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.
France sets up anti-Islamist force in Africa’s Sahel
French soldier killed in Mali suicide bombing
Al-Qaeda leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar sparks new jihadi terror threat
US ramps up ‘terrorism’ fight in Mauritania
Sudan: Security Crackdown Puts Dialogue at Risk
South Sudan: Responsibility to Protect the Bad Guys
KBR gets $56 million contract for Camp Lemonnier support
UN pulls staff out of Libya as clashes sever air links
Egyptians fear Islamist militants gathering on Libyan border
African nations to help Libya control its borders
Caliphate bell tolls for the Maghreb
Nigerian leader tells Malala missing girls to be home soon
In Nigeria, Boko Haram-style violence radiates southwards
Boko Haram: Why We Couldn’t Offer Nigeria Effective Security Assistance – U.S. Finally Opens Up
Renamo’s armed activities: it’s time to find a solution
Senegal honours the soldiers who fought for France in WWI
Is East Africa ready for the petrodollars?
US offers Egypt late invite to Africa summit
Egypt lets Mubarak-era politicians run for parliament
Inside Egypt’s prisons: An investigation into some of the most notorious jails in the Arab world
Swaziland: Africa’s last absolute monarchy
Busting up Somali pirate attacks one ship at a time
Crime in Somalia: Pirates v economists
Guinea to host regional Ebola centre
Today’s News
France sets up anti-Islamist force in Africa’s Sahel
France is to set up a new military operation in the Sahel region of northern Africa in an effort to stop the emergence of jihadist groups. About 3,000 French soldiers will be deployed, along with troops from Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Chad. On Monday France ended its military deployment in Mali, set up 18 months ago after an Islamist insurgency there. French forces helped the Malian government recapture the north from al-Qaeda-linked militants last year. BBC
French soldier killed in Mali suicide bombing
A French soldier was killed in a suicide bombing in northern Mali, where local and foreign troops have struggled to restore order after quelling an Islamist insurgency last year, officials said. The Foreign Legion soldier, the ninth to die since France intervened in its former colony in January 2013, was killed in the northern city of Gao on Monday, the defence ministry said. France’s intervention in the African country halted the advance of al Qaeda-linked Islamists who had taken advantage of a Tuareg separatist uprising to occupy swathes of land in the north. France and other Western powers feared the Islamists could further destabilise the region and use the country as a launchpad for foreign attacks. Reuters
Al-Qaeda leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar sparks new jihadi terror threat
Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the terrorist who masterminded the Algerian gas plant terror attack where 40 hostages, six of them British, were killed last year, has fled to Libya after surviving a counter-terrorist operation in which he was reported to have died. Now it has emerged that he is recruiting foreign fighters from Syria, raising fears of new terror plots against Britain and France. The development will worry security agencies in the UK who believe Belmokhtar is more than capable of another terror atrocity. Of greatest concern will be a possible link-up with terror groups in Syria which have attracted hundreds of British and other European fighters who could now use the Maghreb as a launch pad for terror attacks on Western targets. The Independent
US ramps up ‘terrorism’ fight in Mauritania
Citing shared goals of peace and security, the United States last month gave Mauritania a $21m pair of military aircraft outfitted with advanced surveillance equipment. The gift came as senior staff from US Africa Command, which advances US security interests on the continent, met with Mauritania’s defence minister and army chief of staff to discuss methods of strengthening counter-terrorism. The US has provided some form of security assistance to Mauritania for decades, having established its embassy in the capital Nouakchott in 1962. But cooperation between the two countries deepened in recent years, amid a growing threat from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The benefits are mutual: In exchange for access to US resources, Mauritania presents the US with a strategic asset in its ongoing “war on terror”, experts say. Al jazeera
Sudan: Security Crackdown Puts Dialogue at Risk
