Please note: The following news items are presented here for informational purposes. The views expressed within them are those of the authors and/or individuals quoted, not those of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, the National Defense University, or the Department of Defense.
Mali and the Sahel; The war is far from over
Libya, Mali chaos alarms neighbours
West African Leaders to Meet in Ghana Friday
Nigeria: Jonathan Orders Full-Scale War Against Terrorists
Despite joint search for missing girls, Nigeria and United States are wary partners
Terror unites the divided citizens of Jos
Nigeria: What Effect Will Boko Haram Have on Elections?
Peacekeeping Is Deadly Business
South Sudan Conflict Destabilizes Ethiopia’s Regional Strategy
China to send peacekeeping battalion to S.Sudan
Sudan rejected Iranian offers for building air defense system on Red Sea coast: FM
Behind Landslide, a Generation Divide in Egypt
Egypt to receive Ambassador IV missile craft
Storming a Spanish Border in North Africa
Syria returnees worry Morocco
Madagascar: The puppet cuts his strings
Inside the fight for Somalia’s future
Graft linked to Kenya terrorism – experts
Malawian president Joyce Banda faces electoral humiliation – and possibly jail
Uganda: Kizza Besigye on his political future (video)
Ebola: Deadly outbreak crosses border as mistrust hampers medical staff
Analysis: Why does Africa manufacture so little? (audio)
Confronting poverty with hard cash: Why Africans are becoming happier
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Mali and the Sahel; The war is far from over
[...] what began as a triumph quickly turned into Mali’s worst crisis since a coup two years ago. Fuelled by what diplomats describe as a combination of naivety and ambition, Mr Mara condemned the Tuareg violence as “a declaration of war” and promised an “appropriate response”. Around 1,500 troops, equipped with artillery, steamed north. Despite assurances from the government that dialogue was the only way forward, on May 21st they were ordered to attack the rebels. Within hours the army was in retreat. After trading heavy machinegun and rocket fire, rebels seized the government camp in Kidal, as well as a former French fort that has a commanding position above the fly-blown town. Separatist flags fluttered in the desert wind. At least 50 soldiers were killed in the encounter, 50 were taken prisoner, and 900 surrendered their weapons and sought refuge at a nearby UN post. The Economist
Libya, Mali chaos alarms neighbours
Experts and military officers from eight African countries on Thursday (May 29th) wrap up a five-day conference in Algiers focused on Sahel-Saharan security. The event aimed to establish a joint strategy for securing the countries’ borders, which are facing threats due to the situation in Mali and in Libya. The workshop organised by the Fusion and Liaison Unit (UFL), in co-operation with Spain’s Guardia Civil, drew officers from UFL member states Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Chad. Magharebia
West African Leaders to Meet in Ghana Friday
Heads of State and government in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) plan to meet at an extraordinary summit in the Ghanaian capital, Accra on Friday, following an invitation from President John Dramani Mahama, who is also chairman of the West African regional bloc. High on the agenda will be discussions about implementing measures to ensure the region’s peace and stability following the abduction of over 200 Nigerian school girls by Boko Haram Islamist militants about five weeks ago, as well as the ongoing violence carried out by the group. President Mahama recently paid an official visit to Nigeria and expressed the regional bloc’s solidarity and support to help the administration in Abuja to combat the militants. Mahama says the destabilization of Nigeria by the extremists constitutes the destabilization of the entire region. VOA
Nigeria: Jonathan Orders Full-Scale War Against Terrorists
President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday directed the security forces to launch a full-scale military operation to put an end to the impunity of terrorists in the country. The president gave the directive in his democracy day broadcast. Jonathan said that Nigeria’s unity and stability as well as the protection of lives and property were non-negotiable. He restated the determination of his administration to protect the nation’s democracy, national unity and political stability, by waging a total war against terrorism. The president said the activities of terror groups in the country had caused debilitating pains and horror on the nation particularly the abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno. allAfrica
Despite joint search for missing girls, Nigeria and United States are wary partners
When Secretary of State John F. Kerry announced early this month that the Obama administration was rushing a team of experts to help Nigerian officials rescue 276 abducted schoolgirls, the hope in Washington was that Nigerians would react with gratitude and energetic cooperation. Instead, the U.S. assistance mission here — cloaked in secrecy and producing only vague hints of progress after six weeks of joint efforts to find and free the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants — has produced a more ambivalent and critical response. One reason is the strong patriotic pride among citizens of this independent, oil-rich nation with a large professional security force that President Goodluck Jonathan said Thursday he had ordered to carry out a “full-scale operation” against the militants. While there is appreciation for the U.S. help, there is also resentment of what some Nigerian commentators call “neocolonial” meddling. The Washington Post
Terror unites the divided citizens of Jos
As the smoke cleared to reveal the bomb’s horrific toll, an attack aimed at provoking sectarian violence has succeeded only in uniting residents in their anger at a government many believe is too bloated with corruption to stop the crisis raging through the country. “The calculation in Jos was that within 15 or 20 minutes of the bombs going off, the whole state would be on fire, as happened previously,” said Bawa Abdullahi Wase, a professor of criminology at the University of Jos. “They wanted to capitalise on the anger already burning there. But 99% of people realised this would be walking into a trap. People are directing their anger at the government now.” Like a growing number of defiant citizens pushed to the wall by repeated waves of ethnosectarian violence in Africa’s most populous country, Tijani, the Muslim businessman, decided to fight back – by keeping the peace. Mail and Guardian
Nigeria: What Effect Will Boko Haram Have on Elections?
