United States Africa Command Public Affairs Office 28 July 2011 USAFRICOM - related news stories TOP NEWS

RELATED TO U.S. AFRICA COMMAND AND AFRICA Africom Empowering Development As Well As Security (US Department of State) (Pan-Africa) The U.S. military's Africa Command (AFRICOM) is building the capacity of partner nations to counter extremist threats, respect civilian control and respond more effectively to humanitarian and security needs across the continent, a senior U.S. Defense Department official told members of Congress. AFRICOM: Promoting Partnership for Global Security in Africa (US Department of State) (Pan-Africa) Testimony of Don Yamamoto, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs Before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights U.S. journalist held in Libya testifies on Vienna Convention (LA Times) (Libya) During 44 days of captivity in Libya, journalist Clare Gillis endured lengthy interrogations, appeared before judges without a lawyer and had to sign documents written in Arabic, a language she couldn't read. Italy, France stresses common stance on Libyan situation (Xinhua) (Libya) Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa met here on Wednesday with his French counterpart Gerard Longuet to discuss global military cooperation and the developments of the NATO-led operations in Libya, which both countries are actively involved. Al Shabaab recruited dozens of Americans: U.S. report (Reuters) (Somalia) An al Qaeda-affiliated group in Somalia, al Shabaab, has recruited more than 40 Muslim Americans to its battle in the war-ravaged country and at least 15 have been killed, a congressional report said on Wednesday. Somalia Urges Humanitarian Groups to Expedite Aid to Refugees (VOA) (Somalia) Omar Osman, a spokesman for Somalias Transitional Federal Government (TFG), described his visit Wednesday with Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali to three refugee camps in the capital Mogadishu. The conditions Mohamed Ali saw were appalling, said Osman, and he could not believe that some of the UN agencies had not reached those

camps. At one of the camps we went to, we were informed that a child had died, just minutes before we visited. Government Accuses US Lobbies of Hostile Stance towards Sudan (Sudan Vision) (Sudan) The Sudanese government Wednesday accused US pressure groups of seeking to influence international quarters to take aggressive actions against Sudan. Sudan carries out air strikes in Darfur - UNAMID (Reuters) (Sudan) Sudan carried out air strikes on a village in Darfur, killing one civilian, peacekeepers UNAMID said on Wednesday, in the first confirmed strike since Khartoum signed a peace deal with small rebel group Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) two weeks ago. Jonathan Proposes One Term for President, Govs (This Day) (Nigeria) In the midst of the storm over his proposal for a single-term tenure for the president and governors, President Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday declared that he would not benefit from the new order. UN News Service Africa Briefs Full Articles on UN Website UN troops move into disputed Sudanese area of Abyei Sexual abuse allegations against UN peacekeepers in DR Congo and Liberia decline Bangladeshi general to head UN force in Western Sahara Ban stresses urgency of funding Horn of Africa relief efforts Security Council extends UN mission in Cte dIvoire for another year -----------------------------------------------------------------------UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST: WHEN/WHERE: Thursday, July 28 at 2:00 pm EST; webcast at www.usip.org/webcast WHAT: Assessing Progress Toward Democracy in Francophone Africa WHO: Boni Yayi, President of Benin; Alpha Conde, President of Guinea; Mahamadou Issoufou, President of Niger; Alassane Ouattara, Presdient of Cote dIvoire Info: http://www.usip.org/events/assessing-progress-toward-democracy-infrancophone-africa ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------FULL ARTICLE TEXT Africom Empowering Development As Well As Security (US Department of State) By Stephen Kaufman

26 July 2011 Washington The U.S. military's Africa Command (AFRICOM) is building the capacity of partner nations to counter extremist threats, respect civilian control and respond more effectively to humanitarian and security needs across the continent, a senior U.S. Defense Department official told members of Congress. In testimony before the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Africa July 26, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Vicki Huddleston said AFRICOM, created in October 2008, did not create a competing military force in Africa. "AFRICOM is on the continent to build the capacity of professional militaries under civilian control," Huddleston said. Its partnership with 54 African nations is helping those nations to more ably "counter extremism and provide for the security of their citizens and contribute to peacekeeping," she said. Their increased capacity in turn helps them provide "a secure environment for democracy, governance and development." Nearly three years after the command's launch, many Africans have had a chance to see AFRICOM at work. For example, in October 2009 around 650 military personnel from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and host nation Uganda joined U.S. troops for a two-week exercise named Natural Fire 10. The exercise focused on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. Huddleston said the militaries also worked together to build a school and provided humanitarian aid in a health clinic. Through such exercises Africans can see how AFRICOM is "helping their military not only to improve their skills but to work with [other] militaries in the region," she said. Africans also have been able to see AFRICOM's training of the Liberian army and the training of a Democratic Republic of the Congo battalion in Kisangani, which has now been deployed to protect civilians in a region where the Lord's Resistance Army is active, Huddleston said. "By training professional military units that respect civilian control, these militaries become important contributors to stability and respect for the rule of law," she said, while AFRICOM's exercises "provide opportunities to African partners to continue perfecting their professional abilities." Huddleston said the training includes international standards on human rights, including respect for the rule of law, tolerance and women's rights.

