Africa

[Andrea75]

U.S. drone camp in the heart of Djibouti

 

 

Remote U.S. base at core of secret operations

[Andrea75]

LA FRANCIA ARRUOLA MERCENARI PER LA GUERRA IN MALI’?

 

La Francia starebbe arruolando mercenari africani da utilizzare nel nord del Mali, da mesi in mano a formazioni islamiche armate. Lo ha scritto il 15 ottobre il quotidiano algerino arabofono al Khabar, solitamente molto informato sulle vicende maliane. I mercenari verrebbero soprattutto da Paesi dell’Africa sub-sahariana e potrebbero essere addestrati in campi (in Senegal, Gibuti, Costa d’Avorio, Gabon) usati solitamente dalle forze armate francesi. Il quotidiano cita proprie fonti, tra le quali abitanti di una cittadina algerina al confine con il Mali che avrebbero riferito del passaggio di uomini verso la frontiera. Quanto sta accadendo, sottolinea il quotidiano, sarebbe da mettere in relazione alla volontà espressa da Parigi – che spinge per un intervento armato nell’area – di non impegnare truppe francesi in Mali dove è già previsto l’afflusso di 3 mila militari pan africani le cui operazioni contro i miliziani islamisti e di al-Qaeda nel Maghreb Islamico (AQMI) godono del supporto finanziario dell’Unione Europea. Secondo indiscrezioni i francesi avrebbero già inviato in Malì ufficiali e consiglieri militari per sostenere la missione dell’Ecowas la Comunità economica degli Stati dell’Africa occidentale, che prevede di iniziare le operazioni in Nord Malì nelle prossime settimane. La missione, approvata dall’ONU potrà contare sul supporto della Germania, disponibile ad addestrare le forze regolari maliane. La lenta reazione internazionale ha dato il tempo ai jihadisti per rafforzarsi facendo affluire, a quanto sembra, soprattutto miliziani sudanesi e saharawi

 

... U.S. pushes Algeria to support military intervention in Mali

 

... The Paranoid Neighbor: Algeria and the Conflict in Mali

 

Modificato 29 Ottobre 2012 da Andrea75

[Andrea75]

Mauritania: il ruolo di Abdel Aziz nella crisi del Sahel

 

U.S. Seeks Algeria Help in Mali

 

Clinton presses Algeria on Mali intervention plan

Modificato 30 Ottobre 2012 da Andrea75

[Andrea75]

alcuni articoli un pò datati

 

 

The Coup in Mali Is Only the Beginning

 

Touré's ouster was a long time coming. The country's flailing economy -- hurt even more in recent months by a loss of tourism revenue after several Islamist attacks -- and the decades-long Tuareg insurgency in the North set the stage for his fall. The interim president must now start addressing average Malians' economic woes and quelling the insurgency, or else risk intervention from abroad.

 

 

Missing in Africa

 

Africa's thriving democracies and economies, and its alarming transnational security threats, make it more important than ever to the United States. Obama, however, has largely ignored the continent. Regardless of who wins in November, Washington cannot afford to continue on the president's current path.

[Andrea75]

EU considers sending 200 troops to train Mali army

 

The European Union is considering sending about 200 troops to train Mali's army to retake the Islamist-held north, but is not willing to deploy them in battle, EU officials said on Tuesday.

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Leader Ousted, Nation Is Now a Drug Haven

 

When the army ousted the president here just months before his term was to expire, a thirst for power by the officer corps did not fully explain the offensive. But a sizable increase in drug trafficking in this troubled country since the military took over has raised suspicions that the president’s sudden removal was what amounted to a cocaine coup.

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Il fondamentalismo che invade il continente nero

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Somalia: il movimento al-Shabaab dopo la caduta di Kisimayo

 

Mentre le semi-indipendenti regioni settentrionali del Puntland e del Somaliland hanno mostrato un buon livello di stabilità, il meridione della Somalia continua a rimanere il focolaio di tensioni letali per lo Stato. L’offensiva delle forze governative somale è riuscita a spingere via dai principali centri urbani i miliziani di Al Shabaab, grazie soprattutto al sostegno degli eserciti di Kenya ed Etiopia e del contingente di 17.000 soldati del contingente di AMISOM. L’operazione, nonostante un indubbio indebolimento del nemico, non ne ha causato una vera sconfitta quanto piuttosto un sensibile ridimensionamento.

 

Lo scorso 29 settembre la presa di Kismayo, capoluogo della regione autonoma dello Jubaland e roccaforte degli islamisti, ha mostrato un ottimo livello di preparazione da parte delle forze keniote supportate dalle truppe somale, da elementi del contingente di AMISOM e dalla milizia Ras Kamboni. La partecipazione del Kenya è legata al desiderio di creare un’area cuscinetto, in territorio somalo, che possa garantire la propria sicurezza. Infatti, il confine somalo-keniota continua a rivelarsi particolarmente poroso e instabile: la complessità delle geografie claniche e la fitta rete di traffici illegali hanno fatto sì che la criminalità e l’estremismo politico-religioso potessero attecchire nell’area e filtrare indisturbati in territorio keniano. Lungo le coste del nord della Kenya si sono verificate numerose azioni di gruppi di banditi somali, legati indirettamente ad Al Shabaab, che hanno effettuato attentati e rapimenti. Il caso più tristemente celebre è quello di Marie Dedieu, francese di 66 anni rapita nonostante il cattivo stato di salute e spirata dopo pochi giorni di sequestro. Non a caso la pressione del Ministero degli Esteri francese sembra sia stata importante per l’ingresso dell’esercito keniano in territorio somalo nell’ottobre 2011 (operazione “Linda Nchi”), al fine di combattere le milizie islamiste di al-Shabab.

[Andrea75]

Un cauto peacekeeping. Così l’Onu proverà a fermare al Qaeda in Mali

 

L’Onu ha atteso parecchio prima di dare il mandato per la pianificazione dell’intervento. Lasciare il governo di una regione autoproclamatasi indipendente ad estremisti salafiti legati ad al Qaeda sarebbe diventato un precedente insostenibile.

Il riacutizzarsi del problema salafita nei paesi coinvolti dalla primavera araba ha spinto le potenze occidentali a far pressioni sul Consiglio di Sicurezza. In primis la Francia, seguita dagli Usa dopo i tragici eventi di Bengasi. Nessuno dei due paesi vuole un ruolo in prima linea, sebbene insieme all’Algeria stiano entrambi portando avanti operazioni di intelligence al confine sud. Gran Bretagna e Germania daranno anch’esse supporto logistico, mentre l’Unione europea ha inviato prima una missione civile e ora 200 truppe per addestrare l’esercito maliano.

L’Onu stesso non vuole una posizione di leadership. Si è presentato come coordinatore dell’intervento, evitando così di essere un “altro invasore” per la popolazione locale – percezione che contribuirebbe al successo della tattica di “guerriglia improvvisata” di al Qaeda. L’Onu preferisce che sia un attore regionale a dirigere le operazioni. Si è preso in considerazione anche lo stesso Mali, anche se una sua direzione sarebbe complicata dalle tempistiche, come sottolineato dai generali che hanno redatto il piano di intervento. Integrare un contingente internazionale nell’esercito maliano posticiperebbe l’attacco a dopo marzo 2013. I paesi confinanti della Comunità economica degli Stati dell’Africa occidentale non intendono aspettare ancora a lungo. Costa d’Avorio, Guinea e Nigeria hanno sempre sostenuto un intervento, Burkina Faso e Niger hanno già schierato truppe al confine.