Arrests of leading opposition figures, including Sadiq al-Mahdi, head of the National Ummah Party and imam of the Ansar sect, and Ibrahim Sheikh, chair of the Sudanese Congress Party, have cast doubt on current transformations in the Sudanese political landscape. The government recently resumed restrictions on press freedoms and suspended the newly launched al-Saiha newspaper which had waged a widely-publicised media campaign after exposing extensive corruption in government agencies. Perhaps the most important development casting doubt on the political landscape is the expanding pivotal role played by security forces and the National Intelligence Service in politics and the military. These incidents raise questions about the government’s commitment to change and further complicate the country’s political landscape. The likely repercussions may be a paper reshuffle in the political game, with a reshaped balance of power as an alternative to escalation during a time the public is hoping the Sudanese National Dialogue Initiative will succeed. Al Jazeera
South Sudan: Responsibility to Protect the Bad Guys
[...]The violence in South Sudan has posed a dilemma for the United States, where both Democratic and Republican administrations played a pivotal role in helping to create the new nation. National Security Advisor Susan Rice, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, has long taken a personal interest in the fortunes of the South Sudanese. She had close ties to a small group of individuals, including Deng, who had been long promoting U.S. efforts to support the cause of South Sudan. Secretary of State John Kerry, who presented Kiir with a pair of the South Sudanese president’s trademark Stetson cowboy hats during a visit to Juba in 2011, traveled to South Sudan this past May to try to broker a political settlement between the rival leaders. He threatened to impose sanctions and other “possible consequences” on the two sides if they failed to pursue peace. Deng — himself an ethnic Dinka from the still-disputed territory of Abyei — has remained loyal to Kiir, using his position and prestige at the United Nations to paint the most positive possible portrait of a government whose security forces, including the presidential guard, went door to door in Juba in the first days of the conflict hunting for ethnic Nuer to murder, according to U.N. reports. Foreign Policy
KBR gets $56 million contract for Camp Lemonnier support
The Pentagon has awarded Kellog Brown and Root (KBR) a $56.56 million contract for base operation support services at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. The contract is the exercise of an option on a previously awarded contract, according to the U.S Department of Defence (DoD), and covers a year. The work to be performed provides for public safety (security operations, emergency management, and fire/emergency services), air operations, ordnance, supply operations, laundry services, morale welfare and recreation, galley (food services), housing (bachelor quarters), facility support (facilities investment, janitorial services, grounds maintenance, pest control, refuse collection, and roads), utilities (electrical generation, wastewater treatment, and water operations), base support vehicles equipment, and environmental services. The total contract amount after the exercise of the option will be $224 153 913, according to the DoD. DefenceWeb
UN pulls staff out of Libya as clashes sever air links
The United Nations on Monday pulled its staff out of Libya where at least 13 people have been killed in fighting in the eastern city of Benghazi and in the capital, Tripoli, forcing the closure of the country’s remaining international airport. The fighting between liberal and Islamist militias came after a June general election mired by fraud allegations intensified a struggle for power between rival armed groups that has wracked the North African oil producer ever since the 2011 overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi. France 24
Egyptians fear Islamist militants gathering on Libyan border
A few days before he was elected Egypt’s president in May, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi discreetly visited tribesmen living along the border with Libya. Tribal leaders there say Sisi, former head of the army, urged them to help Egypt confront what could be a security nightmare for the biggest Arab nation: Islamist militants operating just over the frontier in Libya. “Sisi came to us and asked us to stand behind the security forces and army to help them to control the border because what is happening in Libya poses a grave danger to Egypt,” said Mohamed al-Raghi, a tribal chief. Wearing a flowing white robe and a traditional black cap outside a mosque in the border town of Salloum, Raghi said he and other tribal leaders had assured Sisi they would help him. DefenceWeb
African nations to help Libya control its borders
Libya’s neighbors are offering to help the country control its borders, collect heavy weapons and reconcile rival political forces as security in the North African nation deteriorates. Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki told a conference that Libyan authorities have agreed to create joint border control forces. Foreign ministers from Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Algeria and Tunisia met in the Tunisian city of Hammamet on Sunday and Monday to try to find solutions to Libya’s turmoil. They also agreed on a plan to help Libyan authorities collect the heavy weapons that are circulating widely and are falling into the hands of terrorist groups around Africa. AP on Stars and Stripes