Sharon Cromer, the senior deputy assistant administrator for Africa at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), told the congressional hearing that AFRICOM's efforts to build security, stability and peace are essential to creating an environment conducive to economic growth, poverty reduction and development. Economic development needs "a professional military that respects human rights and respects good governance and democracy," she said. "We really cannot proceed with our development intervention in good measure if we don't have peace and security. So what AFRICOM has done on the continent to enhance the professionalism of militaries and support human rights and good governance is absolutely essential to what we do in development," Cromer said. -------------AFRICOM: Promoting Partnership for Global Security in Africa (US Department of State) Testimony of Don Yamamoto, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs Before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights July 26, 2011 Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Payne, honorable Members of the Committee: Thank you for inviting me to testify before you today on USG cooperation in Africa since AFRICOM was created. As you know, we are currently witnessing some of the greatest changes on the African continent since the era of independence. These changes present both challenges and opportunities, and since its inception in October 2008, AFRICOM has been a critical partner for the Department of State in addressing conflict and transnational issues across Africa, in addition to the prominent role it has played in traditional military operations, such as the conflict in Libya. Today I am here to tell you why AFRICOM matters and how we are working together to pursue our common foreign policy objectives. Without effective cooperation within the U.S. Government, we will not be able to address the issues of terrorism, piracy, and conflict in places like Sudan, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Before the creation of AFRICOM, the Department of State had to coordinate with three different geographic combatant commands, each of which had varying priorities and security cooperation objectives. The Department of Defense was able to unify these efforts by placing all of the previous areas of responsibility for Africa under one command solely focused on Africa 365 days a year. We have seen how this new focus in places like Liberia can have success in building sustainable, indigenous African security capacity that respects civilian authority and human rights, and contributes meaningfully to economic and social development. Given the important role militaries play in the region,

AFRICOMs work is critical to the success of our Administration's broader efforts to build a more peaceful, prosperous, and democratic Africa. AFRICOM's previous and first commander, General Kip Ward, used to say that standing up a new combatant command was like trying to build an airplane in flight, and we appreciate that the State Department has been allowed to be part of this process of growth from the beginning. Since its inception, AFRICOM has strived to be a collaborative combatant command with a core function of not just overseeing U.S. forces on the continent, but also preventing and resolving armed conflict through building partner nation capacity. For the past three years, the U.S. Department of State has coordinated and collaborated with AFRICOM as it worked to achieve the Administrations highest priority goals related to democracy, good governance, the peaceful resolution of conflicts, and transnational challenges. President Obama's speech in Accra in July 2009 laid out a clear framework for our Africa policy, and we believe that AFRICOM has played an important supporting role in implementing this framework. It is doing this by supporting efforts to build professional, capable militaries that respect human rights and civilian control, which in turn supports efforts to resolve armed conflicts, address transnational challenges, and safeguard democratic institutions. AFRICOM has two co-equal deputy commanders a civilian deputy and a military deputy. The Deputy to the Commander for Civil-Military Activities (DCMA) is a senior U.S. diplomat, and provides direct policy input and advice to the Commander of AFRICOM. The State Department further augments the AFRICOM headquarters staff with a foreign policy advisor and five additional Foreign Service officers, including a senior development advisor provided by USAID who reports directly to General Ham. Most of the other Foreign Service officers in the command have regional responsibilities. Additionally, each of AFRICOMs component commands also has a Foreign Service officer serving as a foreign policy advisor. The State Department currently has four other employees seconded to AFRICOM and is in the process of adding five additional officers. Similarly, AFRICOM has significantly expanded the number of DoD personnel who are integrated into embassies across the continent over the past three years. These personnel are valuable members of our country teams, as they provide direct and sustained support for both DOS and DoD-funded activities. AFRICOM has strived to not just do more, but do better in its activities on the continent and these expanded offices of security cooperation have enabled our embassies to increase the quality of our engagement on the continent. Effective collaboration is possible because the Department of State and AFRICOM are imbedded in each other's organizations. This structure has allowed us to work together effectively on a number of programs over the past three years, and I would like to outline these collaborative efforts for