[Andrea75]

Verso l’intervento militare in Mali

 

L’intervento militare in Mali sembra un’opzione sempre più realistica. Il neonato governo di unità nazionale guidato da Modibo Diarra ha infatti avanzato una richiesta ufficiale di aiuto alla Comunità economica degli Stati dell’Africa occidentale (Cesao) e alle Nazioni Unite (Onu), cui sono seguite una risoluzione del Consiglio di sicurezza (2071) e i primi riposizionamenti militari nell’area.

Dallo scorso aprile l’Azawad, regione settentrionale del Mali, è in ostaggio di gruppi estremisti salafiti collegati ad Al-Qaeda nel Maghreb Islamico (Aqmi). In un primo tempo i Tuareg avevano guidato la ribellione nella loro terra, rivendicata dal periodo post-coloniale. Subito dopo la dichiarazione unilaterale d’indipendenza, le loro aspirazioni sono state soffocate dalle frange fondamentaliste di Ansar Dine (Ad) e del Movimento per l’Unità e la Jihad nell’Africa Occidentale (Mujao). La situazione a livello umanitario non è più sostenibile e non intervenire creerebbe un precedente troppo ingombrante.

Attivismo dell’Onu

L’Onu ha atteso che si formasse un governo di unità nazionale in Mali, come richiesto nella risoluzione 2056. Scelta dovuta alle critiche ricevute dopo gli interventi in Libia e Costa d’Avorio, dove l’Onu sembrava aver seguito un percorso meno lineare. Tutti gli attori occidentali chiedono ancora delle elezioni democratiche per legittimare il nuovo governo, coscienti però dell’insostenibilità di questa pretesa in un paese per due terzi ostaggio di movimenti estremisti.

Per questo gli occidentali hanno risposto attivamente alla richiesta ufficiale di intervento da parte del presidente maliano ad interim, Dioncunda Traoré. L’ex primo ministro italiano Romano Prodi è stato nominato inviato speciale del Segretario generale dell’Onu e sta cercando di muoversi in modo parzialmente diverso dai precedenti interventi internazionali dell’Onu. Quest’ultimo si porrà infatti come coordinatore dei vari attori locali, regionali e partner del Mali, per stabilire un piano di intervento entro inizio dicembre. La prima riunione del gruppo di Supporto e Controllo del Mali tenutasi a Bamako il 19 ottobre ha dato avvio ad un processo che deve trovare un punto d’incontro tra posizioni ancora molto distanti tra loro.

Dilemma africano

La risoluzione 2071 dell’Onu richiede esplicitamente che la leadership del contingente militare internazionale sia africana. L’Onu vuole evitare di essere percepito dalla popolazione locale come un altro “invasore”, il che aiuterebbe solo la strategia di “guerriglia improvvisata” di Al-Qaeda e alleati. Dopo l’esperienza afghana, l’idea di lasciare la leadership della missione al Mali stesso riscuote un certo consenso, anche se non sarebbe priva di problemi: difficilmente infatti le truppe internazionali riuscirebbero ad integrarsi nell’esercito maliano prima di aprile 2013.

...

Ruolo chiave dell’Algeria

L’Algeria, come la Mauritania, non è nel Cesao e, dopo la caduta del regime di Gheddafi in Libia, rimane l’attore regionale più rilevante, sia per l’importanza strategica nella lotta al terrorismo, sia per la posizione geografica tra Libia e Mali. L’Algeria è dunque il cardine della soluzione alla crisi in Sahel: negli ultimi giorni i ministri degli esteri statunitensi e francesi sono stati in visita dal presidente algerino Bouteflika per ottenere la sua collaborazione in caso di intervento. Per ora, la strategia politica algerina rimane ambigua: se intervenisse, Algeri correrebbe il rischio di diventare il nuovo bersaglio degli estremisti islamici, finendo nella spirale insurrezionalista araba; d’altro canto, il governo ogni giorno promuove attività d’intelligence mirate ai confini con il Mali.

...

L’internazionalizzazione della causa jihadista, sta portando in Mali anche altri militanti di origine straniera, soprattutto sudanesi e sahraui, come avvenuto per i mujaheddin afghani. Mentre Ad avrebbe inviato emissari ad Algeri e Ouagadougou per negoziare una possibile soluzione pacifica.

 

 

... dall' inviato ONU Prodi “Sahel: missione umanitaria subito non sono cittadini di serie B”

 

«La situazione nel Nord del Mali, come in altre zone del Sahel, è quella che abbiamo oggi sotto i nostri occhi perché quei popoli sono sempre stati trattati come cittadini di serie B». Romano Prodi sbarca negli Usa per la prima volta nelle vesti di inviato speciale delle Nazioni Unite per il Sahel per partecipare a un «round» di incontri tra il Palazzo di vetro e Washington. «Il punto di partenza è il dialogo - dice il professore - senza il quale sarà difficile raggiungere risultati». Un valore condiviso anche dagli interlocutori che Prodi ha visto nel corso degli incontri informali tenuti ieri con i rappresentanti del Consiglio di sicurezza.

«Una cosa è certa - avverte il professore - occorre dare inizio quanto prima alla missione militare». In termini pratici vuol dire che è necessario agire su due direttive: «Portare aiuti umanitari quanto prima, soprattutto per quanto concerne tutela della salute, lotta alla fame e assistenza sanitaria. Inoltre, è nostro dovere sensibilizzare la comunità internazionale». Su mandato di Ban Ki-Moon, Prodi dovrà portare a compimento «una serie di percorsi nel Sahel che riguardano sicurezza, governance, sviluppo e aiuti umanitari».

...

Il principale ostacolo politico del nodo Mali sta proprio nella divergenza tra Marocco e Algeria, le due potenze regionali più importanti: il Marocco è favorevole a lasciare mano libera all’Ecowas, l’Algeria avrebbe voluto gestire in proprio l’intera operazione. Prodi deve contribuire ad un’intesa e definire gli aspetti politici ed umanitari della missione, per evitare che ci siano contrasti e che abbia solo un elemento militare predominante.

«L’Algeria - spiega il professore - è un Paese che ha subito profondamente le piaghe del terrorismo ed è per questo che teme nuove pesanti ricadute per la situazione nella regione». Un mese fa il Consiglio di sicurezza ha approvato una risoluzione per il dispiegamento di forze internazionali con l’obiettivo di liberare le zone del Nord del Mali sotto il controllo di gruppi jihadisti come «Ansar Dine», e più in generale degli «Ansar al-Sharia», il movimento vicino ad Al Qaeda, e cervello, sembra ormai certo, dell’attentato al consolato Usa di Bengasi in cui è morto l’ambasciatore Chris Stevens. In sostanza il Mali settentrionale sembra essere diventato la cabina di regia dei radicali salafiti che operano in tutta la ragione del Sahel e del Maghreb. Di questo si parlerà anche in dicembre a Roma, come anticipa Prodi, nel corso di un incontro al quale parteciperanno gli alti rappresentanti, tra cui quelli di Unione Africana, Francia e Gran Bretagna, per una chiamata all’azione. Prodi si è detto «fiducioso» che la missione avrà successo, e sull’intervento armato da parte di un contingente internazionale, il professore chiosa: «La preparazione di un intervento militare non è fine a sé stessa ma è finalizzata alla pace».

