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Africa Horn

Somali insurgents expanding area of attacks, AU report sez

2008-01-19

(SomaliNet) Crazed Islamist terrorists insurgents battling the Somali government and Ethiopian forces are increasingly taking the fight outside of the capital Mogadishu, an African Union report said Friday, AFP reports. "Over the past weeks, the anti-government forces have spread their activities to regions that were previously peaceful, though not necessarily under government control," said the report by AU Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare. Isn't that what terrorists do? The report said insurgents were training recruits and planning attacks in the Lower and Upper Jubba regions, the two southernmost provinces in the troubled Horn of Africa country. "Armed elements are also reported to be using the Lower Shabelle region to ferry arms," Konare's report said. The report listed recent incidents it said were further evidence that the armed wing of the Islamist movement that controlled large parts of the country for months in 2006 was seeking to destabilise the government nationwide.

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Afghanistan

Afghanistan: New demand for hostage exchange

2007-08-08

(AKI) - The Taliban has proposed exchanging female South Korean hostages for an equal number of detained female Taliban prisoners. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi made the fresh offer of an exchange in a telephone interview with Korean news agency Yonhap, even though he did not know how many female members of the Taliban were detained. "We do not know the exact number of Taliban women imprisoned by the Afghan government, but if (Kabul) lets them go, we will release the same number of female hostages," Ahmadi said. He said the jailed women were supporters, convicted for providing food or shelter to Taliban fighters. "The Taliban do not have any female ministers or female fighters," he added. The proposal came as Afghan president Harmid Karzai and US president George Bush adamantly refused to meet the rebels' demands, amid reports that two of the South Koreans were seriously ill. The South Korean government is under growing pressure to free the 21 hostages taken almost three weeks ago on their way to the southern Afghan city of Kandahar from Kabul. Two of them have already been killed by the insurgents. African Union chairman Alpha Oumar Konare on Tuesday added his voice to international condemnation of the kidnappings and urged the Taliban to release the South Korean hostages. "The South Koreans went to Afghanistan to help the poor," he told South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun. "The entire African countries condemn the Taliban captors." Afghan President Hamid Karzai last week said it was shameful and "un-Islamic" to kidnap females while some 300 Afghans in the southern city of Kandahar on Monday called for the immediate release of the South Koreans in a street rally. Seoul reportedly opposes a military operation to free the hostages and is pursuing diplomatic channels to prevent further loss of life. Eight senior South Korean legislators flew to Washington last week to lobby for support. South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon has also had meetings at the US state department. A top-level delegation, including the South Korean ambassador to Kabul, is continuing negotiations with the Taleban.

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Africa Horn

Peacekeepers die in Darfur border attack

2007-04-04

Unidentified gunmen have killed five African Union peacekeepers in the Darfur region of western Sudan. The five were guarding a water point near the Sudanese border with Chad when they came under fire on Monday. Four soldiers were killed in the shooting and the fifth died of his wounds. Three gunmen were also killed. The chairman of the African Union Commission, Alpha Oumar Konare, warned that continued violence raised the possibility of "a catastrophic and tragic breakdown of the security and humanitarian situation in Darfur". The AU has a 7000-strong force in Darfur. Sudan has rejected having a larger UN force in the region, where violence continues despite last year's peace agreement between the Government and one rebel faction.

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International-UN-NGOs

AU chief slams 'presidents for life'