Caliphate bell tolls for the Maghreb
Syria is no longer about the battle between an old regime and the dream of a new one. The country is now the world’s first large-scale laboratory for growing terrorists. Al-Qaeda and its arch-rival, the “Islamic State” (ISIS), exploited the Syrian war to form an army of multinational suicide bombers. They now constitute the biggest global threat to peace and security. Returning jihadists pose an unprecedented challenge for security services in some 80 countries. This new generation of suicide bombers trained in Syria and Iraq, and gained combat experience. They leave the fronts skilled in multiple weapons and explosives. Magharebia
Nigerian leader tells Malala missing girls to be home soon
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan promised on Monday that more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist militants would soon return home, teenage Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai said after meeting him. Malala, who became a global celebrity after surviving being shot in the head by the Taliban for campaigning for girls’ education, was visiting Nigeria to support an international campaign for the release of the teenage students abducted in mid-April by the Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram. “The president promised me … that the abducted girls will return to their homes soon,” Malala, who has called the 219 missing students her “sisters”, told a news conference after a 45-minute meeting with Jonathan at the presidential villa. Reuters
In Nigeria, Boko Haram-style violence radiates southwards
As long as violence perpetrated by Islamist militants was more or less contained in Nigeria’s remote northeast, the attitude of many citizens and expatriates in the more prosperous south was a shrug of the shoulders. But growing evidence that Boko Haram, or other violent groups or individuals inspired by it, are radiating attacks from their northeastern heartlands across Africa’s most populous country has many Nigerians feeling that nowhere is safe. Boko Haram leader Abubabar Shekau claimed responsibility for two blasts minutes apart targeting a fuel depot on June 25 in the country’s main port in Apapa, in the commercial hub of Lagos, saying he had sent a bomber in do it. Reuters on Yahoo News
Boko Haram: Why We Couldn’t Offer Nigeria Effective Security Assistance – U.S. Finally Opens Up
The human rights abuse record and uncooperative attitude of the Federal Government and its military authorities have been identified as factors hindering United States of America offering Nigeria effective security assistance. Speaking on Thursday before the US House Foreign Affairs Sub-committee on Africa’s hearing entitled, ‘Human Rights Vetting: Nigeria and Beyond’, the Specialist at African Affairs Congressional Research Service, Lauren Blanchard, said the Nigerian government and its military had not been yielding to America’s suggestions. The Congress heard that the main impediment to America’s efforts to support Nigeria’s broader response to Boko Haram is “gross violations committed by the Nigerian forces, the Nigerian government’s resistance to adopting a more comprehensive approach to Boko Haram, and the continued lack of political will” within the government to investigate allegations of human rights abuses and hold perpetrators accountable. Osun Defender
Renamo’s armed activities: it’s time to find a solution
Mozambique is one of the few African countries that for a long time defied the negative after-effects of a lengthy civil war. The country maintained relative peace and stability since the end of the 16-year civil war 20 years ago, and in 2013, it had posted a 7% growth in real gross domestic product (GDP). According the African Development Bank, this was still below optimum for a country bubbling with new discoveries of natural resources, including coal and gas. However, increased armed confrontation between the government and the country’s former rebel movement, the Mozambican National Resistance (Resistência Nacional Moçambicana, or Renamo), poses a major threat to the country’s future. The activities of former Renamo rebels who occupy the central region of the country continue to disrupt the movement of goods and people between the north and south of the country, cutting off the economic port of Beira from the main coal-producing province of Tete. ISS
Senegal honours the soldiers who fought for France in WWI
As the world commemorates the centenary of the beginning of World War I, Africa honours the soldiers it sent to fight for France in the war that was meant to end all wars. In Senegal, several memorials have been built in honour of the soldiers who fought for France. Senegal’s last surviving soldier from that war, Abdoulaye N’Diaye, died in 1998. He was posthumously awarded the French Legion of Honour. France 24
Is East Africa ready for the petrodollars?