[...] Aside from the deeply tragic consequences of the group’s violent activities, Boko Haram’s operations could also affect Nigeria’s political environment and the running of the upcoming 2015 elections in various ways. To begin with, the ongoing violence in the North-East could pose a serious risk to the very conduct of the general elections. Many people have been displaced, the conflict could prevent a daunted population from coming out to cast their ballots, and the instability could simply make it logistically impossible for election officials to do their jobs. There have been some calls for the federal government to take a strong militaristic tack and impose a full state of emergency, but for now President Goodluck Jonathan has stuck with extending emergency rule for another six months. He may have reason to be cautious. After all, the insecurity in the north has also affected Jonathan’s perception amongst voters. His government has come under severe criticism for its handling of the security situation and the President’s approval rating is at an all-time low of 49%. Think Africa Press
Peacekeeping Is Deadly Business
On Thursday the UN marked the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, honoring 106 who perished in 2013. It’s the sixth year in a row that saw the death of more than 100 UN personnel. “We mourn the passing of every one of these courageous individuals,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. “We grieve with their friends and families and we recommit ourselves to ensure that their contributions to the cause of peace will never be forgotten.” The casualty figures have much to do with the sheer number of deployments: Among 16 peacekeeping operations, there are over 116,000 UN employees from more than 120 countries in the field. Half of the 36 peacekeeper deaths from conflict took place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the UN, faced with decades of lackluster traditional operations, aggressively deployed a narrowly focused Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) to defeat Rwandan-backed M23 rebel groups in the country’s east. Vice
South Sudan Conflict Destabilizes Ethiopia’s Regional Strategy
If the past century’s dominant image of Ethiopia was that of an impoverished, war-torn state, epitomized by the horrendous 1984-1985 famine in Tigray and Wollo provinces, the early 21st-century picture of the country is surely exemplified by the construction of the biggest infrastructure project anywhere in Africa: Mere miles from Ethiopia’s border with Sudan, nearly 8,000 workers and engineers are laboring seven days a week, 24 hours a day as part of a round-the-clock construction schedule to erect the nearly 560-foot-tall Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Africa’s second-most populous nation is betting that the multibillion-dollar GERD will dramatically modernize Ethiopia’s domestic political economy through mass electrification and have a positive influence on regional relations through the export of surplus power to North and East Africa and its hinterland. Late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s dream was for Ethiopia to emerge as a regional hegemon through energy diplomacy. His successor, Hailemariam Desalegn, has judiciously stuck to this mission and has given his dam builders all the resources and political backing required to complete the biggest hydro-infrastructure project on the Nile since the Aswan High Dam. World Politics Review
China to send peacekeeping battalion to S.Sudan
China will soon send an infantry battalion to reinforce the United Nations peacekeeping mission in war-torn South Sudan, officials said Thursday. In December, the Security Council voted to send an extra 5,500 peacekeepers — some re-assigned from other UN missions in Africa — to the UN mission in the world’s newest country, bringing the total deployment there to 12,500. More than half of these reinforcements have arrived. UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous confirmed Thursday that China had agreed to send a “battalion” of 850 soldiers within the next few months. AFP on Yahoo News
Sudan rejected Iranian offers for building air defense system on Red Sea coast: FM
The Sudanese foreign minister Ali Karti disclosed that his government turned down several offers by Iran by which it would have installed air defense systems on the Red Sea coast. In an interview with the London-based al-Hayat newspaper published on Thursday, the minister said that this military platform “was intended to be directed against Saudi Arabia”. Karti reiterated that Khartoum has no special ties with Tehran and only an insignificant level of military cooperation. “This is not true, our relationship with Iran is very normal and below the level [you would expect] between two Muslim nations and especially that Iran stood with Sudan in all international forums and defended it a lot,” he empathized. Sudan Tribune