 

Mia opinione:

oramai da mesi si fà un gran parlare di intervento militare in Mali, ed io sono - in linea di principio - favorevole (è stato il governo del Mali a chiedere aiuto). Credo però manchi una strategia più globale, che sia in grado di contrastare quello che viene chiamato "radicalismo salafita".

Tradotto in parole povere: dopo l'intervento militare in Mali (ammettendone il successo) cosa si fà? Appare scontato il sostegno e il supporto al legittimo governo, ma questo richiede tempo (anni) e risorse: chi è disponibile a fornirli?

Ammesso di riprendersi il Mali dovremmo anche assicurarci che il "fenomeno" qui accaduto non si ripeta altrove; gli stati traballani in zona ci sono e c'è solo l'imbarazzo della scelta. Secondo me, al crescere dell'intervento occidentale c'è il rischio di creare un nuovo Afghanistan, solo che questo sarebbe molto più vicino a casa nostra.

Mi auguro che i governi coinvolti (ed io credo che sarebbe interesse dell'Italia essere coinvolta), abbiano presente queste (e ve ne sararnno altre) istanze e stiano programmando interventi adeguati, anche se un iniziativa a guida franco-africana (che reputo la più probabile) con gli USA che guidano da dietro, mi spaventa un pò (vedi Libia).

[Andrea75]

Sierra Leone election key to peace 10 years after end of brutal civil war

 

A decade after the war’s end, Sierra Leone remains one of the world’s poorest countries. Most of the country’s nearly 6 million people live on less than $1.25 a day, according to the World Bank, and it remains among the deadliest places in the world for women to give birth.

An estimated 2,000 people suffered amputations or were seriously maimed during the war depicted in the film “Blood Diamond.” Many survivors face discrimination and few job prospects, and must resort to begging on the streets of the capital.

...

Observers say the upcoming election will mark a critical test.

“Peaceful elections resulting in a credible outcome are critical for consolidating Sierra Leone’s hard-won peace and for demonstrating that the tremendous progress the country has made since the end of the hostilities one decade ago is irreversible,” said United Nations spokesman Martin Nesirky.

National election officials are spreading that message through posters on tin shacks and at traffic circles throughout the capital: “The world is watching us. Let us don’t disappoint them.”

[Andrea75]

Congo Rebels, After Victory, Vow to Take the Capital

 

the doorway to Goma, one of Congo’s largest and most strategic cities, is now manned by lean, young rebels in crisp fatigues. They captured this town on Tuesday, ridding it of an often sloppy and menacing Congolese Army presence, and on Wednesday the rebels announced at a triumphant rally that Goma was just the beginning.

“We’re going to Kinshasa!” vowed Col. Vianney Kazarama, a spokesman for the M23 rebel group.

Kinshasa, the capital, is nearly 1,000 miles away, but the rebels are beginning to eat away at that distance, day by day. On Wednesday, rebel forces met virtually no resistance as they swept into the strategic town of Sake, down the road from Goma. Local militiamen have also pushed the army out of other areas as more of this vast and complicated country spins out of government control.

Until this week, many naysayers had dismissed the M23 as a parochial, small-time militia, with discipline but neither the resources nor the manpower to upend Congo.

But now it seems the rebels are rapidly gaining momentum — and making allies along the way. Antigovernment fury is spreading across the country, with people enraged at President Joseph Kabila for allowing Goma to fall.

“Our president is a thief, a thief!” exclaimed Jean-Claude Dumbo, an unemployed man in Goma. “He doesn’t pay the army. He steals it all for himself.”

Protesters in several cities continued to raze buildings and set cars afire on Wednesday, directing some of their venom toward the United Nations, whose peacekeepers stayed riveted in the seats of their armored personnel carriers, not firing a shot, as the rebels marched into downtown Goma. United Nations officials have said that they did not have the numbers to beat back the rebels and that they were worried about collateral damage, but many Congolese have rendered their own verdict. On Wednesday, rioters in Bunia, north of Goma, ransacked the houses of United Nations personnel.

Whether the M23, whose ranks are thought to number no more than 3,000, has the capacity to shape all this discontent into a national uprising and overthrow Mr. Kabila remains to be seen.

A big factor will be neighboring Rwanda, which is widely suspected of arming the M23 and sending Rwandan soldiers to fight covertly alongside the rebels. Twice before, in 1996 and 1998, Rwanda clandestinely fomented rebellions in eastern Congo that eventually reached all the way to Kinshasa. At the time, the Rwandan government lied about its involvement, denying that it had thousands of troops inside this country. One top commander back then, James Kabarebe, who is now Rwanda’s defense minister, even hijacked planes in Goma and flew across Congo with hundreds of soldiers to open a new front.

Mr. Kabarebe was recently accused by United Nations investigators of being the secret puppeteer behind the M23, pulling the strings as a way for Rwanda to control Congo’s lucrative mineral trade and dominate this area. Rwanda has vehemently denied such involvement.

Some human rights groups say that Susan E. Rice, the American ambassador to the United Nations and a leading contender to be President Obama’s next secretary of state, has been far too soft on Rwanda, which is a close American ally and whose president, Paul Kagame, has known Ms. Rice for years. The activists have accused her of watering down language in a Security Council resolution that would have mentioned Rwanda’s links to the rebels and say she also tried to block the publication of part of a report that detailed Rwanda’s covert support for the M23.

 

 

 

Goma rebels say they will "liberate" all Congo

 

Rebel forces in eastern Congo vowed on Wednesday to "liberate" all of the vast central African country as they began seizing towns near the Rwandan border and spoke of a 1,000-mile march to the capital Kinshasa.

The M23 rebels, widely believed to be backed by Rwanda, captured the eastern city of Goma on Tuesday, a provincial capital home to a million people; United Nations peacekeepers simply looked on, after Congolese troops had quit the town.

Regional leaders called on the rebels to halt their advance and Congo's President Joseph Kabila appeared to soften his stand on Wednesday, saying he would look in to rebel grievances as the insurgents extended their reach.

"The journey to liberate Congo has started now," Vianney Kazarama, spokesman for the rebel group, told a crowd of more than 1,000 at a stadium in Goma. "We're going to move on to Bukavu, and then to Kinshasa. Are you ready to join us?

...

RWANDAN ROLE

The rebels accuse Kabila of failing to grant them posts in the army in line with a peace deal that ended a previous revolt in 2009. The current rebellion also reflects local ethnic tensions, intertwined with Rwanda's desire for influence over a neighboring region rich in minerals.

Rwanda previously backed the insurgency that swept Kabila's father, Laurent, to power in 1996 after a march across Congo to oust Mobutu, veteran dictator of a country then known as Zaire.

The new fighting has aggravated tensions between Congo and Rwanda, which the Congolese government says is orchestrating the insurgency as a means of grabbing resources, which include diamonds, gold and coltan, an ore of rare metals used in electronics and high-tech materials.

U.N. experts have backed Congo's accusations - implicating Rwanda's defense minister. The government in Kigali denies the charges and says Kinshasa and world powers have failed to address the root causes of years of conflict in the region.

...