Following oil, gas and mineral discoveries in East Africa, a lot has been said and written about the potential billions of dollars in revenues that the countries will receive. But little is being said about the collection of these revenues and the policies that will guide taxation. Most African countries with oil, gas and minerals are still grappling with tax evasion, capital flight and taxation competencies. In East Africa, questions have been raised about the countries’ readiness to handle the newfound natural resources wealth through prudent tax administration. For example, what are the competencies of tax administrators in East Africa’s potential new oil and gas producers — Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania? Equally, whereas the revenues will start coming several years from now, do these countries have the capacity to properly tax these resources? East African
US offers Egypt late invite to Africa summit
he United States has invited Egypt to an African leaders summit in Washington next month, after initially barring Cairo following the military’s coup against the former Muslim Brotherhood-led government. A US official said the late invitation had been offered as Egypt had recently been allowed back into the African Union after a year’s absence. “President Obama invited all African heads of state or government in good standing with the United States and the African Union to attend the US-Africa Leaders Summit,” said Ned Price, a National Security Council spokesman. “When the invitations were first issued, Egypt was suspended from the AU. AFP on Yahoo News
Egypt lets Mubarak-era politicians run for parliament
An Egyptian court annulled on Monday a previous ruling banning leaders of the National Democratic Party of former President Hosni Mubarak to run for parliamentary elections. The annulment came in response to an appeal made by the Mubarak-era politicians who were banned from running for parliament last May. Mubarak, who was ousted in February 2011 in response to mass demonstrations, is standing trial over allegations that include the killing of peaceful protesters during the January 25 uprising that toppled him. Aswat Masriya
Inside Egypt’s prisons: An investigation into some of the most notorious jails in the Arab world
An investigation into some of the most notorious jails in the Arab world. Warning: You may find some of the footage disturbing. Egypt’s jails were one of the most feared parts of former President Hosni Mubarak’s security apparatus – and was one of the reasons for the uprising that took place in 2011. But human rights groups are increasingly documenting a return to some of that period’s worst abuses. Since July 2013, thousands of Egyptians have been rounded up and jailed – many held without charge or judicial oversight, in prisons where they can face torture and mistreatment. Youtube – Al Jazeera
Swaziland: Africa’s last absolute monarchy
[...] Swaziland is Africa’s last absolute monarchy. King Mswati III has ruled the small country with its one million inhabitants since 1986. In 1973, Mswati’s father Sobhuza II banned all political parties and declared a state of emergency, which is still in place today. The king governs the country’s 55 administrative divisions, known as Tikhundla, through its chiefs. “A lot of the population in Swaziland are rural subsistent farming communities,” said Christopher Vandome of the UK-based think tank Chatham House. “There is a sense of distrust for political parties and political change. There is a support of the king and also of the Tikhundla system, which was developed as a system for community involvement,” Vandome told DW. Deutsche Welle
Busting up Somali pirate attacks one ship at a time
When they speed up to a lumbering ship, the main thing Somalian pirates do not want to see are armed guards. With fewer ships now being boarded in the Indian Ocean, security analysts are giving credit to the hiring of private guards who quickly display their defensive weapons on the deck of a ship as it gets scoped out by potential attackers in pirate skiffs. David C., a former British Marine commando who fought in Iraq and Sierra Leone, talked with the Monitor out his new job as a private security team leader for shipping that runs in sensitive waters off the Somalia coast. The interview was conducted for a Monitor Focus story on progress in dealing with piracy, found here. CS Monitor
Crime in Somalia: Pirates v economists
SHIPS navigating the lawless seas of the Gulf of Aden must keep a constant lookout for Somali pirates. The roots of Somalia’s maritime banditry lie in its desperately poor coastal villages, where the choice between fishing and piracy is an easy one for many. But whereas plenty of attention has been given to pirates’ own economic motives, less has been paid to the question of why influential local clans put up with the marauders in their midst. New research by an economist at King’s College London and a sociologist at the University of Oxford sheds some light on that issue—and suggests a way in which the pirates could be run aground for good. Anja Shortland and Federico Varese mapped the locations of hijacked ships between 2005 and 2012. They found that hijacked vessels were always anchored far away from regional trading routes, and that big ports were not prone to piracy. There is a reason for that. The Economist
Guinea to host regional Ebola centre
A regional centre is being set up in Conakry, Guinea, to coordinate the response to the worst ever outbreak of Ebola, in keeping with decisions from an international conference held last week in Ghana to discuss the epidemic. Parties involve consider the centre an urgent matter that should be completed in the coming weeks with assistance from the international community and the World Health Organisation. West African Health ministers and WHO experts met in Accra, Ghana, last week and resolved to raise $10 million to tame the spread of the disease for which there is no known cure. Africa Review