you today. I also want to discuss briefly AFRICOMs relationship with our partner nations. The Department of State collaborates with AFRICOM on a long list of issues such as military professionalization; building counterterrorism capacity; disaster management; peacekeeping capacity building; humanitarian operations coordinated with USAID; demining and ammunition handling training; nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction; destruction of excess small arms and light weapons and unstable ammunition; reduction of excess and poorly secured man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS); Defense Sector Reform in Liberia, DRC, and South Sudan; counterpiracy activities off the Somali coast; maritime safety and security capacity building; and civil-military cooperation. AFRICOM elements at our embassies implement Department of State-funded Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and International Military Education and Training (IMET) programs, which further U.S. interests in Africa by helping to professionalize African militaries, while also assisting our African partners to be more equipped and trained to work toward common security goals. In the realm of counterterrorism, AFRICOM plays a critical and central role in both the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP) and the Partnership for Regional East Africa Counterterrorism (PREACT), our primary programs to support the long-term counterterrorism (CT) capacity building of member countries in northwest and East Africa. Both programs are led by State, but are managed in close coordination with DoD and AFRICOM, as well as USAID. DoD launched Operation Enduring Freedom Trans-Sahara (OEFTS) in 2007 to support TSCTP programming. OEF-TS adds both funding and essential staff to TSCTP, including military trainers and advisors. State also collaborates with AFRICOM on a range of transnational issues. We continue to work together to develop U.S. maritime engagement in Africa from one of individual, isolated efforts to a more comprehensive and sustainable approach. Early and close coordination on AFRICOM programs such as the Africa Partnership Station, which State provides funding to support the training of African maritime forces, and Africa Maritime Law Enforcement Partnership, which provides operational support, both contribute to a whole-of-government approach. Nonproliferation and counternarcotics are two other key areas of cooperation. Recently, DoD began to design and implement cooperative threat reduction programs in East Africa, focused on improving security around sites housing potential biological threats. The AFRICOM Counternarcotics Office has been active in West Africa supporting maritime and airport interdiction efforts and funding the Federal Bureau of Investigations and Drug Enforcement Administrations training activities throughout the region.

If there is a downside to this level of engagement, it is that the large numbers of AFRICOM temporary assignment personnel deploying to the continent often present significant logistical challenges for U.S. Missions, which sometimes find it difficult to maintain full visibility and provide support given their own very limited staffing levels. This large and growing AFRICOM presence and programming in Africa at times risks overwhelming the soft power of USAID and State programs and personnel. Additionally, the constant turnover of temporary military personnel working on three and six month rotations can cause significant confusion with both the country team and the host nation if not carefully and managed. Nonetheless, we will continue to work together and coordinate closely in order to mitigate and manage these challenges. However, the downside of additional DoD personnel on the continent is far outweighed by the positive gains AFRICOM made in the past three years. I can report to you today that cooperation between AFRICOM and our African partners is at an all-time high despite a continuing lingering wariness towards AFRICOM on the part of some African nations. This cooperation begins at the highest levels, where AFRICOM assists the African Union Peace and Security Commission. It continues down through the African Standby Force regional brigades, and ends with extensive partnering at the bilateral level. The capacity that AFRICOM builds at the regional level improves the relationship not just between the United States and the AU, but between the African nations themselves, increasing overall cooperation exponentially. An example of this is AFRICOMs Exercise African Endeavor, which assists African nations and their regional organizations in communicating with one another over a variety of spectrums, making greater regional cooperation possible. AFRICOM exercises, like Natural Fire in East Africa, bring together biannually forces from Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda, and the United States to conduct interoperability training in a humanitarian response scenario. These specific examples demonstrate how AFRICOM is increasing cooperation and building trust bilaterally through its interactions with African regional organizations. Engaging with regional organizations is just one way that AFRICOM is improving cooperation on the continent. Since its inception, AFRICOM has worked in concert with other U.S. Government agencies and international partners to provide effective security engagement through military-tomilitary programs and activities designed to promote a stable and secure African environment. The Department of State applauds these efforts, and believes that, despite the difficult challenges it has faced, AFRICOM is on a positive trajectory of better cooperation with both other U.S. Government agencies and our partner nations.