AGGRAVATED TENSIONS

While regional mediator Uganda brokered talks between Congo and Rwanda, whose armies have repeatedly clashed during nearly two decades of on-off conflict around the Great Lakes, the U.N. Security Council ordered the rebels to withdraw and disband.

A statement expressed "deep concern at reports indicating that external support continues to be provided to the M23, including through troop reinforcement, tactical advice and the supply of equipment, causing a significant increase of the military abilities of the M23". It "demands that any and all outside support to the M23 cease immediately".

The French government also expressed frustration with the U.N. peacekeepers, from India, South Africa and Uruguay, who gave up defending the city after Congo's army retreated. Paris called it "absurd" that the U.N. force did not protect Goma.

But the U.N. mission defended its failed effort to protect the town, saying its forces had fired hundreds of rockets at the rebels but were overwhelmed when the number of rebels attacking the town jumped from 500 to 3,000 in the space of 48 hours.

The mission stopped short of blaming outside support but is likely to add to accusations leveled at Rwanda.

 

 

Goma, incubo militare per Kinshasa

 

Goma è caduta. Dopo poche ore di combattimento, i ribelli del Movimento 23 marzo (M23) hanno definitivamente preso il controllo della capitale del nord Kivu. Per l’esercito governativo non c’è stata alcuna possibilità di respingere quello che è parso a tutti come un assalto incontenibile.

I ribelli di M23, conosciuto anche come Congolese Revolutionary Army, hanno ripreso l’attività insurrezionale lo scorso aprile. Precedentemente molti dei ribelli, tra cui buona parte della leadership, si erano uniti all’esercito regolare congolese grazie ad un accordo di pace voluto dal presidente Joseph Kabila nel marzo 2009. I ribelli sono tornati sui loro passi accusando Kabila di aver disatteso i termini dell’accordo. Dopo aver passato alcuni mesi nella foresta sempre sotto l’offensiva dell’esercito regolare, sono passati alla controffensiva che li ha portati, lo scorso 19 novembre, alle porte della capitale provinciale.

Non è difficile comprendere per quale motivo la regione, e in particolare Goma, sfugge così facilmente al controllo delle Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (Fardc). E sufficiente osservare una cartina geografica per capire che il nord Kivu ha poco da spartire con la Repubblica Democratica del Congo. Dal punto di vista etnico, geografico ed economico, la provincia è molto più affine al vicino Ruanda e all’Uganda sud-occidentale.

La provincia è un inferno logistico per le Fardc. Centinaia di chilometri di densa foresta – praticamente l’intero bacino del fiume Congo – dividono Goma dalla capitale Kinshasa. I collegamenti terrestri si limitano ad alcune strade maltenute che dopo i frequenti acquazzoni si trasformano in strisce di fango impraticabili per uomini ed animali. I collegamenti con la provincia del Katanga sono migliori, ma insufficienti. Per le Fardc, dunque, l’unico modo per spostare truppe nella provincia è per via area.

Come se non bastasse la geografia, la logistica militare deve soccombere anche all’imbarazzante stato di manutenzione dei mezzi delle Fardc. Secondo l’IISS (International Institute for Strategic Studies), le forze aeree congolesi avrebbero a disposizione solo un aereo da trasporto An-26 e 35 elicotteri Mi-8, il cui status operativo è considerato al limite. Se in questi anni il governo di Kinshasa è stato in grado di spostare truppe nella provincia – e più in generale in tutto il paese – è solo grazie alla missione Monusco delle Nazioni Unite, che ha ampiamente messo a disposizione i propri velivoli ad ala fissa e rotante alle Fardc.

Non è un caso quindi se i ribelli hanno conquistato a sorpresa l’aeroporto prima di entrare in città. Le agenzie di stampa e la missione Onu – che controlla buona parte delle strutture dello scalo – non hanno chiarito se i ribelli si sono impossessati di tutto l’aeroporto o solo della pista. Certo è che le operazioni di volo sono sospese dall’inizio dell’offensiva, sopprimendo ogni speranza per le Fardc di ricevere supporto dalla capitale, e per i caschi blu di avere un ponte aereo con il quartier generale logistico della missione a Entebbe (Uganda).

I rapporti confermano che l’esercito regolare si è letteralmente sciolto, fornendo solo una sporadica e incongruente resistenza ai ribelli sia durante la conquista dell’aeroporto sia durante il loro ingresso in città. D’altra parte le Fardc, e specialmente le forze stanziate nella provincia, sono universalmente riconosciute tra le peggiori forze armate in Africa subsahariana. L’esercito regolare stanziato in nord Kivu è demotivato, male addestrato e male equipaggiato. I soldati sono armati solo di armi leggere: manca l’artiglieria, mancano mezzi corazzati e carri armati che potrebbero fare la differenza tra vittoria e sconfitta in occasioni come questa. Non c’è, da parte del governo, la volontà di schierare il poco equipaggiamento pesante e le forze meglio addestrate in questa regione così lontana dalla capitale. Meglio tenere gli uomini migliori e meglio armati vicino al potere politico, perché lo possano difendere in caso di necessità, e perché possano da esso essere controllati per evitare colpi di mano (e di testa).

La volontà politica è assente anche perché fino a ieri quasi 20.000 caschi blu hanno fatto la parte del leone nel conflitto in nord Kivu. Solo pochi giorni addietro elicotteri Onu bombardavano le posizioni dei ribelli nelle montagne, appoggiando le Fardc nella loro svilente opera di counterinsurgency. Oggi la situazione è drasticamente cambiata: fonti giornalistiche affermano che i caschi blu guardano impotenti dai loro blindati i ribelli che camminano da padroni nelle strade di Goma. Dal comando Monusco si giustifica la mancata reazione con i limiti imposti dal mandato del Consiglio di Sicurezza. Limiti che però sono stati interpretati con discrezione quando i ribelli erano nascosti nella foresta e la città era sotto il controllo delle forze regolari.

I caschi blu sono stati colti alla sprovvista dalla velocità con cui i ribelli hanno occupato l’aeroporto prima e la città poi. Forse non si aspettavano che l’esercito regolare evaporasse senza colpo ferire. In ogni caso il comando ha ritenuto saggio non importunare i nuovi padroni della città, per evitare un inutile spargimento di sangue che avrebbe portato altro imbarazzo sulla missione Onu.

La situazione è ancora fluida. Kabila si è recato prima in Uganda poi in Ruanda per ottenere “l’appoggio degli amici confinanti”: cioè per chiedere che il governo ruandese ritiri il suo supporto all’M23. Per il momento da Kampala e Kigali è partita una generica richiesta di intervento di una forza multilaterale africana e neutrale. Richiesta che non potrà mai essere accettata da Kinshasa, perché significherebbe perdere una volta per tutte il controllo della provincia a favore dei due vicini.

Da parte loro i ribelli non hanno intenzione di fermarsi a Goma. Il portavoce del movimento, tenente colonnello Vianney Kazaram, ha fatto riunire migliaia di abitanti allo stadio per chiedere se l’M23 dovesse fermarsi a Goma o proseguire. La folla lo ha incitato a proseguire e Kazaram ha annunciato che i ribelli avrebbero preso Bukavo, capitale del sud Kivu. Poi si è fatto prendere la mano è ha urlato che l’M23 avrebbe marciato su Kinshasa. Secondo la BBC, poche ore dopo i ribelli hanno conquistato Sake, una città a ovest di Goma il cui controllo è fondamentale per spostare le truppe verso sud. Nelle prossime settimane si riuscirà a capire se l’M23 ha gli uomini e le risorse necessarie per conquistare anche il sud Kivu ed assestare un colpo potenzialmente mortale al controllo di Kinshasa sulla regione.

