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.
Pentagon Says It Hit Its Target, but Did It Kill al-Shabab’s Leader?
Is the US airstrike in Somalia the final attack on al-Shabab?
Ruthless leader aims to extend reach of Al-Shabaab, eyes the West
Ahmed Abdi Godane: Al-Shabab’s Somali leader
Pentagon set to open second drone base in Niger as it expands operations in Africa
Several UN peacekeepers killed in Mali explosion
Obama Urges West Africans to Take Ebola Precautions (video)
Ebola kills 31 in DRC, says WHO
Human trial of experimental Ebola vaccine begins this week
MSF calls for military medics to help tackle West Africa Ebola
Lesotho PM set to deal with ‘renegade general’
Fear prevails on Lesotho’s streets
Police Abandon Posts in Lesotho, Fear for Lives
Namibia slipping into endemic corruption
Corruption ‘impoverishes and kills millions’
Who Are You Calling Corrupt? Good Governance Begins at Home
Witness protection: the missing cornerstone in Africa’s criminal justice systems
Libyan Militias Seize Control of Capital as Chaos Rises
Zambia: Kabimba dismissal bolsters Sata, but President remains silent and unseen
Opinion: Africans’ Land Rights at Risk as New Agricultural Trend Sweeps Continent
US to allow more South Sudanese citizens to live and work legally
Sinai blast kills 11 Egyptian police officers
Taking on Africa’s armed groups
Sudan expels Iranian diplomats and closes cultural centres
A thriller writer’s challenge: Make U.S. policy in Africa into a page turner
####
Pentagon Says It Hit Its Target, but Did It Kill al-Shabab’s Leader? U.S. officials are assessing whether an airstrike in Somalia killed the leader of the al-Shabab terrorist group, a potentially significant blow to the al Qaeda affiliate responsible for a wave of bloody attacks across Africa. The officials confirmed Tuesday, Sept. 2, that the target of Monday’s attack was Ahmed Abdi Godane, al-Shabab’s leader, but said the Pentagon is still assessing whether Godane had actually been killed. The United States and close allies like Israel have previously touted the killings of other top militants, only to later discover that the targets had escaped unscathed. U.S. special operations forces, “working from actionable intelligence” and using manned and unmanned aircraft, along with Hellfire missiles and laser-guided munitions, destroyed an encampment and a vehicle in south central Somalia, the Pentagon’s press secretary, Rear Adm. John Kirby, told reporters in a briefing at the Pentagon. No U.S. troops were on the ground in Somalia before or after the strike, he added. “We certainly believe that we hit what we were aiming at,” Kirby said, but cautioned that he "wouldn’t get into assessing the effectiveness right now. Foreign Policy Is the US airstrike in Somalia the final attack on al-Shabab? [...] But even Godane’s death wouldn’t mean the militia is defeated, says Annette Weber, Somalia expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), adding they have proven to be quite versatile over the past years. “They were always prepared to adapt their military tactics, from urban fighting in Mogadishu and control over larger territories outside of the city to the return to guerilla fighting.” The militia still has a relatively large sphere of influence even though it was swept out of the capital by AU troops in 2011, she says. “The idea of al-Shabab is much greater than a few hundred or thousand fighters in southern Somalia”, Weber told DW. But simply taking control of al-Shabab’s territory is not going to be the end of the group, warns Rashi Abdi – a security analyst and Somalia expert based in Nairobi – even if the present offensive is the most intense against their strongholds in the south so far. “It has deep roots in Somali society in many places,” Deutsche Welle Ruthless leader aims to extend reach of Al-Shabaab, eyes the West He is merciless toward opponents, secretive to the point of being a recluse and a true believer in the cause of global jihad. And from his hideout somewhere in southern Somalia, Mukhtar Abu Zubayr, the emir of Al-Shabaab, has planned numerous terror attacks, including the deadliest in Kenya since the U.S. Embassy bombing in 1998. Zubayr, who is also known as Ahmed Abdi Godane, already has a price on his head. In 2012, the U.S. State Department authorized a reward of up to $7 million for information on his whereabouts. But he has 15 years on his terror resume, and according to information provided by a well-placed source in Mogadishu who has extensive knowledge of Al-Shabaab, he “is ruthlessly eliminating real and imagined rivals” within the group. CNN Ahmed Abdi Godane: Al-Shabab’s Somali leader A reclusive figure with a love of poetry, Ahmed Abdi Godane became a feared jihadist, running assassination and bomb squads in Somalia. He rose to the helm of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group in 2008 after a US air strike killed his predecessor Aden Hashi Ayro in a remote village in southern Somalia. Mr Godane’s ascent to power surprised some observers as he came from the breakaway northern region of Somaliland. “His rise to power within al-Shabab is unparalleled and in many ways counterintuitive in the history of Somalia’s political and military formations,” Rashid Abdi, an East Africa analyst who specialises on al-Shabab, told the BBC. BBC Pentagon set to open second drone base in Niger as it expands operations in Africa The Pentagon is preparing to open a drone base in one of the remotest places on