2007-03-08

The African Union's top diplomat took aim at the continent's long-time rulers on Monday by saying that the time had passed when leaders could expect to cling on to power for decades. "Everybody knows that the era of 'presidents for life' is over, and everyone nowadays acknowledges that you have got to pass on the baton even, if this has been difficult for certain people," Alpha Oumar Konare told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on democracy in Africa. "I think that today, all of our leaders know that it serves no one if they stay in power for 30 years and end up like [Sese Seko] Mobutu," he added in reference to the former leader of Zaire, who was unceremoniously booted out of office in 1997 after 22 years in power and died in exile soon afterwards. "Mobutu was there for a long time. He had a lot of power, he had a lot of money, but you all saw how it ended." Konare stopped short of naming names but a number of African leaders have been in power for the last three decades. The longest-serving leader on the continent is Gabon's President Omar Bongo Ondimba, who has been in power since 1967, while Moammar Gadaffi has been in charge of Libya since 1969. Other long-time rulers in sub-Saharan Africa include Angola's Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who took power in 1979, and the 83-year-old Robert Mugabe, who has been Zimbabwean president since independence in 1980. Both men have recently taken steps to delay elections and extend their rules to the 30-year mark. Questioned specifically about Mugabe, Konare said the Zimbabwe leader had raised "a very fair point" about land ownership when he embarked on his policy of expropriating farms from white people at the turn of the century, but added that the reactions "had posed a problem". Mugabe has trumpeted the so-called land-reform programme as a move to address colonial-era imbalances, but critics say that much of the land only ended up the hands of his cronies and blame the policy for the collapse of the agriculture sector in Africa's one-time breadbasket.

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Africa Horn

US offers air support for Somali peacekeepers

2007-01-30

The United States is ready to contribute air support to an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, a leading official said Monday. US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer told AFP that she had made the offer during talks on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa with the head of the AU commission Alpha Oumar Konare. “We are ready to provide airlift and contracting airplanes for the African peacekeeping force in Somalia,” she said. “We already discussed that with Uganda, and I discussed with chairman Konare. A verbal note has been addressed to the AU about the support we are ready to provide and the help we can provide to that force,” she added.

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Africa Horn

Annan pushes Sudan to accept U.N. Darfur force

2006-07-03

First say "pretty please," then grovel. Than stand on your head and spit quarters. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan tried on Sunday to persuade Sudanese leader Omar Hassan al-Bashir to reverse what he calls his "incomprehensible" opposition to a U.N. force to stop heavy bloodshed in Darfur. Annan, who officials said was meeting Bashir on the fringes of an African Union summit, said on Saturday that Darfur was "one of the worst nightmares in recent history." No details were immediately available of the meeting. The summit in Gambia's steamy seaside capital has been dominated by the intractable Darfur crisis and rising tension in Somalia after Islamist forces conquered Mogadishu. AU Commission chairman Alpha Oumar Konare said at the summit opening that the 53-nation pan-African body must take urgent action to deal with the two conflicts. Annan and the AU hope to persuade Bashir to allow a strong U.N. force to take over peacekeeping duties at the end of September from an overstretched, under-resourced African force which has been unable to stem the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. Annan fails to persuade Sudan to accept U.N. force Another success for Hizzexcellency... African leaders agreed on Sunday to extend their military mission in Darfur, after U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan failed to persuade Sudan to allow in international peacekeepers to try to end years of bloodshed. But Annan said he expected a U.N. peacekeeping force, widely seen as the only way to end a crisis in which tens of thousands have died, to be deployed eventually. I don't. More importantly, Omar doesn't... Annan met Sudanese leader Omar Hassan al-Bashir on the fringes of an African Union summit in Gambia dominated by the bloodshed in Sudan's huge western region. He failed to reverse Bashir's repeated rejection of a U.N. force but did persuade the summit to extend the mandate of the overstretched, 7,000-strong AU force in Darfur. AU chairman Denis Sassou Nguesso told reporters after the two-day summit ended: "On the request of the secretary general, the African Union will continue to fulfil its mission until the end of the year." The AU had wanted to pull its force out on September 30 and have it replaced by U.N. troops. Even if Bashir agreed, it would take many months to deploy U.N. peacekeepers. Annan told a news conference the United Nations would work with the AU to strengthen its force, which has failed to stem the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, where three years of murder and rape have pushed 2.5 million people out of their homes and into squalid camps.