Modificato 22 Novembre 2012 da Andrea75

[Andrea75]

vacanze nel Mali? Sconsigliate !!! Seventh French citizen kidnapped in Mali

 

A French citizen has been kidnapped in south-west Mali, far from the zone controlled by al-Qaida-linked militants where African countries are preparing a possible military intervention, officials say.

The kidnapping brings to seven the number of French citizens being held in the divided west African nation where radical Islamists and native Tuareg rebels control the north.

Northern Mali fell to Islamist extremists in April, after coup leaders toppled the government in Bamako, Mali's capital. France has been helping to shape possible military intervention by Mali's army, perhaps bolstered by other African troops, to drive the Islamists from power. The former colonial power still has a military presence in the region and fears northern Mali could become a new base for jihad, destabilising the Sahel and ultimately threatening Europe.

"I confirm that there was a kidnapping of a French citizen in south-west Mali … not in the part where there is the most danger," the French president, François Hollande, said at a news conference on Wednesday, without elaborating.

There was some confusion over the location of the kidnapping.

The French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, said it took place in Nioro, a town across the border from Mauritania, but a Malian police official said armed men had taken the Frenchman in Diema, a town near Bamako.

The police official said the kidnapping happened during a stop at a cafe on the road that links Mali to Mauritania and Senegal. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media.

The victim had been travelling alone in a "personal bus" and his belongings were left inside the vehicle. "This was the safest road in Mali, but unfortunately today no place in Mali is safe," the official said.

Fabius reiterated a warning to French citizens not to travel to the region and said their country was doing its utmost, with Bamako, to free the latest hostage.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, an affiliate of the global terror network, is holding seven French hostages, probably in northern Mali. Four of them were among seven people kidnapped in Niger in September 2010 while working with Areva and Vinci on uranium projects. Three were released.

Two others were kidnapped in November 2011 in Mali.

[Andrea75]

... le guerre dimenticate Why the world is ignoring Congo war ... sono numeri che impressionano, ma di cui nessuno parla

 

If humanitarian crises were listed by some sort of moral -- or editorial -- standards on the stock exchange, to help indicate which ones urgently require international news coverage and political action, shares of the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) would have commanded international news headlines and extensive press coverage over the past 12 years.

The U.N. has labeled the DRC, Africa's second largest country, as the "rape capital of the world" because of the pace and scope of the use of rape as a weapon of war by proxy militia gangs fighting for control of Congo's easily appropriable and highly valuable natural resources, destined for sale in Europe, Asia, Canada and the United States.

The wars in that country have claimed nearly the same number of lives as having a 9/11 every single day for 360 days, the genocide that struck Rwanda in 1994, the ethnic cleansing that overwhelmed Bosnia in the mid-1990s, the genocide that took place in Darfur, the number of people killed in the great tsunami that struck Asia in 2004, and the number of people who died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- all combined and then doubled.

Yet we rarely hear anything about it. Indeed, one only need contrast media coverage of the latest Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza strip and Hamas rocket attacks into southern Israel, which have made front pages around the world, to the stunningly limited media coverage afforded to graphic accounts of atrocities committed that same week by M23, the newest militia gang terrorizing the local population.

The same trend has been observed in the extensive coverage of the on-going, fast-moving and difficult-to-report civil war in Syria, which has claimed nearly 40,000 lives.

M23's murderous campaigns to besiege Congo's eastern mineral-rich provinces of North and South Kivu have left over 200,000 people in terrible conditions, killed countless and ushered in a dire humanitarian transgression.

The Rwandan government has been accused by the United Nations of backing M23 by providing it with arms, support and soldiers, but Rwanda's President, Paul Kagame, has denied the allegation.

The question here is not whether the human suffering in Congo deserves more media coverage because it is greater than that in Syria or Gaza, but rather, why has the crisis in Syria or Gaza qualified for extensive media coverage, but not the killing and raping industries in Congo?

I doubt that this is because of a shortage of sobering imagery of Congo's killing fields or a lack of first-hand testimonies from survivors, or a lack of human rights and humanitarian reports and assessments of the situation.

Is it due to the geographical or cultural distance between London or Washington and Congo? Or are Western media just reluctant, if not uninterested, to cover it because no Western interests or ally is endangered by it?

Would the coverage the situation in Congo receives be the same if it was happening in Europe or if Congo spoke English rather than French?

What if Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe or his disciples were implicated in funding murderous militia gangs in Congo? Or if the killing was between black Africans and Arabs? Or if minerals funding Congo's killing and raping industries benefited the East more than the West?

But as an activist, I believe that the editors of news organizations such as CNN, Al Jazeera and the BBC must flood the airwaves with vivid images and news stories on the human sufferings in Congo. Newspapers such the Guardian, in the UK, and the New York Times must drumbeat front-page news stories on the wars and human tragedy engulfing that country.

Unless they tip that balance a little and force policy makers in Washington and internationally to pay more attention and act, the killing, raping and looting that have thus far claimed over 5.4 million Congolese lives, and continue to leave 1,100 women raped every single day, could continue to unfold undetected by the camera lenses of Western media and excluded from Western political agenda.

[Andrea75]

U.S. Trade and Investment Relations with sub-Saharan Africa

 

Following the end of the apartheid era in South Africa in the early 1990s, the United States sought to increase economic relations with sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). President Clinton instituted several measures that dealt with investment, debt relief, and trade. Congress passed legislation that required the President to develop a trade and development policy for Africa. Between 1960 and 1973, Africa’s economic growth was relatively strong, followed by a period of stagnation and decline for the subsequent two decades in many SSA countries. Current perspectives, however, indicate that many of the fastest-growing countries in the world are on the African continent, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects that the SSA region will grow in terms of real GDP by 5.3% in 2012 and 2013.

In 2000, Congress approved new U.S. trade and investment legislation for SSA in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA; Title I, P.L. 106-200). According to U.S. trade statistics, U.S. trade with SSA has comprised 1% to 2% of U.S. total trade with the world. AGOA extends preferential treatment to U.S. imports from eligible countries that are pursuing market reform measures. Data show that U.S. imports under AGOA are mostly energy products, but imports of other products have grown significantly. AGOA mandated that U.S. officials meet regularly with their counterparts in SSA, and 11 of these meetings have been held to date. The 11th AGOA Forum was held from June 14 to June 15, 2012, in Washington, DC.

AGOA also directed the President to provide U.S. government technical assistance and trade capacity support to AGOA beneficiary countries. Government agencies that have roles in this

effort include the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa (established by statute under AGOA), the Overseas Private Investment

Corporation, the Export-Import Bank, the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, and the Trade and Development Agency. In AGOA, Congress declared that free-trade agreements should be negotiated, where feasible, with interested SSA countries. Related to this provision, negotiations on a free-trade agreement with the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), which includes South Africa and four other countries, began in June 2003, but were suspended in April 2006.

