African Union Celebrates Golden Jubilee

Republic of South Africa Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was elected as the African Union Commission Chair at the Summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on July 15-16, 2012. She is the first woman and Southern African to be elected to the post., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

AU celebrates Golden Jubilee

Saturday, 25 May 2013 00:00
From Caesar Zvayi in ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia
Zimbabwe Herald

THE African Union today achieves the milestone of 50 years of existence and over 50 African heads of state and governments, along with 41 former leaders, will be joined by global leaders to celebrate the AU’s Golden Jubilee here.

Being held under the theme Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance, the celebrations come at a time the continental body is accused of deviating from the principles of the founding fathers as its agenda is being set by donors who bankroll the bulk of the bloc’s budget.

President Mugabe, who joins over 50 incumbent leaders and 41 former heads of states and governments at the celebrations, is on record bemoaning the loss of focus and deviation from the founding principles of the then OAU by the AU, saying some AU member states were now working with the erstwhile colonisers to the detriment of continental peace and stability.

Cases in point are how the West was left to run riot in Libya and Cote d’Ivoire while AU leaders folded their arms.

Many expect that when African leaders discuss Agenda 2063 which is their envisaged plan of action for the AU over the next 50 years, they will strive to re-orient the AU back to the vision of the founding fathers who met here on May 25 1963 to adopt the OAU Charter and form the continental bloc, the forerunner of the AU.

The Golden Jubilee celebrations will today begin with a working breakfast of the NEPAD Heads of States and Governments Orientation Working Committee that will be followed by the opening ceremony of the celebrations that will precede debate on the Jubilee theme, Pan Africanism and African Renaissance.

There will be a youth parade bringing together youths from the continent’s six regional economic groupings — Sadc, Comesa, Ecowas, East African Community, Economic Community of Central African States and Community of Sahel-Saharan States.

After the march there will be lunch for the leaders hosted by AU commission chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, after which there will be commemoration of the Golden Jubilee Anniversary in the colossal Millennium Hall at the new AU headquarters. This will be coupled with a cultural session that will bring together musical groups from all over the continent, and a soccer match pitting Ethiopia against Sudan.

The AU 21st Ordinary Session of the African Union General Assembly is pencilled for tomorrow.

Continent Celebrates Africa Day

President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana with W.E.B. DuBois and Shirley Graham DuBois, along with Kojo Botsio, Ghana Foreign Minister in 1963. The DuBois' became citizens of Ghana and led research and media institutions between 1962-1966., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Continent celebrates Africa Day

Friday, 24 May 2013 00:00
Sifelani Tsiko
Zimbabwe Herald

Africa tomorrow celebrates the 50th anniversary of the founding of the continental body — the African Union — at a time the continent is posting enviable economic growth. For the continent the priority is keeping up this momentum and meeting the challenges that lie ahead.

After more than half a century of the existence of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU now AU), it is a time for reflection for this continent that is so strategically important to world economics.

Despite all the harsh criticism, Africa is in a considerably better shape than popular perceptions may suggest.

Brutal wars and famine have declined, though not to the scale Africans may want to see. It is a fact that people still struggle to make ends meet, just as they do in Europe, the US, Brazil, China and India. They don’t always have enough to eat, they may lack education, they may not have the best of infrastructure, they despair about corruption, lack of jobs, poor service and social injustices and some even want to emigrate.

In the process, the dominant Western media continue to capture these problems to paint a different picture about the continent.

Powerful countries too continue to subdue and hurl everything they can find at this collective African spirit that seeks to bind, integrate and ensure Africans have control of their destiny and resources. Despite this assault, the African spirit still lives on, unbowed by the divisive and dominant policies of powerful countries, which aim to exploit chiefly Africa’s economic resources.

In the terms — AFRICA AT FIFTY, we unravel some of the events taking place on this continent, home to nearly one billion people.

A — for A little bit of history. AU, was founded on May 25 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia mainly to fight colonial rule and ensure the continent was independent. When it was launched, there were 30 independent countries and now 50 years later — all 53-member states on the continent have achieved political independence.

The anti-colonial movement in its early years was influenced and shaped by pan-African legends like Kwame Nkrumah, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Emperor Haile Selassie, Kenneth Kaunda and Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, among others.

The Pan-African movement was strengthened when Ghana became the first black African country to gain its independence, and as an independent state, organised the All Africa Conference in Accra in 1958.

This conference was held at a time when most African countries were still struggling against colonial rule.

The Accra Meeting, for the first time, brought together nationalists from all over Africa where the issue of solidarity and unity in the struggle against colonialism was the central theme.

Nkrumah played a critical role in the transformation of the Pan African movement into a solid union — four years after Accra Meeting. The OAU underwent various changes but at its formation, historians say the Charter of the OAU was essentially “designed to protect the fragile sovereignty recently achieved by African states, and to help those still under colonial or racist rule to achieve sovereign independence.”

They say these were the two most important objectives that drove the OAU, from its inception in 1963 to 1975.

With the emancipation of South Africa from apartheid in 1994, the OAU’s job was effectively sealed. The OAU existed for 39 years until 9 July 2002 when it was rebranded to the African Union (AU).

The rebranded AU shifted its thrust from the fight against colonial rule to the more complex war of economic independence.
Eleven years on, the AU is still grappling with a myriad of problems. If a Romanian can feel at home in Britain or France, is there any reason why a Zimbabwean or Mozambican — who probably speaks a dialect that is understood in Southern Africa — should fear for his life in a South African township like Soweto?”

F — is for Food matters and Food comes first. Africa can feed itself. It’s a simple but powerful message that should motivate African governments to take the right steps to reform and support the agricultural sector.

AU, the World Bank and a host of other multilateral institutions and Africa’s academics have offered recommendations that with a huge dose of local input can help transform Africa’s agricultural sector.

According to AU‚ intra-African agricultural trade has accounted for an average of one-fifth of Africa’s total agricultural trade for the past five years. This — compared to a European Union average of 78 percent‚ and an Asian average of 60 percent — is a huge cry. In 2011‚ just three percent of all African cereal imports originated on the continent.

In Africa, agriculture directly contributes to 34 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and 64 percent of employment. Hunger is still a major problem in Africa and experts say promoting irrigation (four percent of Africa’s crop is irrigated), developing rural infrastructure to cut high transportation costs, removing trade barriers and supporting smallholder farmers with inputs can help improve Africa’s food production.

Africa must, however, also keep watch of the quality of food its own people consume — given an upsurge in infiltration of GMO foods into the continent as well as the worrying erosion of its agricultural biodiversity, which has kept its people fed for ages.

R — is for Resources. Africa has a large quantity of natural resources including oil, diamonds, gold, iron, cobalt, uranium, copper, bauxite, silver, petroleum and a whole range of plant genetic resources.

Much of its natural resources are undiscovered and have not been harnessed. Africa is the prime target of most industrial nations who want to exploit its resources.

Despite the abundance of natural resources, the bulk of resources exploited from Africa is causing most of the value and money from the natural resources to go to the West rather than the African.

Africa could be losing more than US$15 billion from its biodiversity as medicines, cosmetics, agricultural products and indigenous knowledge surrounding these are being patented illegally by multinational companies without there being evidence of benefits accruing to local communities in countries of origin.

I — is for Inter-Africa trade. African countries are losing out on billions of dollars in potential trade earnings every year because of high trade barriers with neighbouring countries‚ and that it was easier for Africa to trade with the rest of the world than with itself. Africa has a great potential to increase intra-continental trade and create more economic opportunities.

Sub-regional and regional economic groupings are no doubt a great step towards a realisation of the African dream for intra-continental trade and the creation of the African Economic Community.

Over-reliance on Western markets still remains high and Africa is the loser in this scenario in which rich powerful nations peg the prices for their commodities.

Africa’s economic growth is surging and it is expected to hit 6,1 percent next year, well ahead of the global average of 4 percent, the International Monetary Fund said last month.

But worries over failure to tackle poverty and inequality still persist in Africa.

C — is for Conflict Resolution. Despite numerous challenges, Africa continues to be seized with security matters — through discussions on mechanisms for preventing, managing and solving conflicts. Preventive diplomacy, peacekeeping, capacity building and security intelligence information sharing have all featured prominently on the AU’s agenda as seeks to work towards ensuring long-term peace, prosperity and respect for human rights on the continent.