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Africa Horn

Dissident Darfur rebels to sign onto AU peace deal

2006-06-08

ADDIS ABABA - Dissident factions of two Darfur rebel groups that have rejected a peace deal for the troubled western Sudanese region are to sign onto the pact this week, African Union officials said on Wednesday. Splinter wings of the Peoples Front for Sudan Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and Sudanese Peoples Front Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) are to sign a specially prepared annex to the May 5 AU-mediated peace accord here on Thursday, the officials said. “The dissident JEM and SLM rebels are going to sign a declaration on Thursday saying that they support the Darfur Peace Agreement,” said Assane Ba, a spokesman for the Addis Ababa-based pan-African body. Who? “The declaration will then be annexed to the original accord and will bring these rebels into line with the other signatories,” he said. Representatives of the two groups have been in the Ethiopian capital since last week when a May 31 deadline for holdouts to the agreement to sign or face possible sanctions passed with no new signers. They said Friday they were ready to accept the deal but were waiting until the African Union came up with a mechanism for them to join the peace deal, which aims to end a three-year conflict that has claimed up to 300,000 lives and displaced some 2.4 million others. Also because they were being ignored and were getting their butts kicked. The AU Peace and Security Council is due to meet on Thursday to approve the annex to the agreement, which is hoped will put further pressure on the remaining holdouts to sign, diplomats said. “For the African Union, this serves to marginalize those who have not yet signed and keep up pressure for them to join the process,” one African diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity. Only one Darfur rebel group, the main wing of the SLA, has thus far signed the peace deal with Khartoum and AU officials have become increasingly frustrated with the refusal of the JEM and an SLA faction led by Abdel Wahid Mohammed Al Nur to accept it. AU commission chief Alpha Oumar Konare told reporters on Thursday that discussions with Al Nur’s faction were ongoing. “We maintain contacts,” he said. “We received a message from Abdel Wahid saying he is ready to come, but he has some conditions. Now we have to examine those conditions.”

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Africa Horn

AU presses rebels to sign Darfur deal

2006-05-16

The African Union ratcheted up the pressure on two rebel factions on Monday to sign a peace deal for Sudan's Darfur region, threatening international sanctions if they did not endorse it. Only one of the three Darfur rebel factions signed a May 5 accord with Khartoum to end fighting that has killed tens of thousands of people, and officials fear the two holdouts could instigate violence to scuttle the deal. Alpha Oumar Konare, chairman of the African Union (AU) commission, urged a faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) led by Abdel Wahed Mohammad Nur and the smaller Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) to sign the deal unconditionally. "Should they embark on any action or measure likely to undermine the Darfur peace agreement, especially the ceasefire provisions, the [AU] should take appropriate measures ... including requesting the UN Security Council to impose sanctions against them," he said in a statement. The warning came as the AU's Peace and Security Council met in Addis Ababa to discuss how to push forward the peace process in Darfur, which UN Secretary General Kofi Annan says is the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Konare called for more AU troops to be sent to Darfur and urged Khartoum to produce a plan to disarm pro-government Janjaweed militias accused of a campaign of murder and rape that has driven more than two million people into camps in Darfur and neighbouring Chad.

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Africa Horn

Darfur faction hints at deal

2006-05-12

A Darfur rebel faction is reconsidering its rejection of a peace deal signed by the Sudanese government and the main rebel group this month. Time to hop on the bandwagon and be virtuous. Lots of time later to ignore the agreement... Abd al-Wahid al-Nur, leader of one faction of the Sudan Liberation Army, rejected the peace agreement signed on May 5 between the government and Minnin Arcua Minnawi, the rival SLA leader. However on Thursday, Nur said he had written to Salim Ahmed Salim, the African Union negotiator, asking to reopen discussions with the government. He also said he would sign the agreement if a list of demands were addressed in another document. "We are ready to sign if there's a supplementary document ... we did this because we want to avoid chaos in Darfur," he said. "We're special. We want two agreements!" He said his demands were more compensation from the Sudanese government for Darfur, greater political representation for his group and more involvement in implementing a ceasefire and disarmament programme. Alpha Oumar Konare, the African Union Commission chairman, confirmed that an approach had been made by Nur's faction. "There are no perfect solutions. [We must have] a compromise with guarantees that can improve the solution and that is the only way we can move forward," he said.