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you today. I will be happy to answer any questions. -------------U.S. journalist held in Libya testifies on Vienna Convention (LA Times) By Christine Mai-Duc July 28, 2011 During 44 days of captivity in Libya, journalist Clare Gillis endured lengthy interrogations, appeared before judges without a lawyer and had to sign documents written in Arabic, a language she couldn't read. The document demand came after a six-hour interrogation. "That's when I'd say I cracked. I started crying," said Gillis, one of three journalists held by Moammar Kadafi's regime this year. "It could say that I'm a spy I could be signing my own death certificate. He just kept waving the pen, and I realized I didn't have a choice." Gillis, a freelance journalist from New Haven, Conn., was covering a battle in eastern Libya on April 5 when she and her three colleagues came under fire from Kadafi's forces. "The soldiers punched and hit us with the butts of their rifles, they tied our hands behind our backs and threw us in the back of their pickup truck," she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. One of the journalists, South African photographer Anton Hammerl, had been seriously wounded, while Gillis and two photojournalists were captured. The group never again saw Hammerl, who is presumed dead. In those first weeks, Gillis and the two other journalists, James Foley and Manu Brabo, were held incommunicado. They lay awake at night listening to NATO airstrikes. "We wondered if anyone knew where we were or even that we were alive," Gillis told the committee at a hearing on whether the U.S. should comply with the Vienna Convention. She dialed her parents' phone number over and over in her head. Finally, after 16 days, Gillis was allowed to call her parents to let them know she was safe. "I never again felt as bad as I did during those first couple weeks," she said. Nevertheless, Gillis testified that her treatment in captivity was fair. In an article in the Atlantic this year, she described being given decent food and places to sleep, and sometimes even cigarettes. "I was honestly better

rested, better fed and cleaner as a captive than I ever was as a practicing journalist," Gillis joked after the hearing. The U.S. Embassy had closed the day Gillis arrived in Libya, leaving the captives at the mercy of Kadafi's justice system. "We knew that we were in a place where there was no rule of law," Gillis said. "We didn't even know who to ask for." Ultimately, the Hungarian and Turkish consulates, in conjunction with the State Department, secured their release on May 18. Her experience, Gillis said, led her to testify in support of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The treaty obliges a host nation to inform the consulate of another country when one of its citizens is arrested for a serious crime. The issue arose during the case of a Mexican national, Humberto Leal Garcia, who was convicted in the kidnapping, rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl and was executed in Texas, over the objections of the Mexican government. Supporters say honoring the treaty in the United States gives Washington greater leverage when American citizens are detained abroad. "Kadafi's Libya honored its obligations to me under the Vienna Convention," Gillis said, "and I think and I hope that we can at least do as well as they did." -------------Italy, France stresses common stance on Libyan situation (Xinhua) By Unattributed Author July 27, 2011 ROME - Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa met here on Wednesday with his French counterpart Gerard Longuet to discuss global military cooperation and the developments of the NATO-led operations in Libya, which both countries are actively involved. La Russa and Longuet said that their countries shared a common stance on the future of Libya and on the need to launch the negotiation phase between the opposition Transitional National Council (TNC) and Gaddafi's regime. "We have always supported a unified position that may speed up the diplomatic, political and military process so as to reach as quickly as possible a post-Gaddafi phase. This is why it is crucial that we allies keep a common stance and show unity," said La Russa at thejoint press conference.