Insecurity in the Central African Republic, Mali, the broader Sahel region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as the unconstitutional transfer of power in Guinea-Bissau, still remain a major thorn in the flesh despite the fact that the number of conflicts in Africa continues to decline. The on-and-off conflict in Sudan, the unending wars in the Great Lakes region, the threat of Boko Haram in Nigeria, instability in Libya and Egypt all paint a grim picture.

In Sudan and South Sudan there is a glimmer of hope as the two countries are moving ahead to resolve outstanding matters in a constructive manner. The role of the African Union High Level Implementation Panel led by President Thabo Mbeki has been commendable.

In Somalia, the AU-UN co-operation has boosted moves towards the stabilisation of the Federal Government that wants to build the state and consolidate peace.

Strengthening and funding the AU peace and security architecture still remain critical as well as the Continental Early Warning System and the African Standby Force.

A — is for Aids and health-related issues. The HIV and Aids pandemic continues to wreck havoc on the continent. But it is heartening to note that Africa’s fight against the pandemic is yielding some positive results.

Anti-retrovirals are now being distributed to patients even though greater challenges related to affordability, access and continuity still abound. And according to the latest report of the Joint UN Programme on HIV and Aids (UNAids), Africa has cut Aids-related deaths by one third in the past six years.

Even countries with the highest HIV prevalence in the world have seen the number of new HIV infections decline dramatically. Malawi has witnessed a 73 per cent drop in new HIV infections. Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe follow. South Africa managed to reduce new infections by 41 per cent. Even Swaziland, the country with the highest HIV prevalence in the world, saw new HIV infections drop by 37 percent.

This shows the campaigns are paying off, compared to 2003 when the World Health Organisation reported that there were 3,5 million new cases of HIV and Aids in Africa. East and Southern Africa were the highest hit regions in Africa having 38 percent of 3,5 million cases on the continent at the time.

More funding is required to reduce the burden of chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease in Africa through research, health promotion, and strategic policy advocacy, experts say.

A — is for Aid Thoughts. Aid is not what Africa needs. For many of those who “care” about Africans, we are objects through which they express their own “caring” through the donations they give to Africans. For many critics, this “caring” is just as objectifying as old-fashioned racism. Africa should be moving towards self-reliance to cut the dependency syndrome.

The landscape of economic aid is changing and development activists say there is a clear global appetite to align investments, harness financial and philanthropic capital, and create a positive impact that will benefit more people in Africa. Africa spends huge amounts of money servicing its debts and little remains to help it develop its infrastructure and services.

Africa wants trade and not aid. Africa needs to achieve economic independence to help restore a deep sense of dignity, self-respect and hope for the future.

Self-reliance doesn’t kill.

T — is for Take care of Africa’s environment. The environment matters and it’s a heritage that Africans cannot afford to lose.

Environmentalists are urging African leaders to put environmental issues at the top of their governments’ priorities in order to combat growing challenges that include air pollution, vector-borne diseases, chemical exposure, deforestation, water pollution, solid waste management, climate change and the loss of its wildlife, aquatic and bird-life resources.

According to a new report by UNEP, environmental risks contributed 28 per cent of Africa’s disease burden like diarrhoea, respiratory infections and malaria, which accounted for 60 per cent of known environmental health impacts in the continent. In addition, the report further said that other health-related risks on the continent were attributed to agrochemicals, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), chemical stockpiles, e-Waste and petroleum waste.

Adopting a raft of measures to curb environmental degradation such as recycling of waste, green economy policies, promoting the use of renewable energy, afforestation programmes, municipal waste management and other plant genetic resource utilisation and management can help the continent to at least play its role in addressing environmental programmes.

Africa will be hardest hit by global ecological changes with severe consequences for agricultural production, nutrition and human health. Africa must continue to engage with industrialised countries, who are the biggest culprits when it comes to climate change and pollution.

Fifty — is the number to remember and rejoice over!

Credit for resilience must be given to ordinary men and women who persevere everyday to make Africa what it is today. Through their daily struggles they toil on farms, mines, factories and everywhere in unimaginable places to produce goods and services for the continent. It is them that give Africa a cause for the celebration of the spirit that has emerged triumphant in the wake of adversity, slavery, colonialism, imperialism and all forms of exploitation that continue up to this day. But its too soon to celebrate much.

Africa still has to grapple with entrenched inequality and extreme poverty in many communities across the continent.

Youth unemployment, poor infrastructure, hunger, wars and a myriad of other problems still haunt Africa. There is more to celebrate Africa at 50 than skeptics think. Africans need to peel away pessimism and stand with pride in the wake of adversity.

Russia Congratulates Zimbabwe President Mugabe on African Union Jubilee

President Robert Mugbe and Vice President Joice Mujuru of the Republic of Zimbabwe. The country has battled the sanctions of western imperialism for over a decade., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Russia congratulates President on AU jubilee

Saturday, 25 May 2013 00:00
Herald Reporter

RUSSIAN President Mr Vladimir Putin has congratulated President Mugabe on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the African Union.

The message comes as President Mugabe is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he has joined other Heads of State and Governments in the commemoration of the AU anniversary.

In a statement yesterday, Mr Putin described the occasion as a milestone.

“The creation of this unique structure half a century ago became an important milestone on the road of people of Africa towards ensuring peace, security, stability, mutual understanding and good neighbourhood on the continent,” said Mr Putin.

“The African Union is an efficient mechanism of multi-lateral political, economic and humanitarian co-operation, as well as of co-ordination of its members’ actions in the international arena. Russia appreciates the constructive role of this Pan African organisation in regional and international affairs, support its efforts aimed at addressing key issues of crisis management, peacekeeping, post-conflict reconstruction and sustainable socio-economic development.”

The Russian president said his country wanted to cultivate a relationship with continental and international blocs.

“We are interested in building partnership with the African Union, including in the framework of the UN, the G-8, the G-20, the BRICS and other international fora, and in the all round strengthening of the traditionally friendly relations with all countries of the African continent.

“I wish every success to the leaders of African states and to all the participants of the Anniversary Summit, as well as peace and prosperity to people of Africa.”

The AU is expected to honour posthumously Zimbabwean veteran nationalists and heroes, Father Zimbabwe Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo and the late Zanu national chairman, Cde Herbert Chitepo for their role in securing independence not only to Zimbabwe but across the African continent.

VP Nkomo died in July 1999 while Cde Chitepo was assassinated by Rhodesian security forces in Zambia in March 1975.

As part of the programme on the occasion of its Golden Jubilee celebrations, the AU will honour continental and Diaspora African heroes, among them Osagyefo, Dr Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Oliver Tambo of South Africa, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and William Du Bois.

Zimbabwe Vice-President Mujuru Lives Up to Her Word

Zimbabwe Vice-President Mujuru blasts retrogressive political parties that are stalling progress at Chisumbanje Ethanol Plant while officially closing the third biennial Zimbabwe Local Government Conference in Mutare on May 11, 2013., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Acting President Mujuru lives to her word

Saturday, 25 May 2013 00:00
Herald Reporter

ACTING President Joice Mujuru has donated two laptops to two form one pupils and has also unveiled a one year school fees bursary scheme for them as part of her efforts to encourage youths to value education.

The handover of the laptop was a fulfilment of a commitment which she made during a handover of a hostel at Eiffel Flats primary school constructed by Chegutu businessman Mr Dexter Nduna.

The hostel was in honour of his two children Nqobile and Makomborero who died in a road accident last year.

The event was attended by Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu who presented the laptop on behalf of Acting President Mujuru and Mr Nduna as well as one of the parents of the children.

In a brief handover ceremony, Minister Shamu commended Acting President Mujuru for living up to her word, a feat that some people should emulate.

“As leaders we should not make false promises. People will not forget, so we want to thank the Acting President for fulfilling her promise,” said Minister Shamu.

“We see through her leadership. She exudes good characteristics of being humble, honest and sincere. This is an accomplishment of a virtue that we would want to see in our youths who are the future leaders of our country.”

The two pupils are Ropafadzo Ngwerume who is at Goldridge College in Kwekwe and Kudzwaishe Chisveto from Watershed College in Marondera.

Ropafadzo’s father, Mr Chamunorwa Ngwerume commended the Government for its commitment to education.

“We feel humbled and honoured to receive this gesture. We fully appreciate Government’s effort to support education,” he said.

The pupils were selected after they correctly answered a quiz that was conducted during the handover ceremony of the hostel while they were still in Grade 7.

