately be situated.

Africa Roundup: March 2008

First are the stories from the Mail & Guardian in South Africa but a better collection of articles follow that provided by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies:

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Zimbabwe police chief warns 'puppets'
Zimbabwe's police chief says his force will not allow British and American "puppets" to take power in Zimbabwe, sending an ominous signal to opposition leaders ahead of March 29 polls, reports said on Friday. Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri is the third service chief to come out in support of Robert Mugabe.

M&G Media publisher denies bankrolling Mugabe rival
State media in Zimbabwe on Friday accused prominent South Africa-based Mail & Guardian publisher Trevor Ncube of donating R300 000 to President Robert Mugabe's rival Simba Makoni two weeks ahead of scheduled parliamentary polls.

EU, UN urged to respond to Zim crackdown
Zimbabwe's crackdown on political dissent may need to be discussed by the United Nations Security Council, a prominent Southern African human rights activist declared this week. Opponents of President Robert Mugabe have reported large-scale harassment and intimidation in the tense period leading to elections due later this month.

Islamists behead three soldiers in Somalia
Islamist insurgents cut off the heads of three Somali soldiers south of the capital on Thursday and the United Nations special envoy said he would try to set up peace talks between the opposition and government. It was the first case of beheadings since the government and its Ethiopian military allies ousted the Islamists from power in late 2006.

Mbeki opposes assault on rebel Comoros island
South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki said he opposed a threatened African Union-backed assault by the Comoros archipelago's troops against the rebel island of Anjouan, saying it should be given time for a poll. Hundreds of federal troops have amassed on nearby Moheli island vowing an imminent assault on hilly, wooded Anjouan.

Headache delayed Sudan-Chad pact
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir was due to attend a rescheduled peace accord signing with Chad's President Idriss Déby Itno on Thursday after failing to show up on Wednesday and telling mediators he had a headache. The mediators hope the non-aggression pact will end years of hostility between Sudan and Chad.

Hundreds of Kenyans ill after 'toxic leak'
Hundreds of Kenyans have fallen ill after a chemical consignment was dumped on the roadside near the port city of Mombasa, officials said on Thursday. According to a local official, up to 1 500 people have sought treatment at local hospitals, complaining mainly of chest pains and respiratory problems.

UN heading for Iraq-style disaster in Darfur
United Nations peacekeeping troops are heading for "Iraq-style disaster" in Darfur as long as talks between the government and rebel groups remain stalled and the United States maintains its hostile stance, Sudanese officials and regional experts warned on Wednesday.

Museveni refuses to hand over rebels
The Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, is headed for a confrontation with the International Criminal Court after saying he will not hand over to The Hague the leaders of his country's rebel Lord's Resistance Army indicted for war crimes. Museveni said Joseph Kony, the LRA leader, and his commanders will instead be brought before "traditional" Ugandan courts.Rebels sign deals, walk out of talks

Liberals, Islamists clash over Morocco 'gay wedding'
When rumours of a "gay wedding" spread through the town of Ksar el Kebir, the only evidence produced was a video on YouTube of a man dancing in women's clothes. Four people are now in prison accused of homosexual acts, Islamists are decrying a decline in morals and liberals are warning that the kingdom risks sleep-walking into extremism.

US says vigilante killings on the rise in Mozambique
Violence at the hands of security forces, lynchings and vigilantism against criminals, are tarnishing Mozambique's human rights record, according to a new report by the United States. The US State Department's country report on human rights, launched in Maputo, said there had been a rise in vigilante killings.

Nigerian oil delta under threat of new violence
The risk of renewed violence in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta is increasing because militants are frustrated by a lack of concrete results from peace talks, a key negotiator said on Wednesday. Kingsley Kuku, a senior member of a government peace committee, said the government still had an opportunity to avert violence.Rebel sees govt threat to peace.

Mugabe awards big pay-hike to civil servants
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has awarded large pay hikes to civil servants, including teachers, ahead of March 29 polls, local news reports said on Wednesday. Addressing a rally on Tuesday at a school in Inyathi, in the country's Matabeleland North province, Mugabe said he had signed the new salary schedule earlier in the week.