Earth: an ancient caravan crossroads in the middle of the Sahara. After months of negotiations, the government of Niger, a landlocked West African nation, has authorized the U.S. military to fly unarmed drones from the mud-walled desert city of Agadez, according to Nigerien and U.S. officials. The previously undisclosed decision gives the Pentagon another surveillance hub — its second in Niger and third in the region — to track Islamist fighters who have destabilized parts of North and West Africa. It also advances a little-publicized U.S. strategy to tackle counterterrorism threats alongside France, the former colonial power in that part of the continent. The Washington Post Several UN peacekeepers killed in Mali explosion At least four UN peacekeepers were killed and 15 others wounded when their convoy hit a mine in northern Mali on Tuesday, a spokesman said. The group of Chadian peacekeepers was returning from the embattled town of Kidal when they struck a mine about 20 miles (30 kilometers) outside the city, said Olivier Salgado, a spokesman for the force. Six of those hurt are seriously wounded, he said. Salgado did not speculate on who was behind the attack, the largest in months. But the al Qaeda group operating in the country recently has taken responsibility for several recent attacks on UN peacekeepers. Kidal is also the home of a simmering revolt by Tuareg separatist movement. France 24 Obama Urges West Africans to Take Ebola Precautions (video) President Barack Obama has joined the fight against Ebola, recording a message for West Africans on how to avoid and treat the deadly disease. In a video released by the White House Tuesday, President Obama warns people in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone not to touch the blood, sweat or other body fluids of Ebola patients, and to avoid contaminated items such as used needles. He warned that those killed by the disease remain contagious. “When burying someone who has died from this terrible disease, it’s important to not directly touch their body. You can respect your traditions and honor your loved ones without risking the lives of the living,” Obama said. VOA Ebola kills 31 in DRC, says WHO An outbreak of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 31 people and the epidemic remains contained in a remote north-western region, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Tuesday. “There are now 31 deaths,” Eugene Kambambi, the WHO’s head of communication in DR Congo, told AFP, citing Congolese authorities and stressing that the epidemic “remains contained” in an area around 800km north of the capital Kinshasa. Health officials had previously given a death toll of 13 people from the lethal haemorrhagic fever since 11 August around the isolated town of Boende, surrounded by dense tropical forest in Equateur province. News 24 Human trial of experimental Ebola vaccine begins this week A highly anticipated test of an experimental Ebola vaccine will begin this week at the National Institutes of Health, amid mounting anxiety about the spread of the deadly virus in West Africa. After an expedited review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, researchers were given the green light to begin what’s called a human safety trial, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. It will be the first test of this type of Ebola vaccine in humans. The experimental vaccine, developed by the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline and the NIAID, will first be given to three healthy human volunteers to see if they suffer any adverse effects. If deemed safe, it will then be given to another small group of volunteers, aged 18 to 50, to see if it produces a strong immune response to the virus. All will be monitored closely for side effects. CNN MSF calls for military medics to help tackle West Africa Ebola World leaders must immediately deploy civilian and military medical teams to fight the world’s biggest outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, the head of an international medical charity said in New York on Tuesday. The international response has so far relied on overstretched health ministries and nongovernmental organisations to tackle the exceptionally large outbreak of the disease, Medecins sans Frontieres President Joanne Liu told U.N. member states at their New York headquarters. Liu accused world leaders of “failing to come to grips with this transnational threat,” and said they had “essentially joined a global coalition of inaction,” despite the World Health Organisation’s Aug. 8 announcement that the epidemic constituted a ‘public health emergency of international concern.’ Reuters Lesotho PM set to deal with ‘renegade general’ Lesotho’s prime minister is set to return home on Tuesday after three days in exile in neighbouring South Africa, as regional mediators seek to reinstall him to power after an apparent coup. “We are going home now,” Samonyane Ntsekele, an advisor to Prime Minister Tom Thabane, said from Pretoria, where Southern African Development Community (SADC) states brokered a deal to end the crisis. Thabane had fled across the border to South Africa before dawn on Saturday, as troops attacked key police installations and surrounded his official residence. News 24 Fear prevails on Lesotho’s streets The fragile coalition government in Lesotho, a tiny landlocked southern African state of two million people, has entered a precarious and volatile phase. Following an alleged coup attempted on Saturday, confusion persists and fear pervades on the streets of Maseru, the capital. At about 2am on Saturday, soldiers reportedly attacked several police stations in Maseru, and stormed Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s residence. The army denied it was a coup attempt and said the move was part of an operation to disarm police who were preparing to provide weapons to political parties critical of Thabane’s rule. Al Jazeera Police Abandon Posts in Lesotho, Fear for Lives Police in Lesotho have been told to abandon their posts and not wear uniforms to avoid being targeted in attacks in the kingdom’s continuing power vacuum, an official said Tuesday. At least one policeman was killed when the military disarmed police stations on Saturday. Radios were also jammed in what the prime minister said was a clear coup attempt in the country of about 2 million people. The military said they merely acted on information that police would be arming demonstrators in a political protest. Prime Minister Thomas Thabane fled to South Africa, where he has been meeting with regional leaders. It is not yet clear when he will return to Lesotho, but the streets are unprotected by police until a resolution is found. AP on ABC News Namibia slipping into endemic corruption Looking out through the boardroom windows of the Namibian Anti-Corruption Commission’s gleaming head office, its director Paulus Noa admitted that legal loopholes are sometimes abused but told Al Jazeera that many graft cases filed were in fact bogus. High-level corruption cases have been reported by local media, he said, but a lack of evidence is making it difficult for Noa to convict the alleged culprits, he said. “There’s a lot of talk, but many times we find that people making allegations are just being envious … because someone is driving a new car,” he said dismissively. Many of the news reports detailing allegations of high-level corruption, influence-peddling, and mismanagement were either misinformed or the result of hidden agendas, he told Al Jazeera. Al jazeera Corruption ‘impoverishes and kills millions’ An estimated $1tn (£600bn) a year is being taken out of poor countries and millions of lives are lost because of corruption, according to campaigners. A report by the anti-poverty organisation One says much of the progress made over the past two decades in tackling extreme poverty has been put at risk by corruption and crime. Corrupt activities include the use of phantom firms and money laundering. The report blames corruption for 3.6 million deaths every year. If action were taken to end secrecy that allows corruption to thrive – and if the recovered revenues were invested in health – the group calculates that many deaths could be prevented in low-income countries. BBC Who Are You Calling Corrupt? Good Governance Begins at Home In July, I wrote about some research that Health Poverty Action published in collaboration with 12 other UK and African NGOs. This research compared Africa’s annual financial losses to the rest of the world, in comparison with aid and other resources flowing in. It shows that Africa has a net loss of $58 billion each year, a large part of which is a direct result of policies and practices in donor countries. My article and the wider report argued that this provides a challenge to the deeply entrenched narrative in the UK and other donor countries about the way that they ‘aid’ Africa. The article and the overall work has provoked much feedback. Most of it positive. It’s been called ‘brave’, ‘much needed’ and ‘vital’. We’ve also faced criticism, including accusations by both African and European readers that we’ve overlooked corruption in Africa to point the finger solely at donor countries. Think Africa Press Witness protection: the missing cornerstone in Africa’s criminal justice systems The successful prosecution of crimes largely depends on securing reliable evidence, including the testimony of witnesses. When witnesses withdraw from proceedings due to intimidation or actual harm, securing convictions often becomes impossible. For this reason, the protection of witnesses remains a cornerstone to an effective criminal justice system. In Africa, witness protection is often sorely lacking, and progress towards formalised and functioning witness protection services has been slow. Challenges include statutory frameworks and policies that are weak or non-existent, under-investment in witness protection services, and the scarcity of relevant knowledge and skills among policymakers and law enforcement agencies. Among citizens, awareness of these issues also remains limited. These circumstances make it difficult to envisage how the rule of law may become a reality for African citizens. ISS Libyan Militias Seize Control of Capital as Chaos Rises [...] A little more than a week ago, the Misurata militia and its allies won a monthlong battle for control of the Tripoli airport, which had been controlled by the Zintan-based militias since the ouster of Colonel Qaddafi in 2011. The Zintani militias, which now include hundreds of former Qaddafi fighters, fled Tripoli. That left it in the hands of the Libya Dawn coalition, mainly the Misurata militia and its Islamist allies. That coalition has called for the return of the recently dissolved Parliament, based in Tripoli. It was widely perceived to be dominated by the coalition’s political allies. Now a small reconvened rump that backs Libya Dawn has sought to name its