The 112th Congress enacted legislation to extend through September 2015 an expiring provision in AGOA, which allows apparel made in lesser-developed countries to be made of yarns and fabrics from any country and still receive duty-free treatment, subject to a cap (P.L. 112-163). This amendment to AGOA also added South Sudan to the list of SSA countries eligible for AGOA benefits. Eligible countries may become AGOA beneficiaries subject to approval by the Administration.

Legislation is pending to further enhance U.S.-SSA trade relations. H.R. 4221 and S. 2215 seek to increase U.S. exports to Africa, in part, through strategies aimed at further developing

relationships between the United States and African countries on a government-to-government level, fostering private sector U.S.-African ties, and targeting more U.S. export financing toward trade with Africa. An amended version of S. 2215 was ordered reported by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in September 2012. H.R. 656, a separate initiative, would create at the State Department a Special Representative for United States-Africa Trade, Development, and Diaspora Affairs that would also promote U.S. trade and investment ties with SSA.

[Andrea75]

Algerians arrive to support Al-Qaeda in north Mali

 

Several dozen Algerian jihadists have arrived in Timbuktu to support armed Islamist groups controlling northern Mali, who have toughened their application of strict Islamic law, security sources said Sunday.

"Dozens of Algerian jihadists arrived in Timbuktu this weekend to reinforce the AQIM (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) camp," a regional security source told AFP.

He said the fabled city of Timbuktu was "increasingly becoming the headquarters of AQIM in northern Mali."

Timbuktu has been under the control of Islamist group Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith), an Al-Qaeda ally.

A Malian security source confirmed the information, saying "the arrival of more and more Islamist reinforcements" is to be expected.

An inhabitant of Timbuktu, a former local government official, told AFP on condition of anonymity that he had seen "light-skinned" people, referring to Arabs, arriving on Saturday and Sunday at the military barracks.

He denounced the toughening of sharia in the city, which was seized in April by extremist rebels who began punishing transgressors according to the strict Islamic law.

Married couples have been stoned, thieves have had their arms amputated and smokers and drinkers have been whipped in the key cities of Mali's occupied north.

"Now, the Islamists are going through houses to confiscate televisions. Yesterday (Saturday) they took at least 25 television sets. Today they began rummaging through houses near the Grand Mosque," the Timbuktu resident said.

Two weeks ago the jihadists began going door to door to arrest women who were not wearing veils.

Mali's vast arid north fell into the hands of Ansar Dine, AQIM and a splinter group, the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), after a coup in Bamako in March.

The Islamists were initially fighting alongside Tuareg rebels seeking independence for their homeland, but ousted the more secular desert nomads in order to pursue their goal of running the region according to sharia.

The Islamist occupation of the Texas-sized desert region has raised fears it could become a base for attacks on Africa and Europe.

At an emergency summit earlier this month, west African leaders approved a 3,300-strong military force to reclaim northern Mali. The plan must go before the UN Security Council by the end of the month

[Andrea75]

Congo rebels may be leaving captured Goma, U.N. says

 

The Democratic Republic of the Congo's M23 rebel movement appeared to be starting to withdraw from the eastern city of Goma after defying a deadline set by regional leaders, a U.N. official said Tuesday.

"There were indications tonight that possibly the M23 elements were starting to withdraw," Herve Ladsous, the U.N. peacekeeping chief, told reporters at the world body's headquarters in New York. "There were indications, but of course that was already late the evening, and that will have to be confirmed tomorrow."

The rebels seized control of Goma, a key city in eastern Congo, last week and ignored a call by the leaders of the African Union and neighboring states to pull out by midnight Monday. M23 political leader Jean-Marie Runiga told reporters in Goma on Tuesday that the rebels would hold their ground until negotiations start with the Congolese government and their conditions are met.

Both rebel and government troops were massing west of Goma, setting the scene for possible future clashes. But Ladsous said the M23 appeared to be starting its withdrawal and was not advancing elsewhere.

...

African leaders who convened in neighboring Uganda over the weekend released a statement demanding that the M23 group withdraw at least 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Goma as a condition of initiating negotiations. The Great Lakes region leaders called on the rebels to "stop all war activities," and "stop talk of overthrowing an elected government."

Congo Information Minister Lambert Mende Omalanga, in Kinshasa, described the M23 response as "really childish."

"We think these people are not taking this seriously, which makes them very dangerous," Omalanga told CNN. He said the rebels' objectives are unclear and, as a result, he doubts they have any intention to negotiate because "they don't know what they want."

He accused the rebels of being "busy looting Goma," adding that they have pillaged public buildings and hospitals and tried to break into a bank.

Congolese army spokesman Col. Olivier Hamuli said the armed forces were awaiting guidance from the government and would abide by a cease-fire until they were told to do otherwise.

Speaking Tuesday, Runiga said that the rebels want to sit down and discuss the March 23 agreement with civil society, the government and a broad spectrum of the Congolese people to come up with lasting solutions on good governance, democracy, the economy and security.

He also said an investigation should be undertaken into the distribution of weapons in eastern Congo and "foreign" armed groups working in Congo -- such as the Lord's Resistance Army and the FDLR, a Hutu-dominated Congolese group -- should be defeated.

Runiga claimed that the FDLR tried to attack Rwanda on Tuesday, but members of M23 arrested its fighters. Comment from the Rwandese government was not immediately available.

Runiga also said the M23 would maintain a humanitarian corridor and called on people to respect the role of MONUSCO, the U.N. peacekeeping force in the region mandated to protect civilians.

He asked people to respect the U.N. peacekeepers' presence in Goma and not to throw rocks at passing patrols.

MONUSCO forces took a back seat as army forces battled the rebels for control of the city last week.

Runiga also warned that if President Joseph Kabila and his government do not want to negotiate, the rebels will push on to South Kivu and the capital, Kinshasa, where they will overthrow the government by force. The M23 group has made similar threats in the past.

Omalanga, the information minister, said the Congolese government is evaluating the effectiveness of MONUSCO in light of the peacekeepers' response to the rebels' seizure of Goma.

The government is not jumping to conclusions, Omalanga said, but he added: "They don't have an appropriate mandate -- this must absolutely change if the U.N. wants it to be effective in Congo."

Meanwhile, in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, Gen. Aronda Nyakairima set out details of the plan agreed by the Great Lakes region leaders at the weekend.

It foresees an integrated force being deployed for an initial period of three months at Goma airport. It would include a 100-strong neutral force, which would be in command, 100 troops from the Congolese army, and 100 members of the M23, Nyakairima said. Two military observers would also be deployed from each of the neighboring regional powers, while MONUSCO would be responsible for securing a buffer zone.

The deadlines stipulated under the plan outlined by Nyakairima are already slipping, with the M23 group supposed to have begun its withdrawal from Goma by noon on Tuesday. That withdrawal is meant to be complete within 48 hours, save for the force of 100 to be left at the airport.

The Congolese army should be back on the streets of Goma on Thursday, according to the proposal.

[Andrea75]

American Commander Details Al Qaeda’s Strength in Mali

 

Al Qaeda’s affiliate in North Africa is operating terrorist training camps in northern Mali and providing arms, explosives and financing to a militant Islamist organization in northern Nigeria, the top American military commander in Africa said on Monday.

The affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, has used the momentum gained since seizing control of the northern part of the impoverished country in March to increase recruiting across sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Europe, said the commander, Gen. Carter F. Ham.