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I am probably going to gradually (or quickly -- who the heck knows) focus the Africa Roundup review more toward the material compiled by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. For instance, here's their posted collection for March 13th:

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Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement: Beyond the Crisis

On 11 October 2007, the Sudan Liberation People’s Movement (SPLM) announced it was suspending participation in the Government of National Unity because the National Congress Party (NCP) was not implementing key aspects of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the generation-long, primarily North-South conflict.

http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5329&l=1

Darfur force 'may last 10 years'

The commander of the UN-African Union force in Darfur has said the mission could last for the next 10 years.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7292658.stm

Sudanese officials to be charged with war crimes in 2008: ICC prosecutor

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) disclosed today that he is finalizing two investigations into the Darfur war crimes by the end of 2008.

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article26347

Janjaweed leader says he got his orders from Khartoum

Ever since Darfur hit the media radar in early 2004, Khartoum has been accused of backing Janjaweed militia in raping, looting, torching and mass-murdering in western Sudan.

http://www.alertnet.org/db/an_art/

Algeria 'won't tolerate torture'

Algeria will severely punish anyone using torture to pursue the country's "implacable" struggle against terrorism, said President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Wednesday.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News

White House: concerned by Egypt political arrests

The White House said on Wednesday that it was concerned by a "campaign of arrests" in Egypt of individuals involved in upcoming elections and who oppose the governing party.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080312/

Somalia: One Year Later, AU Force in Mogadishu Soldiers On

One year after the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) deployed its first peacekeepers to Mogadishu, the Somali capital, assessments of its performance and relevance remain mixed.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77236

61 Kenyan militia members held

Security forces have arrested 61 suspected members of a tribal militia in western Kenya just days after the army launched a massive crackdown on the group, said a local official on Wednesday.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News

Kenya: MPs Unite to Start the Healing Process

MPs put their factional differences aside in Parliament Wednesday to unite the country ahead of debate on Bills necessary for the formation of a coalition Government.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200803121272.html

Kenya: Rights Abuse Acute During Crisis - U.S.

Human rights violations in Kenya became acute in the aftermath of the December 27 election, the US State Department indicates in a report issued on Tuesday.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200803121243.html

Rwandan rebels running parts of eastern DR Congo: rights group

Rwandan rebels have created de-facto administrations in eastern DR Congo, running a dozen regions in Sud-Kivu province despite a recent peace treaty, a human rights group said Wednesday.

http://www.monuc.org/news.aspx?newsID=16874

UN warns DRCongo on 'excessive force' against religious sect

The head of the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) warned Wednesday against an escalation of the ongoing violent clashes between police and followers of a religious sect.

http://www.monuc.org/news.aspx?newsID=16876

Uganda celebrates Afro-Arab unity

A meeting of youth leaders from African and Arab countries has been officially opened in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, by President Yoweri Museveni.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7293364.stm

Burundi: Investigate Attacks on Opposition

Burundian authorities should promptly investigate grenade attacks on four prominent opposition politicians and bring those responsible to justice, Human Rights Watch said today.

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/03/12/burund18269.htm

Burkina Faso jails 45 protesters

A court in Burkina Faso has jailed 45 people, including an opposition politician, for between one and three years for protests over the cost of living, says the state prosecutor.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News

Gabonese Senior Enlisted Receive Leadership Training from U.S. Military

As part of the Navy's Global Maritime Strategy, Africa Partnership Station (APS) is training Gabonese senior enlisted sailors on noncommissioned officer (NCO) leadership, a one-week course, which is part of an international effort aiming to enhance regional maritime safety and security in West and Central Africa, March 7.

http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=1676

Liberia's President Sirleaf Is Said Ready to Face Truth Commission If Called

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says her support for the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) remains unwavering.

http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2008-03-13-voa3.cfm

Comoros Government Claims Capture of Three Anjouan Rebels

The government of Comoros says its troops have captured three rebel soldiers during a brief incursion onto the breakaway island of Anjouan.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-03-12-voa35.cfm

Malaria in Africa 'global war'

United States President George W Bush told a gala dinner at the residence of Kuwait's ambassador to the US that the fight against malaria in Africa was part of the global war on terrorism.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/

SOUTH AFRICA: Death Penalty Referendum Call - Critics Cry Populism

Jacob Zuma, the president of the African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party in South Africa, has of late been called a chamaeleon who adapts his speeches to what his audience wants to hear.