Malcolm X Remembered

Malcolm X of the Muslim Mosque, Inc. and Shirley Graham DuBois, Director of Ghana National Television, at her villa in Accra, Ghana during Malcolm's visit in May 1964. DuBois had thrown a reception in his honor., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Malcolm X remembered

Saturday, 25 May 2013 00:00

NEW YORK — “One of the first things that the independent African nations did was to form an organisation called the Organisation of African Unity.

“This organisation consists of all independent African states who have reached the agreement to submerge all differences and combine their efforts toward eliminating from the continent of Africa colonialism and all vestiges of oppression and exploitation being suffered by African people,” revealed Malcolm X at the Audubon Ballroom during his Organisation of Afro-American Unity’s (OAAU) founding forum, June 28, 1964.

The legacy of the black nationalist was recognised on May 19, in commemoration of his 88th birthday. Forty-eight years after his physical death, his advocacy for black self-determination still lives, as was displayed in Harlem, his political platform.

Upon arriving at Ferncliff Cemetery on Sunday morning, several hundred supporters emptied out from the caravan of vehicles, led by six school buses, which trekked to Hartsdale, NY, from Harlem’s State Office Building for the 48th annual pilgrimage to Malcolm X’s gravesite. His beloved soulmate, Dr Betty Shabazz, is also interred there after having passed on June 23, 1997.

“We gathered this morning for a day that, for us, is a sacred day,” opened Al-Hajj Talib Abdur-Rashid, imam at Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood, which succeeded Malcolm’s Muslim Mosque Incorporated.

“We gather at the earthly grave of two of our noble ancestors: El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, Malcolm X, Omowale; and his wife, Dr Betty Bahia Shabazz; who have now been joined in the ancestral realm by their grandson, Malcolm.” Due respect was paid to young Malcolm Lateef Shabazz, who was murdered in Mexico 10 days earlier and was buried at Ferncliff on Tuesday.

OAAU President James Small shared, “Betty was one hell of a revolutionary sister. She was by his side every step of the way. She was always there with her husband.”

Activist Atiim Ferguson acknowledged Abubadika Sonny Carson’s physical day (May 20) before wondering aloud, “I always think . . . What would’ve happened if Malcolm and Martin had lived longer? Where would we be today as a people? . . . but that legacy falls on us . . . this is what we have to do!”

Dr Leonard Jeffries concluded: “We are in the period of the African renaissance. The African Union is continuing the OAAU’s work . . . linking our struggles in America, the West Indies and South America with the struggles in the African continent. That process is actually taking place as we speak. So we have to find a way to unify!”

Upon returning to Harlem, the December 12th Movement led its 25th annual Black Power “Shut’em Down” economic boycott of businesses along 125th Street from 1-4 p.m.

They chanted, “Black power for Black people in Harlem!” and “No disrespect for Malcolm X!” and “Shut ’em down!” while forcing businesses that hadn’t already done so to roll down their steel gates.

The self-empowering act concluded on the very same corner at African Square where Malcolm X used to address the Harlem community with his critical analysis of society’s ills.

Omowale Clay closed by saying, “This May 19 is not an event; there are no guarantees other than what we meant: self-determination and self-defence! Black power!”

— amsterdamnews.com.

The Gulf of Guinea: Another Somalia?

A map of the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of West Africa. There have been US military maneuvers in this region amid reports of so-called 'piracy attacks' of ships., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

The Gulf of Guinea: Another Somalia?

Piracy off west Africa is on the rise

May 25th 2013 | ABIDJAN
The Economist

THE MV City of Xiamen, a container ship flagged in Antigua and Barbuda, was about 160km (100 miles) off the Nigerian coast in the evening of April 25th when 14 pirates, armed to the teeth, boarded her and broke into the ship’s safe room. They made off with an undisclosed sum of cash and five crew members, who were freed on May 13th, probably after a ransom had been paid.

The incident is typical of piracy in west Africa’s Gulf of Guinea: it was violent, quick and almost entirely Nigerian. In the 1990s a peaceful movement protesting against the iniquities of government in the Niger delta decayed into a violent and criminal insurgency.

Armed gangs preyed on fishing boats and stole oil from pipelines. Oil companies responded by moving more of their operations offshore. The gangs followed. During the height of the insurgency in 2006-09, they extended their reach beyond Nigerian waters. Since then, ships across the length of the gulf—from Gabon in the south to Liberia in the west—have been targeted.

Figures compiled by the International Maritime Bureau, which tracks piracy worldwide, indicate that the frequency of attacks in the region has waxed and waned.

But security experts say piracy off west Africa is getting worse. Reported incidents jumped from 44 in 2011 to 62 in 2012. This year, with 28 incidents so far, could be the worst ever.

Ten of the 2012 assaults on ships in the gulf were hijackings, more than a third of the world’s total. Most disconcerting is the pirates’ increasing sophistication. Cyrus Mody, the bureau’s assistant director, says assaults happen farther and farther out at sea, some as far as 140 nautical miles offshore. And while kidnappings are still rare, the practice may be on the rise.

Shipping companies are boosting security on vessels. Insurance rates are going up, as are ransom demands. This escalation comes just when several west African countries have found offshore oil and gas. Around 40% of oil consumed in Europe and 29% of North American consumption are said to pass through the Gulf of Guinea, including from Angola.

Piracy off the coast of Somalia has dropped to almost nothing in the past year, thanks to foreign intervention. But west African governments, fearing an erosion of their sovereignty, have so far not welcomed the idea of Western naval patrols.

Moreover, some local security people may be in the pirates’ pay. Efforts to establish a regional operations centre, where intelligence could be shared and responses co-ordinated, have foundered among squabbles over its location. The most obvious choice, Nigeria, was vetoed by its neighbours.

In Prison, Somalia's Pirates Become a Source of Government Wrangling

Mohamed Abdi Hassan, a reputed pirate leader, is saying he will retire from the seizing of cargo ships in the Gulf of Aden. He has been given a diplomatic passport and is encouraging others to halt such operations., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

In prison, Somalia's pirates become a source of government wrangling

GEOFFREY YORK
HARGEISA, SOMALIA — The Globe and Mail
Friday, May. 24 2013, 10:43 PM EDT

This is how it ends for a Somali pirate: not with the bang of a rifle, but with a quiet fadeout into a sewing class, a vegetable garden and a basketball court.

At least 34 convicted pirates are locked away in the remote city of Hargeisa, capital of the self-declared nation of Somaliland, where the United Nations is trying to teach them useful trades: tailoring, welding, brick-making, computer skills and gardening. In their leisure time, the pirates play basketball in the dusty prison yard.

Somalia’s pirates were once the scourge of the seas, holding more than 1,200 hostages in 2011 and inflicting $18-billion in damage to the world economy. But over the past year, a massive European-led naval operation, combined with armed guards on cargo ships, has foiled almost every hijacking attempt by Somali pirates.

Today the number of pirate attacks is down sharply – but the dilemma now is what to do with the convicted pirates, who have become a diplomatic bargaining chip and a source of government wrangling.

The pirate prisoners – who continue to deny their guilt, insisting they were “just fishing” when they were captured near the Seychelles – agreed to be transferred to Hargeisa’s prison because it has Somali guards and a familiar language and culture. But now they say the prison conditions are much worse than in the Seychelles.

Somaliland prison officials complain bitterly about a lack of financial support from the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which had promised to help provide food, medicine and other basic support for the convicted pirates. The budget shortfall is as much as $72,000 annually, the prison officials say.

Two of the pirates, 25-year-old Mawlid Ahmed Abtidon and 29-year-old Abdi Fatah Ahmed Abdullah, lounge casually in the office of the prison commander as they field questions from The Globe and Mail. They complain about the shortage of prison food and the absence of promised phone calls to their families in Mogadishu, although both appeared well-fed and healthy. They also say that they were never allowed to appeal their trial verdicts.

“Life in this prison is not good,” Mr. Abtidon said. “We are requesting you to convey the message that our rights were neglected.”

Most of the 34 pirates here, who are serving prison terms of up to 25 years, were previously held in the Seychelles, close to where they were captured in 2009 and 2010. Several other pirates are being held in other Somaliland prisons. The breakaway region in northern Somalia agreed to accept the pirates as a gesture of international co-operation – and unofficially in hopes of winning diplomatic recognition for its independence.

Although it is an oasis of peace and democracy in the Horn of Africa, the enclave of Somaliland has failed to gain any international diplomatic recognition so far. To bolster its cause, Somaliland has agreed to accept up to 60 pirate prisoners – a valuable offer to the UN, since most countries are unwilling to accept the pirates, and the prisons in southern and central Somalia are not considered secure enough to hold the pirates safely.