Behind Landslide, a Generation Divide in Egypt
“El-Sissi will leave no one wanting!” the 50-year-old shopkeeper in a Cairo slum barked when a younger man criticized the landslide victor of Egypt’s presidential election, former army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Their heated argument – even though both voted for el-Sissi – shows the stormy public sentiment the retired field marshal will confront, even after winning nearly 93 percent of the vote in this week’s election. El-Sissi faces not only opposition from Islamists, but also a generational divide. Many older voters embrace him. But among the young, ambitions for change have been unleashed since the 2011 ouster of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, and their expectations are low that another military man in power will fulfill them. AP
Egypt to receive Ambassador IV missile craft
Egypt will soon receive the first two of four Ambassador IV fast missile craft from the United States, which are being prepared for delivery. The two vessels were loaded onto a civilian transport ship in Pensacola Bay, Florida, on May 25, according to the Pensacola News Journal. The fast missile craft involved are the first of class S Ezzat and F Zekry. S Ezzat was on November 19, 2013, transferred to the Egyptian Navy at a ceremony in Pensacola, Florida, where the US has an international student programme, reports Defense News. The vessel, launched in October 2011, is named after Admiral Solilman Ezzat who was Commander in Chie of the Egyptian Navy from 1953 to 1967. DefenceWeb
Storming a Spanish Border in North Africa
More than 1,000 would-be immigrants tried to forced their way over razor-wire barriers into Spain’s North African enclave of Melilla on Wednesday, with about half succeeding. The Spanish government said about 500 people managed to breach the border between the enclave, which is officially part of Spain, and the Moroccan territory that touches it along with the Mediterranean sea. Immigrants from all over Africa regularly attempt to cross the fences at Melilla and a second Spanish enclave along the coast, Ceuta. Spain has beefed up security in the enclaves in recent months as the numbers seeking to enter have swelled, in part response to increased naval patrols that are discouraging attempts to get to Europe by boat. “There were waves (of people), they were difficult to stop it” the enclave city’s mayor Juan Jose Imbroda said in a radio interview. “Moroccan police collaborated quite a bit, but the pressure was great, a chunk of the exterior fence gave way”. The New York Times
Syria returnees worry Morocco
Disillusioned by al-Qaeda in Syria, Moroccan jihadists are flooding back to the kingdom. Despite the reversal in the situation on the ground, recent arrests “prove that “jihad in Syria is still attracting young people”, terrorism expert Mahjoub Tadlaoui said. On Monday (May 26th), Morocco caught two Fez men involved in recruiting young fighters to join the ranks of al-Qaeda groups active in the Turkey-Syria border region. [...] Some 33 fighters arrived in Morocco during the first three months of 2014. More than 200 fighters are about to return to their homeland. The most senior Moroccan “jihadist” in Syria, Abou Hamza al-Maghribi (real name Mohamed al-Alami), recently confirmed that many of his compatriots indeed wanted to leave the Syrian battlefield. Magharebia
Madagascar: The puppet cuts his strings
Hery Rajaonarimampianina was widely regarded as a mere proxy for Madagascar’s previous ruler, Andry Rajoelina, in last December’s presidential elections – which Rajoelina himself was barred from contesting according to a deal brokered by regional mediators. But having won the elections, Hery then surprised his would-be puppet master by turning on him. He disbanded two special police units established by Rajoelina, which were behaving as his personal political militias. Then he faced down Rajoelina over the appointment of a prime minister, choosing Kolo Roger, a compromise candidate, over Rajoelina’s man. ISS
Inside the fight for Somalia’s future
In the end, it wasn’t clan militias or Islamic militants but a government soldier who killed Dr. Osman. Over his 54 years, the pharmacist had earned a reputation for fair dealing in business, kindness among friends, and piety in the mosque. A family man, he had survived Somalia’s clan wars and then kept his head down when the Islamic militants known as Al Shabaab overran his hometown in southern Somalia five years ago. A follower of a softer, mystical branch of Islam, he obeyed the ultraconservative occupiers’ harsh new rules — don’t smoke, don’t chew khat, pay the Islamic tax, go to the mosque five times a day without fail — and carried on. In February of this year, the military offensive to retake towns like Osman’s, “liberating” them from extremist rule, began. As the fighting drew near Qoryooley [pronounced “kor-ree-oh-lay”], Osman sent his wife and seven children to the capital Mogadishu, telling them they would be safer there. He stayed behind to look after the pharmacy he had built from scratch. He told his family not to worry. Globalpost