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=41573

Ivory Coast 'coup plotter' rejects trial

Former Ivory Coast rebel leader Ibrahim Coulibaly on Tuesday declared he would not go to Paris where he was on trial in absentia over a 2003 coup plot in the west African nation.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/

AFRICA: Caught Between Peacekeeping and Development

The beleaguered U.N. peacekeeping mission in Sudan, handicapped by lack of troops and helicopters, has come under fire for its unusually high costs.

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=41546

RIGHTS:'UN must respond to Zimbabwe Crackdown'

Zimbabwe's crackdown on political dissent may need to be discussed by the United Nations Security Council, a prominent southern African human rights activist declared Mar. 11.

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=41555

Zimbabwe: Government Violating SADC Guidelines on Elections

With elections just 17 days away, the focus is very much on whether the country can have a free and fair election.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200803120005.html

Sierra Leone: Maternity Hospital is 'Last Resort'

Two babies and several gaunt women are the only patients in the gloomy wards of the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital in Freetown.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200803120898.html

In Kenya, a refuge from female circumcision

The Tasaru Girls Rescue Center offers girls an alternative rite of passage to the deep-rooted cultural practice, also known as FGM.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0313/p07s04-woaf.html

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Yep, I think that's a much better compilation of stories to use as a basis for the roundup. I loved seeing the story on President Bush including the fight against malaria as part of the globar war on terror -- which is the War For Freedom. Kudos to the Kuwait-America Foundation for hosting the event. Stand for Africa, indeed.

Cameroon In Crisis Too?

This morning I sent an African friend an eMail just to say hello and I included this little snippet from the Africa Command:

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YAOUNDE, Cameroon - General William "Kip" Ward speaks with Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni following their meeting in Yaounde February 22, 2008. "We talked about the enduring nature of our friendship - the strong relationship between the United States and Cameroon and our commitment to working together towards our own mutual interests," Ward said. Ward met with Prime Minister Inoni as part of his first trip to Cameroon as the commander of U.S. Africa Command. While in Cameroon he also had an office call with Cameroonian President Paul Biya and visited the U.S.S. Fort McHenry, the flagship of the Africa Partnership Station (APS).

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My friend was quick to respond with a phone call alerting me to a deeper story of which I was ignorant. One search of the Mail & Guardian website revealed verification of what I had just been told: Cameroon is in crisis, too:

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'More than 100 dead' in Cameroon clashes

05 March 2008

More than 100 people died in clashes between demonstrators and police in Cameroon last week, a local human rights group said on Wednesday in the absence of an official toll. "We can already say there are more than 100 dead. News comes in to us every day and we are still checking it out," Madeleine Afite of the Maison des Droits de L'Homme said.

Cameroon govt accused of muzzling media over riots

29 February 2008

Cameroon's main journalists' union accused the government on Friday of trying to silence media coverage of anti-government riots after police shut down a popular radio station that aired criticism of the president. Magic FM 94, a private radio station in the capital Yaounde, was closed down by armed gendarmes on Thursday.

Anti-government riots hit Cameroon capital

27 February 2008

Anti-government riots spread to Cameroon's capital, Yaoundé, on Wednesday and police in the port of Douala also fired tear gas at protesters angry over high fuel and food prices. After four days of unrest that killed at least six people in western towns, including Douala, rioters blocked streets in Yaoundé with barricades of burning tyres and timber.

Protesters paralyse Cameroon city, four killed

25 February 2008

At least four people were killed in Cameroon's economic capital, Douala, on Monday when protesters angry over the high cost of living barricaded streets in the port city, looted shops and clashed with riot police. The violence in the teeming city erupted after taxi drivers launched a strike to protest against petrol- and fuel-price hikes.

Cameroon group opposes constitutional reform

18 February 2008

A group of students, artists and workers in Cameroon has formed a movement to oppose President Paul Biya's plan to reform the Constitution so that he can run for office again, a founder said on Monday. This movement considers that "no modification of the Constitution can be envisaged before the vote for change scheduled for 2011".

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My goodness. The shock of fuel prices is hitting all over the globe. Dubious modifications to the constitutional order are strong-armed as one leader seeks to remain in power and continue his rule. Times are demonstrably getting hotter on the continent. Could be one hell of a summer.