General Ham’s assessment is the most detailed and sobering American military analysis so far of the consequences of the Qaeda affiliate and associated extremist groups seizing the northern part of Mali to use as a haven.

“As each day goes by, Al Qaeda and other organizations are strengthening their hold in northern Mali,” General Ham said in remarks at the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University. “There is a compelling need for the international community, led by Africans, to address that.”

In addition to the risks inside Mali, General Ham also said that members of Boko Haram, an extremist group in northern Nigeria, had traveled to training camps in northern Mali and have most likely received financing and explosives from the Qaeda franchise. “We have seen clear indications of collaboration among the organizations,” he said.

Radical Islamists have turned northern Mali into an enclave for Qaeda militants and for the imposition of harsh Shariah law, which has been used to terrorize the population, particularly women, with amputations, stonings, whippings and other abuses.

The Qaeda North Africa affiliate is now considered one of the best armed and wealthiest of the Qaeda franchises across the world, largely because of millions of dollars gained in kidnapping ransoms, drug proceeds and illicit trafficking in fuel and tobacco, General Ham said.

[Andrea75]

Egypt's Mursi leaves palace as police battle protesters

 

Egyptian police battled thousands of protesters outside President Mohamed Mursi's palace in Cairo on Tuesday, prompting the Islamist leader to leave the building, presidency sources said.

Officers fired teargas at up to 10,000 demonstrators angered by Mursi's drive to hold a referendum on a new constitution on December 15. Some broke through police lines around his palace and protested next to the perimeter wall.

The crowds had gathered nearby in what organizers had dubbed "last warning" protests against Mursi, who infuriated opponents with a November 22 decree that expanded his powers. "The people want the downfall of the regime," the demonstrators chanted.

"The president left the palace," a presidential source, who declined to be named, told Reuters. A security source at the presidency also said the president had departed.

Mursi ignited a storm of unrest in his bid to prevent a judiciary still packed with appointees of ousted predecessor Hosni Mubarak from derailing a troubled political transition.

Facing the gravest crisis of his six-month-old tenure, the Islamist president has shown no sign of buckling under pressure.

Riot police at the palace faced off against activists chanting "leave, leave" and holding Egyptian flags with "no to the constitution" written on them. Protesters had assembled near mosques in northern Cairo before marching towards the palace.

"Our marches are against tyranny and the void constitutional decree and we won't retract our position until our demands are met," said Hussein Abdel Ghany, a spokesman for an opposition coalition of liberal, leftist and other disparate factions.

Protesters later surrounded the palace, with some climbing on gates at the rear to look down into the gardens.

At one point, people clambered onto a police armored vehicle and waved flags, while riot police huddled nearby.

The Health Ministry said 18 people had been injured in clashes next to the palace, according to the state news agency.

[Andrea75]

Pentagon planning for multinational military operation in Mali

 

U.S. military planners have begun to help organize a multinational proxy force to intervene next year in Mali, the famine-stricken, coup-wracked African country that has become a magnet for Islamist extremists, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

The international force would be led on the ground by several thousand Malian and West African troops but would receive extensive support from the Pentagon and the State Department, which would help train, equip and transport the troops, Obama administration officials said.

U.S. officials said the Pentagon’s planning efforts are contingent on the U.N. Security Council’s endorsement of the African-led force. U.N. officials and diplomats from other countries have said that U.N. approval is likely and that the military operation could begin next year.

The disclosure that U.S. military planners have started to prepare for the intervention was made by officials from the State Department and Pentagon at a Senate hearing Wednesday. It was the clearest sign yet that the administration has decided to take a more aggressive stance against al-Qaeda’s growing affiliate in North Africa and to try to restore order in Mali, a Saharan country on the verge of collapse.

A military operation in Mali, however, will inevitably be messy and unpredictable. The chronic instability in the country, one of the world’s poorest and riven by tribal divisions and corruption, has rapidly worsened since Islamist extremists took control of northern Mali — a chunk of territory the size of Texas — this year.

Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Africa, called northern Mali “the largest territory controlled by Islamic extremists in the world.”

Other U.S. officials said al-Qaeda’s North African affiliate, which for years attracted limited global attention, poses an increasing threat. The group has become well-stocked with weapons smuggled out of Libya after the NATO-led war there last year. It finances its operations by smuggling rackets and by kidnapping foreigners for ransom.

At the same time, U.S. officials acknowledged that the group has not demonstrated an ability to launch terrorist attacks outside the region. Some independent analysts have questioned whether the administration’s strategy could backfire by embroiling the United States in an in­trac­table local conflict.

Amanda J. Dory, the Pentagon’s deputy assistant secretary for Africa, said the U.S. military has been able to gather intelligence to help shape the international force to fight Islamist extremists in northern Mali.

“There’s plenty of other forms of information and intelligence that are circulating that give us enough insight for planning purposes,” she said in an interview Wednesday after testifying before the subcommittee. “You never have as much information as you want, but it’s been sufficient for planning purposes.”

Dory emphasized that no U.S. ground troops would enter Mali, but she would not rule out the possibility of the Pentagon contributing U.S. warplanes to transport African troops or provide them with aerial cover.

[Andrea75]

Congo Peace Talks Set to Open in Uganda

 

Congolese rebels and government officials prepared on Thursday for direct peace talks in the Ugandan capital Kampala, their first face-to-face encounter since the rebels relinquished Goma, one of Congo’s principal cities, after capturing it last month.

“Since May, we asked Kabila to come to the table,” said Amani Kabasha, a spokesman for the March 23 rebels, or M23, at the rebel-held border post of Rumangabo, who said his delegation was awaiting vehicles sent by the Ugandan government to carry them to Kampala. “He didn’t agree, he used force, arms, fighting. But now, because he was defeated, he agrees,” Mr. Kabasha said, referring to President Joseph Kabila.

An uneasy rhythm of commerce and calm returned to Goma this week as Congolese government soldiers again patrolled the streets and the port and airport reopened, allowing a fresh influx of people and cargo, as well as much-needed humanitarian aid for more than 100,000 people displaced by the recent fighting.

“It’s as good as it has been for the last two and a half weeks,” Tariq Riebl, a humanitarian coordinator for Oxfam in Goma, said Thursday. But the situation remained “very dynamic, very fluid,” he said.

In the strategic area of Masisi, to the northwest of Goma, fighting has continued to flare between government troops and numerous militias. Masisi has long been a hotbed of militia groups and ethnic tensions, and humanitarian relief workers said they were increasingly worried about the situation.

Furthermore, neither side has said it has any real faith in the upcoming talks in Kampala, which delegates said would likely begin Friday, or possibly late Thursday.

“It’s not a negotiation,” said the Congolese government spokesman Lambert Mende. “We will receive a grievance from M23 and help the president compare with what was decided in 2009,” when the peace agreement for which the rebels are named was signed on March 23.

“We are not very optimistic, because we know that M23 is a very small part of the problem; we need the problem to be solved regionally, and internationally,” Mr. Mende said.

The governments of Uganda and Rwanda have denied accusations by a United Nations panel of covertly supporting the M23 rebels, including in the rebels’ capture of Goma. Both countries have been accused of supporting other Congolese rebels groups in the past.