Two agencies of the United Nations spent a reported $1.5-million to complete the construction of the Hargeisa prison in 2011 so that it could house the pirates. But now the UN is accused of breaking its promises to support the pirates.

“When I hear the word ‘UNODC,’ it makes me angry,” said Abdullahi Dahir, a senior official in Somaliland’s prisons agency. “The UNODC is failing to provide basic needs for those who were transferred from the Seychelles and those who were captured here.”

Current spending by the Somaliland government is only $1.20 a day for food and medicine for each prisoner, the UN acknowledges, but it insists it is working on a plan to provide more of these supplies to the prison. “The process is under way to deliver these items in the near future,” one UN official said in an e-mail.

He said the UNODC is encountering difficulty in the “delivery and storage” of sheep, beans and oil to supplement the prison food.

The UN also acknowledges that most of the pirates have not been allowed any phone calls to their families, although it blames the Somaliland government for this decision.

The pirates are among 409 inmates at the Hargeisa prison. The prison commander refused to allow photos of the conditions in the cells, but he allowed a brief visit, showing that the cells are crowded, although each prisoner has a bunk bed.

While officials squabble over their food and medicine, the pirates say they should be transferred to a prison in Mogadishu, close to their families. They say they haven’t talked to their families since they were transferred to Somaliland.

In the meantime, the pirates are kept busy with the UN’s vocational job programs at the prison. They weld chairs for an orphanage. They make bricks for the construction of a government ministry. And they build bunk beds for the next group of arriving pirates from the Seychelles.

K'Naan Turns to Film to Tell Somalia's Story

Somalian-Canadian hip-hop artist K'naan recently returned from his homeland. He has talked about the experience with several publications., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

K’naan turns to film to tell Somalia’s story

Hamilton Spectator

TORONTO Canadian rapper K'naan has long drawn musical inspiration from his troubled homeland of Somalia. Now he says he's ready to make a film about his war-torn roots.

The Toronto poet, rapper, singer and songwriter has penned a screenplay he hopes to direct and shoot in Somalia, about an artistic orphan named Maano who joins a mercenary killing squad.

K'naan says he's excited to fine-tune the script and develop his director's vision on Monday, when he begins a month-long stint at the Sundance Institute's annual directors and screenwriters labs in Utah.

"I'm so curious, that's what it is, more than anything else," K'naan said in a recent interview from Los Angeles, where he was working on a new album.

"I'm really genuinely sleepless from curiosity.  I don't know how that all comes together and I'm like that about music also — I get obsessive over work, over the idea of a song or the feeling of a song or something I have to do when I get to the studio. But I always wonder how what's in my head, the song in my head, and now in this case the film in my head, will look like."

K'naan's script Maanokoobiyo, is among 13 projects that have been chosen to take part in the prestigious workshop, where creative advisers will include institute president and founder Robert Redford, The Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow, actor Ed Harris, No director Pablo Larrain, The Motorcycle Diaries scribe Jose Rivera, Argo scribe Chris Terrio and actress Alfre Woodard.

But despite the huge vote of confidence in his point of view, K'naan says he's not so much interested in becoming a filmmaker as he is simply driven to express himself in the best way possible.

"It's not really that I'm interested in filmmaking. I'm interested in the instrument of it, you know," says K'naan, who spent his childhood in Mogadishu and was on one of the last commercial flights out of the country before its collapse.

"I'm interested in telling this story in particular through a visual medium. So if the story was best suited for a book I would probably would have been sitting down and writing a book.

And if it was for a song, that's what it would have been. But there are certain stories that are best suited for a visual medium and so it's not that I would like to be a filmmaker, it's just that I have a film to make."

As part of the directors lab, K'naan will work with professional actors and production crews to shoot and edit key scenes from his screenplay. Other emerging filmmakers attending the labs come from the United States, Europe, Mexico and Peru.

The Wavin' Flag rapper, who now lives in New York, says his tale is inspired by real people, with the central character — 21-year-old Maano — sharing more than a few traits with himself.

"He's got a lot of me (in him) and his sister is really based on someone that I love and have been very, very close to all my childhood who recently passed away," says K'naan, who also attended the Sundance Institute's five-day screenwriter's lab in January, which he calls "life-changing."

"The film opens as (Maano) is learning that he has one last family member remaining that's alive. He has a sister that's alive and on the other side of the country and it's just how it changes him in the process of searching for his sister, how finding such news, what that does to someone's soul."

While he's committed to directing his own script, K'naan says he doesn't expect to also appear in the movie.

"I just feel like it would be too much to take on writing the film and then assembling a cast, and directing it and probably making music for it," he says.

"I don't want to diminish the work by doing too much. So that's a part of the concern but in this process I've had ... do acting scenes and monologues off of the film for people who are advisers and friends who are around and they just go: 'It's so obvious you have to act in it.' But I genuinely don't have the ambition to act."

K'naan says he'd love to actually shoot the film in Somalia, suggesting the region appears to be stabilizing somewhat.

"It's really changing. The country is having its first rebirth and turnaround now ... economically and governmentally it's really incredible," he says.

"It's a lot to hope for — for Somalia to be safe and stable for good — but that's the dream and that's what people are working for and if that happens I'd love to shoot there."

The Sundance labs begin Monday and run through June 27.

Outside View: Somalia's Jubaland

Charcoal exports at the port of Kismayo in southern Somalia. The area was recently occupied by the US-backed Kenyan Defense Forces in an effort to destroy the economic base for the Al-Shabab resistance movement., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Outside View: Somalia's Jubaland

Published: May 24, 2013 at 12:31 AM
WHITNEY GRESPIN || UPI Outside View Commentator

ARLINGTON, Va., May 24 (UPI) -- Following a quarter-century of civil wars and absentee governance, Jan. 17 of this year saw the United States recognize the modern state of the Federal Republic of Somalia after President Hassan Sheik Mohamud traveled to Washington to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Much ado was made about the recognition of the newly legitimized government but inconsistent coverage of subsequent events has left much of the world in the dark about how the new Somali government is performing.

As news coverage of U.S. defense and security issues in the intervening four months has centered on sequestration, personnel appointments, the Afghan drawdown and the pivot to Asia, there are many formative events transpiring in the Horn of Africa that that have garnered little coverage in Western media.

Recent reporting on events across Somalia has delivered piecemeal information but provides little context for those who haven't been carefully following the complex developments and relationships taking shape within in the nascent state of Somalia.

One of the most pivotal movements that have emerged as the country settles into its new role and reforms its identity is the recent establishment of the Jubaland state.

The initiative to assert the independence of Jubaland took root in 2009 when a common consensus began forming amongst local clan, commercial and political leaders (as well as neighboring Kenyan interests) that there was a shared desire to oust the al-Qaida-linked Islamist militant group al-Shabaab from the administrative regions of Gedo and Middle and Lower Juba that make up Jubaland.

To this end, the regional body Inter-Governmental Authority on Development established a Somalia Peace Facilitation Office that has worked to set up frameworks to establish a Jubaland state modeled on Somalia's other autonomous regions of Somaliland and Puntland.

The move to establish JubalandsState is constitutional under the Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia, which was adopted in Aug. 1. Chapter 5 of the Constitution includes a detailed discussion of the "Devolution of the Powers of State in the Federal Republic of Somalia," which allows for the formation of semi-autonomous regions in Somalia when specific requirements are met.

Only weeks after the provisional constitution's adoption and the official formation of the Somali Federal Government of Somalia in August, Jubaland made great strides in establishing its own legitimacy as a semi-autonomous entity. Kenyan defense forces under AMISOM command and allied Somali groups -- particularly the local Ras Kamboni militia -- defeated al-Shabaab fighters and regained control of the regional hub of Kismayo in September.

As the SFG got its footing in Mogadishu an interim local political movement formed in Kismayo during the late months of 2012. Clan elders from the three administrative regions of Gedo and Middle and Lower Juba elected delegates to represent their interests. These clan representatives, originally numbering near 1,000 but eventually dropping to approximately 500, convened in Kismayo to form a consensus on their desired system of governance and to develop an official charter. After an iterative process including public discourse and extensive legal review, a Draft Interim charter of the State Government of Jubaland of Somalia was released in March.

With the issuance of the draft charter under way, a public vote to select the president of Jubaland had been scheduled for February. The vote was delayed repeatedly to try to ensure that all, or at least most of, the representatives could convene at once.