Longuet stressed that it was essential to launch talks between the TNC and Gaddafi's regime in order to reach a political solution that may pave the way to the birth of a new Libya without Gaddafi. Referring to the duration of the NATO operations, Longuet argued that it would be "counterproductive to show impatience by setting a limit today". "Time and patience are determining factors for the success of the mission in Libya. The stakes are too high and we have all invested a lot in a positive outcome, " he added. Bilateral talks also centered on Italian and French joint involvement in other missions on the global stage, including Afghanistan and Lebanon, and on the decision to boost cooperation in the defense industry and military procurements. -----------Al Shabaab recruited dozens of Americans: U.S. report (Reuters) By Jeremy Pelofsky July 27, 2011 (Reuters) - An al Qaeda-affiliated group in Somalia, al Shabaab, has recruited more than 40 Muslim Americans to its battle in the war-ravaged country and at least 15 have been killed, a congressional report said on Wednesday. U.S. officials have become increasingly worried about the group, particularly after capturing an al Shabaab commander who had allegedly been a liaison with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an active Yemeni group that has tried to strike the United States. So far, al Shabaab has conducted only limited attacks outside of Somalia, notably the twin bombings in Uganda that killed 79 people watching the World Cup final last year. The group has waged a long, violent battle to control Somalia. Republican Peter King of New York, chairman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, has been holding a series of hearings to probe concerns about Muslim Americans becoming radicalized and joining militant groups. A report by his staff found that more than 40 Muslim Americans and 20 Canadians have been recruited to al Shabaab and at least 15 Americans were killed in fighting, including three suicide bombers. "Senior U.S. counterterror officials have told the committee they are very concerned about individuals they have not identified who have fallen in with al-Shabaab during trips to Somalia, who could return to the U.S. undetected," King said during a hearing he convened on al Shabaab.

Of the more than 40 Americans who have joined the cause, as many as 21 are believed to still be at large and unaccounted for, according to the staff report. The U.S. Justice Department has charged several people from the Somali community in Minnesota for allegedly going to Somalia to fight, as well as individuals who were accused of trying to help al Shabaab or those going to fight there. HOW SERIOUS A THREAT? Anders Folk, a former federal prosecutor from Minnesota who handled some of those cases, said that while there are doubts about the ability of al Shabaab to strike the United States, it is hard to predict whether they might do so one day. "The difficulty is we don't know when they are going to cross the line from aspiration to operation and the reality is ... that cannot be predicted with any degree of certainty," he told the committee. Some Democrats on the panel raised questions about how serious a threat al Shabaab was to the U.S. homeland. "While I acknowledge that the intelligence community sees a need to monitor al Shabaab's activities, I also know that vigilance must be in direct proportion to the probability and likelihood of the threat," said Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the panel. "Al Shabaab does not appear to present any danger to this homeland." On Tuesday, President Barack Obama's nominee to head the National Counterterrorism Center, Matt Olsen, warned that al Qaeda operatives in Somalia represented a significant threat. "I would say that beyond al Qaeda senior leadership in Pakistan, its presence in Yemen, that probably the next most significant terrorist threat may emanate from the al Qaeda presence in Somalia in terms of the willingness and apparent ability, or at least the intent, to strike outside of that particular country," Olsen told a Senate committee. ------------Somalia Urges Humanitarian Groups to Expedite Aid to Refugees (VOA) By Peter Clottey July 27, 2011

Omar Osman, a spokesman for Somalias Transitional Federal Government (TFG), described his visit Wednesday with Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali to three refugee camps in the capital Mogadishu. The conditions Mohamed Ali saw were appalling, said Osman, and he could not believe that some of the UN agencies had not reached those camps. At one of the camps we went to, we were informed that a child had died, just minutes before we visited. Relief workers say the Horn of Africa is experiencing the worst drought in six decades. The U.N. and the U.S. Agency for International Development says more than 11 million people are in need of food aid. Last week, the UN declared that famine has struck two regions in southern Somalia, which is under the control of the Islamic militant group, al-Shabab. Osman said the TFG will continue its efforts to combat the effects of the drought despite inadequate resources. As you are aware, the government has tried to do its best with its meager resources... We have seen a real famine. We have seen children close to dying even though the international community has politically pledged support to the Somali people to stop this hunger, said Osman. He said agencies have been slow to provide famine relief. We urge the international community to speed up the process, said Osman. The situation cannot wait the normal procedure to take place. The situation is very urgent and dangerous.. He said the prime minister has set up a committee to coordinate and assist international aid groups with their relief efforts. Osman praised ordinary Somalis for helping their fellow countrymen affected by the famine. We have seen a lot of effort from the Somali people. Civil society groups and local NGOs [Non-Governmental Organizations] together with the government and the local administrationhave done a lot, and they have resettled some of these new arrivals to a new camp, said Osman. He adds the TFG will continue its coordination with international aid groups to send much-needed help to refugees living in areas outside the governments control, despite threats by hard-line insurgent group, alShabab. The United Nations says "massive" action is needed to save millions of people living in the Horn of Africa from starvation. Meanwhile, a donors' conference was reportedly scheduled for Wednesday in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. The U.N. is seeking pledges of $1.6 billion to help the millions of malnourished people - many of them children. ---------Government Accuses US Lobbies of Hostile Stance towards Sudan (Sudan Vision)