Graft linked to Kenya terrorism – experts
Corrupt police and other government employees willing to break rules for bribes are weakening Kenya’s ability to prevent a new rash of terror carried out by attackers with links to Somali militants, officials and analysts say. Kenya has seen a long string of deadly attacks this year, including grenade blasts and homemade bombs deployed against buses, in markets and at a beachside hotel. Security officials fear another Westgate Mall-style attack – an assault by four gunmen in September that killed at least 67 people – could be coming. “Corruption – systemic graft – is at the heart of the state’s inability to respond to insecurity in general,” said John Githongo, a former Kenyan government adviser who exposed millions of dollars in government corruption. iOL
Malawian president Joyce Banda faces electoral humiliation – and possibly jail
“I learned that leadership is about falling in love with the people and the people falling in love with you. It is about serving the people with selflessness, with sacrifice and with the need to put the common good ahead of personal interests.” These were the words of Joyce Banda, the president of Malawi, at the funeral of Nelson Mandela in South Africa last December, prompting one politician to remark: “She stole the show.” Few who heard her inspiring tribute were likely to suspect that, six months later, Banda would be facing electoral humiliation, the end of her political career and potentially even jail. The results of Malawi’s drawn out and chaotic election could finally be released as soon as Friday. Even if they are delayed again by the country’s high court, it is widely believed that Peter Mutharika will be the winner while Banda, the second female head of state in Africa, will be the first to lose an election. The Guardian
Uganda: Kizza Besigye on his political future (video)
Kizza Besigye was the personal doctor and ally of Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, but has since become his biggest critic and the country’s best known opposition figure. Dr Besigye who lost three disputed elections to President Museveni, has staged a series of “walk-to-work” protests over the rising costs of living, suffered eye injuries after being doused in pepper spray and been arrested repeatedly. Asked if he will continue to be “the thorn in the side of the government,” Dr Besigye told BBC HARDtalk he could not pose a problem for the government if what he was doing was not supported by the people of Uganda. BBC
Ebola: Deadly outbreak crosses border as mistrust hampers medical staff
West Africa’s deadly Ebola outbreak, which has already killed nearly 200 people in Guinea, has crossed the border and claimed its first lives in Sierra Leone, placing health authorities across the region on high alert. The World Health Organisation and Médecins sans Frontières have dispatched teams to the east of the country, while health authorities in the capital are meeting daily to monitor the disease, amid fears that it could spread quickly among remote rural communities with little access to healthcare. The current outbreak began in neighbouring Guinea in March. The first confirmed cases were detected in Sierra Leone earlier this week and the country has now recorded 16 cases and five deaths. The Independent
Analysis: Why does Africa manufacture so little? (audio)
Manufacturing is one of the big issues affecting African economies. It’s among the topics being discussed at the IMF’s #AfricaRising conference, in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo. #FocusonAfrica’s Akwasi Sarpong, asked Alexis Akwagyiram whether it was fact or fiction that African countries manufacture so few goods. BBC Africa
Confronting poverty with hard cash: Why Africans are becoming happier
A curious phenomenon has been recorded in some parts of Africa: people are becoming happier. The recent surge in happiness has even caught the attention of African leaders. At an April “expert consultation” in Cape Town hosted by the South African government, the African Union and UNICEF, presentations were given which included an uplifting set of findings. In Zambia, there’s been a 45% increase in the amount of people who say they’re better off than 12 months ago; Ghana saw a 16% increase in the proportion of people answering “yes” to the question; “Are you happy with your life?” Malawi has seen a 20% increase in people who say they are “very happy” with their life, and in Kenya, there’s been a 6% increase on the Quality of Life index. Mail and Guardian