After extensive coordination to ensure all interested stakeholders were included in the process, the vote for the presidency of Jubaland State was eventually rescheduled for May 15.

The SFG welcomed the formation and the presidential elections of Jubaland in an official edict on May 14, and elections took place the following day to select the president of Jubalande.

On May 15 hundreds of regional clan representatives voted Sheik Ahmed Mohamed Islan -- also known as Ahmed Madobe -- to serve as the Jubaland president. Mere hours later a warlord from a rival clan named Barre Hirale declared himself president but his claim to be the winner was quickly discredited. A General Fartag is reported to have been selected to serve as the vice president.

Somalia and its inhabitants will undoubtedly encounter many roadblocks as it develops its stability, security, and economic independence, but a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single foot step and this democratic election process was more than one lone step.

(Whitney Grespin has overseen education and security sector capacity building programs on five continents. She is a research fellow with Young Professionals in Foreign Policy as well as a member of Women in International Security and the 2012-13 inaugural class of the Eurasia Foundation's Young Professionals Network.)
--
(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Analysis/Outside-View/2013/05/24/Outside-View-Somalias-Jubaland/UPI-32721369369860/print#ixzz2UHuluJIa

Investment Conference on Somalia to Begin in Nairobi

Poster held symbolizing the imperialist-backed conference in London to chart the future of the Horn of Africa nation of Somalia. The state has been a U.S. neo-colony under the current AMISOM and CIA occupation., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Investment conference on Somalia to kick off in Nairobi

By Bosire Boniface in Nairobi
Sabahi
May 24, 2013

The upcoming investment conference on Somalia to take place in Nairobi will offer a rare window into business opportunities available for rebuilding Somalia, organisers and sponsors say.

Set for May 28th and 29th at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, the Somali Reconstruction and Investment Conference and Exhibition will be the first private sector led meeting on investing in Somalia.

The investment conference will bring together policymakers and development organisations, and will focus on fostering interactions, networking, business opportunities and future engagements, organisers said.

"Somalia cannot recover on its own. It needs partners," Somalia's Ambassador to Kenya Mohammed Ali Nur said. "The conference will be a rare opportunity for those seeking to contribute to the development of Somalia and the East African region in general. With the improved security situation, Somalia is ready for investment, and no one can really afford to overlook the potential."

The conference, endorsed by the Somali federal government's Ministry of Trade and Industry, seeks to attract multinational, regional and local investors willing to invest capital and resources into Somalia, Nur told Sabahi.

The Somali government is banking on investors making commitments at the conference, he said. These would serve as a springboard for Somalia's full economic recovery and independence, Nur said, adding that there are opportunities in mining, oil exploration, banking, water, food security, hospitality and general reconstruction.

Thousands of Somalis who left during the country's civil wars and al-Shabaab's reign have returned home to help with national reconstruction, the ambassador said.

"To fast-track development and recoup two decades wasted on instability, Somalia is now open to the world for investment," Nur said.

Eyeing prospects in Somalia

Conference organiser HanVard Africa is expecting more than 150 participants from international organisations and multilateral agencies, representatives from agencies promoting African investment, international business leaders, government officials and journalists to attend the conference.

Delegates to the conference pay a $500 (42,200 Kenyan shillings) registration fee and $2,500 (212,000 Kenyan shillings) for an exhibition booth, said HanVard Africa chief executive officer Hassan Noor.

By Wednesday (May 22nd), the conference had attracted 22 sponsors and registered 55 exhibitors and delegates, Noor told Sabahi.

The conference's objective is to showcase the opportunities and build confidence both regionally and internationally in reconstructing and investing in Somalia, Noor said.

It also seeks to address challenges and promote reforms needed for spurring business and investment opportunities in Somalia, he said. Investors will also learn about appropriate frameworks for doing business and increase economic growth in the country.

"For more than 20 years, the outside world has known only the pictures of war, death, famine and diseases," Noor said. "The investment conference offers us an opportunity to showcase the other side [of Somalia and] of the business potential of the country."

Job opportunities for unemployed youth
Investing in Somalia could help reduce the country's insecurity in the long term, said Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Executive Secretary Ambassador Mahboub Maalim.

Economic instability and a lack of job opportunities have contributed to youths joining terrorist groups like al-Shabaab, he said.

"Investment in Somalia and exploring the country's potential will provide employment opportunities and consequently keep youths busy [and] away from roving recruits seeking idle youths," Maalim said, adding that the benefit of improved security will reverberate throughout East Africa and the rest of the world.

Two decades of violence in Somalia resulted in a complete breakdown of law and order, said Ibrahim Rashid Ahmed, a Nairobi-based development consultant and former adviser on Somalia to former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

"The situation made Somalia one of the most difficult places to do business and succeed," he said. "Nevertheless, Somalis' tenacity, aptitude for business and drive to succeed [amid] adversity kept the flames of business alive."

This is an opportunity for the world to join because Somalia will definitely become an economic powerhouse in less than 10 years, Ahmed said.

"You get favours and good will from the people if you are with them at the hour of need, and there cannot be a better time than now," Ahmed said.

Suresh Aggarwal, director of Athi River Steel Plant Limited, one of the conference sponsors, said Somalia offers an opportunity for Kenyan businesses to expand their operations beyond Kenya's borders.

"Somalia is Kenya's neighbour and the best way to help is to provide job opportunities for the Somali people through investment," he said. "There are concerns [about] security, but in every investment there are risks. We have faith that the Federal Republic of Somalia will overcome the threats."

Second investment conference scheduled in mid-June

A second conference on investment, security and infrastructure in Somalia will also take place at the Laico Regency Hotel in Nairobi on June 17th.

The conference will bring together officials from the Somali federal government, Puntland regional administration and business leaders, according to a press release from Amsas Management Consulting, which will be hosting the conference.

The conference will address several investment sectors, including agriculture and livestock, oil and gas, mining, telecommunications, security, banking and financial services, and infrastructure.

"Investors will be given a hands-on approach to the challenges and opportunities facing Somalia and what the investments climate is like in post-recovery Somalia," the press release said.

The conference will be opened by IGAD's Maalim. Delegates from IGAD's member states will pay $250 (21,100 Kenyan shillings) to attend and international delegates will pay $1,250 (105,000 Kenyan shillings).

Violence in Somalia Scares Investors, Aid Workers

A car goes up in flames near the scene of a blast in Mogadishu, Somalia on April 14, 2013. Despite claims by the corporate media that the country is stable, the war rages on., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Violence in Somalia Scares Investors, Aid Workers

By ABDI GULED Associated Press
MOGADISHU, Somalia May 23, 2013

A spate of attacks by Islamic insurgents in Somalia's capital is forcing investors, businessmen and aid workers to have second thoughts about expanding operations in Mogadishu.

African Union and Somali troops pushed al-Shabab insurgents out of the capital in August 2011, fostering a relatively secure peace that Mogadishu hasn't seen in years. Somalis living overseas are returning, bringing new foreign investment capital with them. The last 18 months have been Mogadishu's best in years, say residents.

But a recent spate of attacks is threatening those gains.

The Turkish Red Crescent is reviewing its Somalia operations, a Somali official said, because of security concerns after a series of attacks. One such attack struck a car carrying Turkish aid workers on a day when gunmen and suicide bombers killed 35 people at the nation's court complex.

"What I know is that they are reviewing their activities because of the security situation," said Abdirahman Omar Osman, Somalia's government spokesman, said by phone. "Because of the security, it's difficult. They have every right to be upset, but what we say to them is that their assistance and help has changed the landscape."

Turkey is playing a big role in Somalia's reconstruction. Turkish Airline is the first international airline to fly direct to Mogadishu. Turkish Red Crescent aid workers have been undertaking development projects, including street renovations and the construction of schools. Turkish aid workers are also rebuilding one of Somalia's biggest hospitals.

A Western diplomat based in Nairobi who works on Somalia said Turkey has become wary of the capital's violent attacks but has also come to learn that making progress in Mogadishu can be frustratingly difficult, given the inexperience and inefficiencies of the new government. The diplomat insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly.

Omer Tasli, the director general of the Turkish Red Crescent, said that security can be a concern in Mogadishu but that there would be no pull-out.

"From time to time, we have to stop what we are doing if there is a security concern, but we are not suspending operations," Tasli told The Associated Press.

The al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab often accuses Turkish aid workers of importing secularism into the largely conservative Muslim nation and has threatened attacks against its workers. The militants have attacked restaurants and hotels in Mogadishu, making businessmen wary of investing money.