[Andrea75]

Somali army captures key town from Al-Shabaab rebels

 

The Somali National Army, along with African Union troops, on Sunday launched a long-awaited offensive against al Qaeda-linked Somali rebels and captured the town of Jowhar, the AU and residents said.

The joint forces faced little resistance, the African Union Mission for Somalia said in a press release, adding that Jowhar had been a major base for Al-Shabaab in southern Somalia.

Abdi Isac, a local resident, said by phone from Jowhar that the allied troops peacefully entered the city after the Islamist militants pulled out without a fight or firing a single shot.

Government forces and AU tanks were visible encircling the town and moving cautiously into the police stations and administrative offices in Jowhar to secure the city, residents said.

The Al-Shabaab fighters headed toward the nearby rural area that is their stronghold, reports said.

Jowhar, 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of the capital, Mogadishu, lies at a strategic crossroads of routes to the north and south of the country.

The capture of the town "will go a long way towards improving security for the civilian population" in the region, the AU commander said, according to the press release.

The rebels continue to hold small rural areas in central and southern Somalia but are being squeezed out of some parts by Kenyan and Ethiopian troops, which launched incursions inside Somalia in October 2011 in support of the beleaguered Western-backed Somali government.

[Andrea75]

Congo army debacle at Goma raises specter of betrayal

 

When Congo's government army retreated in panic from the eastern city of Goma last month, many observers blamed the poor morale and leadership, ill discipline and corruption that have sapped its fighting capacity for years.

In the hours before Goma fell to M23 rebels on November 20, drunk and terrified Congolese soldiers roamed the streets or huddled in doorways before melting away, witnesses said.

M23's 11-day occupation of the city was one of the worst battlefield defeats for Democratic Republic of Congo's armed forces (FARDC), which at 150,000-strong are among the largest in Africa. They are also backed by 17,000 U.N. peacekeepers.

As recriminations swirl over the Goma defeat, which forced President Joseph Kabila to accept talks with a group he says is a creation of Rwanda, allegations have emerged that betrayal in the army's ranks may have precipitated the rout.

The government has launched an investigation but says it has reached no conclusions; little evidence has come to light beyond anonymous allegations against officers from subordinates who accuse their commanders of selling them out. The general blamed by some denies any such deals with rebels he once commanded.

But the scandal alone shows how deep suspicion runs within an army that has absorbed successive waves of former enemies as a series of civil wars has ended.

One senior FARDC officer who fought the M23 uprising said he believed Goma was lost because of what he called sabotage of the army's fighting capability.

"All of our intelligence was given to M23," the officer alleged, saying that throughout the fighting "there was intense communications with them" from within the government ranks.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because army regulations forbid him from commenting publicly, he said he was convinced former land forces commander, Major General Gabriel Amisi had been in contact with the rebel side. He said he had served alongside the general in the field.

A member of Amisi's military entourage said the general "rejects categorically" allegations of betrayal: "He could never do that, he wants nothing from the rebels," the aide said. "He only just escaped with his life, five of his own men died."

Amisi himself, dressed in colorful robes and sandals, greeted a Reuters reporter at his guarded residence in Kinshasa on Friday. He declined to discuss the allegations. The aide said the general had been ordered by President Kabila not to talk to media about the subject.

An army spokesman, Colonel Olivier Hamuli, said "many factors" led to the debacle, which is being investigated: "As to whether there was treason by General Amisi, I can't say yes or no to that."

Amisi, widely known as "Tango Four" from his old radio call sign, was suspended just days after the rebel capture of the city following a report by U.N. experts alleging he sold weapons to armed groups accused of killing civilians.

[Andrea75]

Mali prime minister resigns after arrest by soldiers

 

Malian Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra resigned on Tuesday, hours after he was arrested by soldiers while trying to leave the West African nation.

Diarra's arrest and subsequent resignation will complicate efforts to stabilize Mali, where soldiers and politicians remain divided since a coup in March and where the north of the country is occupied by al Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters.

"I, Cheick Modibo Diarra, hereby resign with my entire government on Tuesday, December 11, 2012," a nervous-looking Diarra said in a statement broadcast on state television early on Tuesday morning.

News of Diarra's resignation came hours after he was arrested as he tried to leave the country for France.

Bakary Mariko, a spokesman for the group of soldiers that seized power in a March coup and remains powerful despite officially handing power back to civilians in April, said Diarra had been arrested for not working fully to address the nation's problems.

"The country is in crisis but he was blocking the institutions," Mariko said. "This is not a coup. The president is still in place but the prime minister was no longer working in the interests of the country."

Mariko said Diarra had been taken to the ex-junta's headquarters in Kati, a military barracks town just outside Bamako, after his arrest.

Coup leader Captain Amadou Sanogo has been repeatedly accused of meddling in politics since he stepped down and was officially tasked with overseeing reforms of Mali's army.

Residents in Bamako said the town was quiet in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

There have been divisions for months between the former junta, interim President Diouncounda Traore and Diarra, a former NASA scientist and Microsoft chief for Africa.

Diarra was made prime minister in April after the military officially handed power back to civilians. As the son-in-law of Moussa Traore, a former Malian coup leader and president, he appeared to have good ties with the military.

However, tensions became particularly acute in recent weeks, with analysts saying Diarra, a relative newcomer to Malian politics after years abroad, seemed keen to establish a political base of his own ahead of any future elections.

West African leaders and Western nations have warned that Mali's north has become a safe haven for terrorism and organized crime, but they have struggled to draw up plans to help the country because of the deep divisions in the capital.

Some of Mali's politicians support the idea of a foreign-backed military operation to retake control of the north. Others, including much of the military, say they need only financial and logistical support and insist that Mali can carry out the operation itself.

[Andrea75]

... paper sulle relazioni USA - Egitto Egypt: Background and U.S. Relations

 

This report provides a brief overview of the key issues for Congress related to Egypt and information on U.S. foreign aid to Egypt. The United States has provided significant military and economic assistance to Egypt since the late 1970s. U.S. policy makers have routinely justified aid to Egypt as an investment in regional stability, built primarily on long-running military cooperation and on sustaining the March 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. Successive U.S. Administrations have viewed Egypt’s government as generally influencing developments in the Middle East in line with U.S. interests. U.S. policy makers are now grappling with complex questions about the future of U.S.-Egypt relations, and these debates and events in Egypt are shaping consideration of appropriations and authorization legislation in the 112th Congress.

For Obama Administration officials and the U.S. military, there is a clear desire to engage Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi’s new government on a host of issues, including immediate

economic support and Sinai security. For others, opportunities for renewed diplomacy may be overshadowed by disruptive political trends that have been unleashed by the so-called Arab

awakening and allowed for more expression of anti-Americanism, radical Islamist politics, antipathy toward Israel, and sectarianism, among others.

For FY2013, President Obama is requesting $1.55 billion in total bilateral aid to Egypt ($1.3 billion in military aid and $250 million in economic aid). The aid levels requested are unchanged

from FY2012 appropriations. In late September 2012, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and House Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee

Chairwoman Kay Granger placed holds on a congressionally notified $450 million Economic Support Fund (ESF) cash transfer to Egypt. Those funds that would have been used to pay down Egypt’s bilateral debt to the United States in exchange for Egyptian government commitment to a fiscal stabilization program as prescribed by the International Monetary Fund. As of early December 2012, the holds on the cash transfer remain in place.