By Mohammed Abdullah July 28, 2011 Khartoum - The Sudanese government Wednesday accused US pressure groups of seeking to influence international quarters to take aggressive actions against Sudan. In a statement, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Al Obaid Ahmed Morawah, said US lobbies are busy fabricating accusations against Sudan aiming at the issuance of resolutions for imposing a no-flight zone, formation of investigation panels or sending international forces to the country by exploiting the situation in South Kordofan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson added the government is not concerned with such pressures since what is going on in South Kordofan is an internal issue that can be solved internally. In the same context, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has accused the international community of lack of neutrality in its unfounded claims of mass graves, violations, or crimes against humanity. The spokesperson added the international community had taken sides in the South Kordofan incidents since no words were uttered abut deaths on the side of government or civilians. As regards the accusation of mass graves, he said what had happened was that corpses of the citizens who fell victims of the assault and which remained scattered for a long time at the center of the town were buried with the assistance of the Red Cross for fear of the spread of diseases. He said all necessary arrangements were taken, such as verifying the identities of those killed. He described the accusation of "mass graves" as misleading and deceptive. "Any talk of human rights violation is null and void and is baseless", he said. It is worth noting that US's UN representative, Susan Rice, requested the Sudanese government to accept international forces in South Kordofan and the Blue Nile. She also requested the formation of an investigation panel for investigating the incidents that she described as "crimes against humanity". ------------Sudan carries out air strikes in Darfur - UNAMID (Reuters) By Unattributed Author July 27, 2011 KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan carried out air strikes on a village in Darfur, killing one civilian, peacekeepers UNAMID said on Wednesday, in the first confirmed strike since Khartoum signed a peace deal with small rebel group Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) two weeks ago.

A UNAMID spokeswoman said it was unclear exactly when the strikes near Abu Hamara in South Darfur took place. A spokesman for the Sudanese army was not immediately available for comment. The UNAMID spokesman said the attack could have taken place around the time of a peace agreement between Khartoum and LJM. Analysts see little significance in the Qatar-brokered deal as the Darfur's biggest rebel groups have rejected it. Rebel divisions and continued fighting have been the two main blocks to previous peace talks in Chad, Nigeria, Libya and Doha. Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur. A counter-insurgency campaign against non-Arab rebels demanding more autonomy in Darfur in 2003 sparked a humanitarian crisis in the western Sudan region in which more than two million people have fled, according to the United Nations. Violence peaked in 2003-2004 but analysts say there is still no end in gating the incidents that she described as "crimes against humanity". ------------Jonathan Proposes One Term for President, Govs (This Day) By Ahamefula Ogbu July 27, 2011 Abuja In the midst of the storm over his proposal for a single-term tenure for the president and governors, President Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday declared that he would not benefit from the new order. Commentators had alleged that he was seeking to extend his tenure through the back door by proposing an amendment to the constitution which could keep him in power for more years after his four-year tenure ends in 2015. While confirming that he was indeed proposing a single tenure, Jonathan specifically declared that he would not be a beneficiary because if passed by the legislature, the new dispensation would kick off from 2015. A presidential source told THISDAY Tuesday night that the bill, which was still being prepared, would contain "transitional clauses" which would technically prevent the sitting president and governors from enjoying additional years in office.

A two-page statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, however did not specify how long the single-term tenure would be. But it is widely reported that it would be six years. Jonathan explained that his pushing for a single-term tenure was out of his patriotic zeal as well as the fact that the two terms provided for in the constitution does not guarantee stabilising the polity and institutionalisation of democracy which was not good "for our level of development". He further explained that the acrimony, which follows the issue of election and re-election at federal and state levels, overheats the polity and added to inter and intra party squabbles which affect the growth of political parties in the country. He came to the conclusion that a single tenure would help executives concentrate on governance and development. The president further said the cost of conducting primaries every four years followed by general election was too unwieldy for the economy and distracts from service delivery as attention shifts too early to issues of election and reelection. "President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is to send a Constitution Amendment Bill to the National Assembly that will provide a single tenure for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Governors of the 36 states of the Federation. In the envisaged Bill, the tenure of members of the National and State Assemblies will also be a little more than four years, although lawmakers will still be eligible for re-election as their constituencies may determine. "President Jonathan's commitment to a single term for the President and Governors is borne out of a patriotic zeal, after a painstaking study and belief that the constitutionally guaranteed two terms for Presidents and Governors is not helping the focus of Governance and institutionalization of democracy at this stage of our development. A longer term for lawmakers would also help to stabilise the polity. "President Jonathan is concerned about the acrimony which the issue of reelection, every four years, generates both at the Federal and State levels. The nation is still smarting from the unrest, the desperation for power and the overheating of the polity that has attended each general election, the fall-out of all this is the unending inter and intra-party squabbles which have affected the growth of party democracy in the country, and have further undermined the country's developmental aspirations.