Ahmed Jama is the owner of a popular restaurant in the city that has been attacked by militants. "There's no security left here. The violence is also denying us any reasonable profits," Jama said. "We receive few customers these days. It's discouraging. I wish I could leave here soon."

Another hotel owner echoed the sentiment: "It's not easy doing business here. It's a real sacrifice," said Ali Hassan. "It has changed from a year ago."

The deterioration in security has increased demand for protection, leading some businessmen to set up unregulated private security companies.

"They have no permits from the government whatsoever, their work is worrying," said Dahir Amin Jesow, a Somali parliamentarian who heads a security committee. "We shall put the issue before the parliament soon. We don't want to see any other forces other than our armed forces or AMISOM here," he said, referring to the African Union forces in Somalia.

In the latest security operation, Somali security forces this week began rounding up hundreds of suspects in an effort to smoke out militants in Mogadishu. Col. Ali Hamud Mahad, the spokesman of the African Union force in Somalia, said that troops were conducting house-to-house searches to find militants posing as civilians.

"The operation will be carried on until we ensure that no militants are in hiding in Mogadishu to carry out attacks," he said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The mass arrests have some in the city concerned. "They arrested anyone they could see, that's wrong," said Mohamed Abdullahi, a university student who said he spent hours in a prison before being released on Tuesday night. "Only criminals deserve such mistreatments."
———
Associated Press writers Jason Straziuso in Nairobi, Kenya and Suzan Frazer in Istanbul, Turkey contributed to this report.

IGAD Proposes Deal Between Somalia Government and Kismayo

Jubbaland region of Somalia in the Horn of Africa. An effort is underway to consolidate the Federal Government of Somalia at the aegis of the IGAD regional grouping., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Saturday, May 25th, 2013 at 08:34 am

SOMALIA: IGAD proposes a deal between the Somali Government and Kismayo administration

Communique From IGAD:
http://www.igad.int/attachments/620_Communique%20of%20the%2022nd%20IGAD%20extra-ordinary%20Summit.pdf

Following the Extra-ordinary session of the IGAD Assembly of the Heads of State and Government on the Situation in Somalia held in Addis Abeba, IGAD tasked Somali Federal Government to ” timely convene and lead reconciliation conference with the support of IGAD while consulting key stakeholders in the Juba Regions with a view to chart out a roadmap on the establishment of interim administration and formation of a permanent regional administration in accordance with the Provisional Constitution with IGAD playing a supporting role.” This suggestion came in light of discussion on the role of the Somali Federal Government in addressing the Jubaland deadlock.

The IGAD fact-finding mission proposed a a lead role for the Somali government but the wording of the suggestion was thought to have smacked of top down approach.

IGAD urged Somali Federal Government to integrate various militias. In essence, what is known as Somali National Army is a motley of militias characterised by infighting and indiscipline. The Communique gives supporting role to IGAD. Some analysts view this move as a realisation that Somalis are unable to solve the Jubaland crisis, and that prolonged political stand-off may rejuvenate weakened Al Shabab. The onus seems to be more on Somalia’s external stakeholders.

The IGAD fact-finding mission laid out five principles in which Jubaland reconciliation efforts will be anchored’. The mission attributed the Jubaland impasse to conflicting interpretations of the draft constitution.

French Special Forces Intervene in Niger

Niger bombing wreckage from May 23, 2013. French uranium interests and Niger military forces were attacked leaving over two dozen dead., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

French special forces intervene in Niger amid Al-Qaeda attacks

May 24, 2013 14:53
rt.com

French special forces assisted Nigerien troops in an operation at an army base in Niger to flush out Al-Qaeda-linked militants suspected of a string of deadly attacks Thursday in the West African country.

At least 21 people were killed and dozens more wounded in coordinated car bombings and assaults on a uranium mine run by French company Areva in the town of Arlit, and at a military base in the city of Agadez in northern Niger.

"As I speak, the situation has been brought under control in particular in Agadez, where our special forces have intervened to support Nigerien forces at the request of President [Mahamadou] Issoufou," French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told BFM television.

Niger’s Defense Minister, Karidjo Mahamadou, told AP that two terrorists had been killed and two hostages – believed to be cadets at the military camp – were released as a result of the offensive, which took place at dawn on Friday.

Earlier that day, French President Francois Holland said that Paris would not tolerate such aggression, and promised to support Niger’s effort to “destroy” the Islamist militants: “We will not intervene in Niger as we did in Mali, but we have the same willingness to cooperate to fight against terrorism,” he said.

The same Al-Qaeda-linked militant group responsible for a raid that killed at least 39 foreign hostages at the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria in January, also claimed it participated in the Niger assaults, Reuters reported.

The group posted a statement on the Internet on Friday, claiming the bombings were a response to Niger's participation in French operations in neighboring Mali, as well as claims by Nigerien President Issoufou that the Islamists had been defeated.

The message was signed by Khalid Abu al-Abbas, better known as Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a leading figure in Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

"This is the first of our responses to the statement of the president of Niger – from his masters in Paris – that he eliminated jihad and the mujahedeen militarily," the statement said.

"We will have more operations, by the strength and power of Allah, and not only that, but we will move the battle to the inside of his country if he doesn't withdraw his mercenary army." During Thursday’s attack, Belmokhtar’s ‘Signatories in Blood’ jihadist group joined forces with fighters from the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJWA), which has already claimed responsibility for the Niger attacks.

The two organizations have promised to strike at French interests in western Africa after Paris launched a military campaign in January that ended the Islamists’ 10-month control over the northern two-thirds of Mali.

Paris initially claimed it was only planning a short-term military operation in Mali, but later announced that 1,000 soldiers would remain in the country for an indefinite period of time to help rebuild.

Keeping Africa under the colonial rule

Investigative journalist Michel Collon told RT that there are economic and political reasons behind France’s actions in the region, as Paris and Washington want to “keep Africa under the colonial rule”.

“Actually, one cannot understand the strategy of France or the US without understanding that they want to control Mali, Niger and the countries like Algeria, that they want to prevent the formation of unity in Africa, that they want to prevent the formation of alliance between the BRICS countries and the African economies,” Collon said.

Afshin Rattansi, journalist and RT contributor, says that rather than simply thwarting terrorist elements French intervention in the country is also due to protecting the interests of a uranium mine in northern Niger run by French nuclear reactor maker Areva. That company’s Somair mine in northern Niger, near Arlit, was attacked on Thursday.

“All governments are jumping on this ‘Islamist bandwagon’ as if wanting to interfere more in these areas of, let’s face it, neo-colonial drawn borders of these areas,” says Rattansi, who does not think it is altogether clear that violence in that region is linked to islamists.

“Whatever is happening in these areas, there is a scramble for this uranium, and these companies are earning vast fortunes, the peoples of these areas are not getting it. China is going to send, according to UN diplomats, their largest peace-keeping force that they’ve ever sent as part of the UN peacekeeper deal,” added Rattansi.

French, Niger Troops Kill Combtants Holding Out at Base

Moktar Belmoktar said to be associated with the seizure of the Amenas gas field in Algeria. The Algerian government has attempted to retake the installation leaving approximately 50 people dead., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

French, Niger troops kill Islamists holding out at Niger base

Fri, May 24 2013
By Abdoulaye Massalatchi

NIAMEY (Reuters) - French special forces and Niger troops shot dead on Friday the last two Islamists involved in a twin attack on a military base and a French uranium mine in Niger claimed by the mastermind of January's mass hostage-taking in Algeria.

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a one-eyed veteran of al Qaeda's North African operations, said in a statement that his Mulathameen brigade organised Thursday's raids with the MUJWA militant group in retaliation for Niger's role in a French-led war on Islamists in Mali.

The coordinated dawn attacks killed 24 soldiers and one civilian and damaged machinery at Areva's (AREVA.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Somair mine in the remote town of Arlit, a key supplier of uranium to France's nuclear power program.

The attacks raised fears that Mali's conflict could spread to neighboring West African states and brought an Islamist threat closer to France's economic interests.

Niger's government said French special forces had helped to end the resistance of two Islamists fighters who were holed up inside the army barracks in the desert town of Agadez early on Friday.

"Niger is more determined that ever to fight terrorism in all its forms," the government spokesman, Justice Minister Amadou Marou, told state television.

He said a total of 10 Islamists died in the attacks: eight in Agadez and two in Arlit. "The government reassures national and international opinion that every step is being taken to protect people and property across the whole of the country."