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Africa Horn

Sudan Troops Disguising as Peacekeepers in Darfur, AU Report Says

2006-01-13

Sudanese troops are disguising themselves as African peacekeepers to launch surprise attacks on rebels in Darfur. In a report to be submitted to the AU’s Peace and Security Council yesterday, AU Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare said the Sudanese troops were painting their vehicles white, the color of AU peacekeepers’ vehicles “to disguise their identities and launch surprise attacks on their opponents.” Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol said his military hires vehicles and helicopters that are painted white for transportation, but said the vehicles were never used in combat. “Government troops do not need to disguise their vehicles by painting them white to fight the rebels,” he said in the Ethiopian capital. But it was not the first time the AU has accused Sudanese forces of disguising themselves as peacekeepers. The AU had said in October that in a September attack on civilians in a Darfur town and adjacent camp for those displaced by the war, Sudanese forces used government vehicles painted AU white. “This new development threatens to undermine the credibility of (the African Union peacekeeping mission) and draw the mission into the conflict,” Konare said in his report yesterday. He said three government vehicles and a helicopter gunship had been spotted painted white. “The government should ensure that no white colored vehicles are used for military operations. The government should stop using white aircraft and vehicles for any security related activity,” Konare said. A 6,964-strong African Union military and police force has been struggling to stabilize Darfur, saying it needs more financial and other support from the international community.

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Africa: Horn

Ethiopia sez al-Qaeda cell operating in Somalia

2005-05-12

Ethiopia's prime minister said Thursday he believes it is common knowledge that an al-Qaida terror cell is operating in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, and that only a stable central government can end the chaos in the Horn of Africa country and eliminate terrorist threats. This will probably occur several weeks after Doomsday... In an interview with The Associated Press, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said his government supported the transitional Somali government that was formed in neighboring Kenya last year and would do everything possible to help that government take power. He said, though, he would only send troops to Somalia in self defense, since it is up to Somalis themselves to install the first effective central government in 14 years. "Wherever there is distress, wherever there is acute poverty, social dislocation, the potential for a terrorist state exists," Meles said. "That's kinda the definition of Somalia, ain't it?" "We have a very active terrorist cell in Mogadishu, which has been involved in terrorist activities in Kenya." We've noticed that... The international community needs to be more proactive in helping the Somali government establish itself, African Union Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare told the meeting. "Should the international community fail to act decisively to sustain the gains of the reconciliation process, there is a risk that the effort thus far deployed will be put to waste," said Konare. I think I'd take the international community's failure to act decisively as a given... Meles told AP the new government stood the best chance of shutting down the terror cell in Somalia. "We have offered to help," Meles said. "Should the process collapse -- we very much hope it doesn't but if it does -- we plan to protect ourselves, not sort out the mess in Somalia." In an African Union report obtained by AP, officials proposed that a 1,700-strong peacekeeping force go to Somalia two weeks ahead of the government's return to the country, and stay for nine months to protect the government, secure supply routes and carry out reconnaissance missions. At that point all the hard boyz in Somalia went nutz simultaneously... The report, which is being discussed at the African Union Peace and Security Council meeting, says the force will be composed equally of troops from Uganda and Sudan and will cost $100 million. $100 million for 1700 Ugandans and Sudanese for ten months? $5,882.35 per man? Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi told journalists his government will relocate to Somalia by month's end and the proposed peacekeeping force will join them there. "We think we can bring stabilization to Somalia and pacification within nine months," Gedi said. And I think my gut's getting smaller. And my hair's definitely growing back.

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Africa: Horn

African Union Asks for NATO's Help in Darfur

2005-04-28

The African Union has asked to start talks with NATO for logistical support in its mission in Sudan's war-torn western Darfur region, an official at the military alliance said yesterday. The request was made in a letter sent to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer by AU Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare, said NATO spokesman James Appathurai. After receiving the message at NATO's headquarters yesterday morning, de Hoop Scheffer quickly informed the permanent representatives of NATO's members who then "agreed that exploratory talks should begin with the AU", Appathurai said. The request comes ahead of a scheduled meeting today of senior AU diplomats in Addis Ababa to mull a significant expansion of the pan-African body's operation in Sudan's troubled western region of Darfur. The AU's Peace and Security Council will meet today to discuss the possible expansion of the current mission, perhaps by more than 100 percent, an official at the pan-African body's headquarters in the Ethiopian capital said. Today's meeting has been called "to discuss reinforcing the African Union mission to Sudan," Said Djinnit told AFP, adding that the existing mission might be more than doubled.

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