"In addition, the cost of conducting party primaries and the general elections have become too high for the economy to accommodate every four years. The proposed amendment Bill is necessary to consolidate our democracy and allow elected Executives to concentrate on governance and service delivery for their full term, instead of running governments with re-election as their primary focus," Abati said. On the news making the rounds that Jonathan wants to elongate his tenure, he stated: "Nothing can be more untrue. The energy that has been devoted to speculations on the content of the likely bill is akin to an attempt to force the abortion of a non-existent pregnancy. The details of the Bill will be clear in terms of its provisions when it is forwarded to the National Assembly for consideration. The President makes it clear that his push for a single tenure for the office of the President and that of the Governors is not borne out of any personal interest. The proposed amendment will not have anything to do with him as a person; what he owes Nigerians is good governance, and he is singularly committed to this. Besides, it is trite in law that the envisaged amendment cannot have a retroactive effect. This means that whatever single-term tenure that is enacted into law by the National Assembly will take effect from 2015." Abati said his principal fervently believes that adopting the single tenure would actualise his transformation agenda, adding that the interest and wellbeing of Nigeria was more than the ambition of an individual and that if the single tenure was adopted, it would change the face of politics in the country while he would not be a beneficiary. "The President also states that the greater good of Nigeria is greater than the ambition of any one individual. The envisaged Bill is part of the Jonathan administration's transformation agenda aimed at sanitizing the nation's politics. The President believes that this single move, when actualized, will change the face of our politics and accelerate the overall development of our nation. If the proposed amendment is accepted by the National Assembly, the President assures that he will not in any way be a beneficiary," he concluded. YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE On the one hand... Re-election acrimony will be reduced but not eradicated. The elimination of re-election bid may allow the incumbent to focus on governance instead of building up resources and fighting enemies for second term. Primaries will no longer be every four years, so electoral expenditure will be reduced

Sit-tight syndrome will go; you only win once It makes power rotation faster in the spirit of turn-by-turn A bad governor/president will leave power quicker than spending eight whole years! A two-term, eight-year tenure can lead to diminishing returns. On the other hand... Re-election or nor, acrimony could still creep in if a governor/president wants to install a successor by all means If primaries are held every six years, expenditure could actually rise as more money will be stored up Sit-tight syndrome will go, but a lame duck could come If power rotation is not in the constitution, a sitting governor/president can still flout the "gentleman's agreement" A bad governor/president will be in power for a longer period; currently, he could be voted out after only four years Diminishing returns can set in at any time, even in a four-year tenure. --------------UN News Service Africa Briefs Full Articles on UN Website UN troops move into disputed Sudanese area of Abyei 27 July The top United Nations peacekeeping official today reported that more than 500 troops with the new UN mission in the disputed Abyei area of Sudan have been deployed and both of the contesting sides appear committed to avoiding combat and willing to withdraw in favour of the blue helmets. Sexual abuse allegations against UN peacekeepers in DR Congo and Liberia decline 27 July Allegations of sexual abuse by soldiers serving in the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have declined by 75 per cent since 2008, the commander of the force said today, noting that strict measures have been instituted to prevent such misconduct. Bangladeshi general to head UN force in Western Sahara

27 July Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Major General Abdul Hafiz of Bangladesh as the Force Commander of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Western Sahara (MINURSO). Ban stresses urgency of funding Horn of Africa relief efforts 27 July Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stressed the need for urgent funding to carry out critical humanitarian efforts in the Horn of Africa and assist the millions suffering from famine and drought in the region. Security Council extends UN mission in Cte dIvoire for another year 27 July The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Cte dIvoire for another year to assist the country tackle the many challenges it faces following the recent postelection crisis.