Two military cadets were killed by the cornered Islamists, the minister said.

However, a military source, asking not to be identified, said the cadets were shot dead in Friday's raid.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told BFM television that special forces had intervened at the request of Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou. France stationed special forces in northern Niger to help protect its desert uranium mines, which provide a fifth of the fuel for France's nuclear reactors.

Niger has emerged as a firm ally of France and the United States in the fight against al Qaeda-linked groups in the Sahel. It has deployed 650 troops in neighboring Mali and sought to shut its porous desert borders to Islamist groups that are thought to have shifted their bases to southern Libya.

Belmokhtar, signing his statement with his pseudonym Khalid Abu al-Abbas, said the raids were a response to Issoufou's public claims that the Islamists had been defeated in Mali.

"We will have more operations by the strength and power of Allah and not only that, but we will move the battle to inside his country if he doesn't withdraw his mercenary army," the communique, whose authenticity could not be verified, said.

SHOCKWAVE FROM MALI

Belmokhtar's brigade claimed responsibility for January's attack on the In Amenas gas plant in southeastern Algeria in which 37 foreigners were killed, saying it was retaliation for the French-led campaign in Mali.

MUJWA and al Qaeda's North African wing AQIM have pledged to strike at French interests across the region after Paris launched the ground and air campaign in January that broke their 10-month grip over Mali's vast desert north.

Recent MUJWA suicide attacks around the northern city of Gao - where the group imposed harsh sharia law during a 10-month rule - have caused relatively little damage.

Analysts said the strong impact of Thursday's attack appeared to reflect Belmokhtar's bold strategic thinking.

Belmokhtar has links with MUJWA, having spent time in GAO when it was controlled by the Islamist group last year.

"This attack is part of the shockwave from the war in Mali," said Yvan Guichaoua, an expert on Niger at University of East Anglia. "I am not surprised at all that it took place in Niger ... Militarily effective groups are fleeing Mali."

The MUJWA, which split off from AQIM in 2011, is a largely black African jihadi group with recruits from several West African countries which has claimed previous attacks outside Mali, including the kidnapping of aid workers in Algeria.

Chad's army claimed Belmokhtar was killed in northern Mali this year but Western intelligence services had played down reports of the veteran jihadist's death.

Mauritania's Alakhbar news website, which has contacts with Islamist groups, cited what it said was a spokesman for Belmokhtar's brigade saying the Niger raid was carried out by a mix of Islamist fighters from Sudan, Western Sahara and Mali.

(Additional reporting by Joe Bavier in Abidjan, Laurent Prieur in Nouakchott, Daniel Flynn in Dakar, Marinne Pennetier and Brian Love in Paris; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Angus MacSwan and David Brunnstrom)


24 May 2013 Last updated at 18:12 ET

Mokhtar Belmokhtar 'masterminded' Niger suicide bombs

Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar is reported to have masterminded the two suicide bombings in Niger on Thursday.

A Signed-in-Blood Battalion spokesman told Mauritanian news agency Alakhbar that he had "supervised" the attacks, carried out with another group, Mujao.

The bombers targeted a military base in Agadez and the French-run uranium mine in Arlit, killing 21 people.

On Friday, French special forces and Nigerien troops shot dead two militants holed up inside the base at Agadez.

Niger's Defence Minister, Kardijo Mahamadou, said they had barricaded themselves inside a dormitory along with two soldiers, who were freed during the operation.

"Our military forces and French special forces assaulted [the building] and the hostages - a total of two people - were freed," he told the Associated Press. "There were two kidnappers who were hiding in the military dorm, and both were killed. The operation is now finished."

Mr Mahamadou separately told RFI radio that eight Islamist militants had been killed in the Agadez operation and two others in Arlit, adding: "All of them were wearing belts packed with explosives."

France's Defence Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, told BFM television that its troops had intervened at the request of Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou and that the situation had "stabilised".

A French defence ministry official also told AP that the two soldiers held hostage by the militants had been freed in the assault.

Earlier, local and military sources told the BBC that they had been killed.

'First response'

Thursday's bombing at the barracks in Agadez killed 19 people, including 18 soldiers. Four attackers also died while a fifth was overpowered by security forces.

The attack on the Somair mine, in the town of Arlit, killed one person and injured 14 others, its operator Areva said.

Alakhbar quoted El-Hassen Ould Khalil, a spokesman for al-Muwaqqioun bi-Dima (Signed-in-Blood Battalion), as saying: "It was Belmokhtar who himself supervised the operational plans of attacks."

The attacks "targeted elite French forces" who were providing security at the uranium mine that is majority-owned by Areva, he added.

An online statement, reportedly signed by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, read: "This is the first of our responses to the statement of the president of Niger - from his masters in Paris - that he eliminated jihad and the mujahideen militarily."

Earlier, the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao) also said it had carried out the two attacks. However, Mr Khalil's statement to Alakhbar said the Signed-in-Blood Battalion had jointly led the attacks with Mujao.

Mujao spokesman Abu Walid Sahraoui said on Thursday that its militants had targeted "the enemies of Islam in Niger", according to the AFP news agency.

"We attacked France, and Niger because of its co-operation with France, in the war against Sharia [Islamic law]," he added, thought to be a reference to French and Nigerien involvement in driving out Mujao and two other Islamist groups from northern Mali earlier this year.

Algerian attack

In the statement threatening further attacks, Mokhtar Belmokhtar's group warned against Western intervention in the region.

"Columns of commandos and those seeking martyrdom are ready and waiting for their targets," it said.

"We will have more operations, by the strength and power of Allah, and not only that, but we will move the battle to the inside of his country if he (the president of Niger) doesn't withdraw his mercenary army," another statement to Mauritania's ANI news agency said.

On Thursday, French President Francois Hollande vowed to protect French interests and co-operate with Niger in its "fight against terrorism".

Mokhtar Belmokhtar was believed to be behind the deadly attack on an internationally run Algerian gas plant in January in which 37 hostages and 29 insurgents were killed.

He broke away from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) last year and formed a new jihadist group, known variously as the Signed-in-Blood Battalion, the Masked Men Brigade and the Khaled Abu al-Abbas Brigade.

Armed forces in Chad said he died in a raid in northern Mali on 2 March, although there was no confirmation and his death has been declared many times before.

Mujao (the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa) is a splinter group of AQIM which operates mostly in northern Mali.

It says its objective is to spread jihad to West Africa rather than confine itself to the Sahel and Maghreb regions - the main focus of AQIM.


May 24, 2013

Militant Says He Is Behind Attack in Niger

By ADAM NOSSITER
New York Times

DAKAR, Senegal — Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the mastermind of the January seizure of an Algerian gas plant that left dozens of foreign hostages dead, has claimed responsibility for another terrorist attack: the suicide bombings on Thursday in Niger that killed about 30 people, including 24 soldiers and at least six jihadists.

If true, Mr. Belmokhtar’s claim would put one of the region’s most hardened militants — whom Chad’s military said in March it had killed in battle — back at the center of the area’s fight against Islamist jihad.

Experts saw no reason to doubt Mr. Belmokhtar’s claim, despite the unconfirmed assertion by the Chadian military, which said that Mr. Belmokhtar had died during the joint campaign by Chad and France against Islamist militants in northern Mali.

Neither France nor Algeria, where Mr. Belmokhtar has been a wanted man for years for his role in the 1990s civil war there, ever confirmed Chad’s assertion. No proof was presented of his death, and a fellow militant later denied it in an Internet posting.

The latest claim by Mr. Belmokhtar — a veteran of training by Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, years of terrorist acts against the Algerians and kidnappings of Westerners in the Sahara — came hours after bomb-laden vehicles ripped through a military installation and a French-owned uranium mine in Niger.

Mr. Belmokhtar, who is considered perhaps the most redoubtable of the region’s surviving militants, also played a leading role in the Islamist takeover of northern Mali last year.

The new claim was made on a number of Web sites. In one, Mr. Belmokhtar, using his nom de guerre Khalid Abu al-Abbas, signed a claim on jihadist forums that fighters from his “Those Who Sign With Blood” brigade — the same group that carried out the Algeria attack — blew up the French mine and the Niger base, according to the SITE Monitoring Service, which tracks extremists. The claim was posted by the same user who put out a video of Mr. Belmokhtar in December, the monitoring service, and it asserted that the attacks were in retaliation for supposed assertions by Niger to have defeated the jihadists.

“We warn all the countries that are intending to participate in the crusader campaign on our land, even if in the name of peacekeeping, that we will make you taste the heat of death and wounds in your homelands and among your soldiers,” the service quoted Mr. Belmokhtar as saying.

Someone who claimed to be a spokesman for Mr. Belmokhtar made a similar assertion of responsibility on a Mauritanian news site, Al Akbar, which sometimes receives communiqués from jihadists. The spokesman, Hassen Ould Khlil, told Al Akhbar that the attacks were carried out by the jihadists’ brigade “under the direct supervision of Mokhtar Belmokhtar” and “in perfect coordination” with the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, a Qaeda offshoot that had earlier claimed responsibility for the attacks.

One expert on the region found the claims of responsibility credible, particularly in the aftermath of the Mali campaign, which dealt a serious blow to the militants.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he orchestrated it,” said Anouar Boukhars, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which is based in Washington. “It was only a matter of time before there was going to be retaliatory strikes,” Mr. Boukhars said.

In Thursday’s attack, suicide bombers simultaneously drove explosives-laden vehicles into a military base in the desert town of Agadez and a French uranium mine 150 miles away at Arlit. One civilian was killed in the attack on the mine. French special forces helped Niger’s military kill two surviving militants in a firefight early on Friday in Agadez, Nigerien and French officials said.

Malian Group and Belmokhtar Unit Claim Responsibility for Niger Bombings, Dozens Killed

Niger car bombings on May 23, 2013. The operation was claimed by the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa based in northern Mali., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Malian group claims responsibility for Niger bombings

Thu May 23, 2013 5:3PM GMT
presstv.ir

A Malian group known as Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) has claimed responsibility for twin car bombings that killed more than two dozen people in northwest Niger.

MUJAO spokesman Abu Walid Sahraoui said his group carried out Thursday’s retaliatory attacks to punish Niger's military cooperation with France in the ongoing war in Mali.

“We attacked France and Niger because of its co-operation with France, in the war against Sharia,” Sahraoui added.

Car bombings struck a military camp and a French-run uranium mine in Nigerien towns of Agadez and Arlit, killing at least 26people including 20 soldiers.

These are the first such attacks in Niger since the country helped France as part of a West African force to battle fighters in neighboring Mali.

France launched the war on January 11, under the pretext of halting the advance of rebel fighters in the country. The war has caused a serious humanitarian crisis in northern areas of Mali and has displaced thousands of people who now live in deplorable conditions.

France’s Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian reaffirmed in April that the country would keep 1,000 troops in Mali even after the arrival of thousands of UN peacekeepers later this year.


Uranium mine, military barracks attacked by suicide bombers in Niger

By Abdoulaye Massalatchi, Reuters

NIAMEY, Niger - Suicide bombers struck a mine run by French nuclear group Areva and a military barracks in Niger on Thursday, killing and wounding several people in separate attacks that underline the widening threat posed by Islamist militants across West Africa.

Military sources said several soldiers were killed in a gun battle with Islamists following a car bomb attack at the barracks in Agadez, the largest town in northern Niger.

Areva said at least 13 members of staff were wounded in another bomb attack at about the same time at the Somair uranium mine it operates in the town of Arlit, in Niger's desert north.

A spokesman for the Niger government, Morou Amadou, said the attacks were by Islamist militants, probably from al Qaeda's north Africa wing, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) or its spin-off West African group The Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), which seized control of neighboring north Mali last year before being ousted by a French-led offensive launched in January.

"These are terrorists who have carried out the suicide attacks in Agadez and Arlit," he said. "The terrorists - I don't know for sure whether it was AQIM or MUJAO - infiltrated these towns and security forces have been deployed and are scouring the area."

The suicide attacks were the first in Niger since the offensive in northern Mali drove Islamist groups there into the vast, empty desert and across borders into neighboring Sahel states.

The Niger army has deployed as part of a West African force in Mali. Islamist suicide bombers have carried out a spate of attacks there in recent months, including one on a Niger army barracks earlier this month.

Military sources in Agadez said a suicide bomber drove a truck through the barrier of the town's military base before dawn on Thursday and detonated his explosives when soldiers opened fire.

"The suicide bomber was not alone: There were other terrorists who followed in cars and there were clashes," said one of the military sources, who said there were several dead on both sides. "The situation is now under control."

A Western diplomat, who asked not to be identified, said at least 10 people had been killed in the attack.

Areva said in a statement issued in Paris that at least 13 members of staff were wounded in the attack on its Somair mine.

The company said security at the site was being handled by the Niger military, though French sources had recently said Paris planned to send special forces to the area for extra protection.

"The group condemns this odious attack against its staff," Areva said. "We express our solidarity with the government and the people of Niger in this common trial."

Niger's armed forces have taken part in recent weeks in a joint operation against Boko Haram Islamists in the Nigerian town of Baga on the shore of Lake Chad, in which dozens of people were reported killed.

Nigeria, to the south, again asked its neighbor for military aid this week, after President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in three northern states and launched an offensive against Boko Haram insurgents.

Nigeria worries that the four-year-old insurgency based in its remote northeast is being fed from abroad, through Niger, Chad and Cameroon.


Belmokhtar's unit participated in Niger suicide attacks

By BILL ROGGIO
May 24, 2013

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the leader of the al Qaeda-linked al Mua'qi'oon Biddam, or the Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade, said that its fighters participated in yesterday's double suicide attack in Niger along with the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO). The attack was launched to avenge the death of a senior al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb commander who was killed while fighting in Mali earlier this year, he claimed. The statement also put to rest rumors that Belmokhtar was killed in Mali by French and Chadian forces in early March.

Belmokhtar's statement was posted on jihadist forums on May 23; it was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group. The statement was signed by Khalid Abu al Abbas, which is one of Belmokhtar's aliases.

The May 23 suicide attacks, the first of their kind in Niger, targeted a military barracks in Agadez and a uranium mine in Arlit that supplies French reactors. The Agadez attack was executed by a five-man suicide assault team; 18 Nigerien soldiers and a civilian were killed. A MUJAO spokesman claimed credit for the attack.

Belmokhtar said the attacks in Niger were executed to avenge Abdel Hamid Abou Zeid, an AQIM commander who was killed by French and Chadian forces during a military operation to root out the group in northern Mali.

"We send to our dear Ummah a glad tiding of one of the epics of Islam that took place in the heart of the enemy land, and one of the invasions of al Mua'qi'oon Biddam under the name of the martyred commander, as we consider him, Abdel Hamid Abou Zeid," Belmokhtar stated.

Belmokhtar said that "a battalion from our commandos who gave a pledge of allegiance to die rose to retaliate for him [Abou Zeid], coming from different countries to sign with their blood inside the fortresses of an enemy whose army was one of the foundations of the Crusader campaign on our Muslim land."

The attack was also launched as "the first of our response to the statement of the President of Niger - from his masters in Paris - that he eliminated jihad and the mujahideen militarily."

Warning that "more operations" are being prepared, Belmokhtar said, "We will move the battle to the inside of his country [Niger] if he doesn't withdraw his mercenary army" from Mali. Belmokhtar also warned other countries who plan to provide "peacekeepers" in Mali that they will "taste the heat of death and wounds in [their] homelands and among [their] soldiers."

"The convoys of martyrdom-seekers and commandos are ready and waiting for their targets and permission," Belmokhtar concluded.

The al Mua'qi'oon Biddam fights throughout West Africa. In January, just after French forces invaded Mali to eject AQIM, MUJAO, and Ansar Dine from the north, Belmokhtar launched a large-scale suicide assault against the In Amenas gas facility in southeastern Algeria. More than 40 fighters carried out the attack. One of the assault teams was led by a Nigerien known as Abdul Rahman al Nigeri, who had led another assault on a military barracks in Mauritania in 2005. Belmokhtar claimed the attack in the name of al Qaeda.

Although Belmokhtar was reported to have been killed at the same time Abou Zeid was killed, the reports were never confirmed. The president of Chad insisted that Belmokhtar was dead, but the French, who were adamant that Abu Zeid was killed, refused to speculate about the status of Belmokhtar. In early April, Hamad el Khairy, the head of MUJAO, claimed that Belmokhtar was alive.

Although Belmokhtar split with AQIM in December 2012, he still conducts joint operations with the group as well as with MUJAO. Belmokhtar reports directly to al Qaeda's central leadership, according to his spokesman. Al Qaeda central tightened its control over AQIM's hostage operations in late 2010.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/05/belmokhtars_unit_par.php#ixzz2UBtI9c70