own prime minister, Omar el Hassi, a veteran of an Islamist insurgency under Colonel Qaddafi. Libya Dawn supporters say the newly elected Parliament was suspect because it had chosen to meet in Tobruk, under the control of General Hifter. The New York Times Zambia: Kabimba dismissal bolsters Sata, but President remains silent and unseen In a shock move, the Zambian President Michael Sata last week dismissed one of his closest lieutenants and long-time confidante, the Justice Minister Wynter Kabimba (he had also been the General-Secretary of the governing Patriotic Front.) He was removed from both positions with immediate effect. No reasons were assigned. The statement was brief and said only that his cabinet appointment had been “revoked” and that he had been relieved of his party position too. Since he was only a nominated member it also means that he has lost his seat in parliament. Until it happened, few would have believed it possible that Mr. Sata would discard his long-time “fixer” so swiftly and thoroughly. The two men were close and historically it has been more usual for the president to spring to his defence. African Arguments Opinion: Africans’ Land Rights at Risk as New Agricultural Trend Sweeps Continent Agriculture in Africa is in urgent need of investment. Nearly 550 million people there are dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods, while half of the total population on the continent live in rural areas. The adoption of a framework called the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) by Africa’s leaders in 2003 confirmed that agriculture is crucial to the continent’s development prospects. African governments recently reiterated this commitment at the Malabo Summit in Guinea during June of this year. After decades of underinvestment, African governments are now looking for new ways to mobilise funding for the sector and to deliver new technology and skills to farmers. Private sector actors are also looking for opportunities within emerging markets in Africa. IPS US to allow more South Sudanese citizens to live and work legally The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is set to announce that citizens of South Sudan who were present in the United States on or before September 2, 2014 will be allowed to apply for work permits under a special program known as Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Previously only those who entered the US on or before to November 3, 2011 were allowed to apply. The redesignation of South Sudan for TPS is effective November 3, 2014, and will remain in effect through May 2, 2016, a period of 18 months. Sudan Tribune Sinai blast kills 11 Egyptian police officers 11 Egyptian policemen were killed when a roadside bomb blast struck their armoured vehicle in the restive Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday, security officials said. Militants have claimed responsibility for a string of attacks that have killed scores of policemen and soldiers, mostly in north Sinai, since the army overthrew president Mohamed Morsi in July last year. An officer and 10 conscripts were killed in the attack that took place on a road leading to the town of Rafah bordering the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Four conscripts were wounded. The Egyptian army has launched a huge operation in the peninsula over the past 12 months. They claim to have killed scores of militants, although locals have accused soldiers of targeting civilians and damaging property including mosques. Middle East Eye Taking on Africa’s armed groups Presidents and prime ministers in Africa have been facing up to the threat of armed groups at home and beyond their borders. Leaders held a summit in Kenya’s capital Nairobi to agree a response to end what they called a “growing extremist threat”. The presidents of Kenya, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda were among those attending the meeting, along with the prime ministers of Namibia and Algeria. Hours before it started, the US carried out air raids against al-Shabab targets in Somalia. The Chadian president, Idriss Deby, told the conference: “Terrorism and organised crime compels us to take action.” Al Jazeera Sudan expels Iranian diplomats and closes cultural centres Sudan has closed all Iranian cultural centres in the country and expelled the cultural attache and other diplomats, a government source has said, without giving an explanation for the move. Sudanese media speculated that the expulsions were linked to government concerns that Iranian officials were promoting Shia Islam in the largely Sunni country, but there was no confirmation from authorities. Sudan, isolated by UN and western sanctions partly linked to its conflict in Darfur, has sought allies and donors across the sectarian divides in the Middle East and further afield. That has often left it balancing competing interests and loyalties in the complex web of regional rivalries. The Guardian A thriller writer’s challenge: Make U.S. policy in Africa into a page turner As he began writing his third book on U.S.-Africa policy and development, Todd Moss, a former State Department official, realized something. It would be boring. Just another text for the shelves of foreign-policy wonks, PhDs and think tank denizens like himself. “I decided, ‘Let me try a novel,’ ” Moss recalls. “I did it for fun. . . . I really did it with very low expectations.” After three years, Moss, 44, birthed “The Golden Hour,” a thriller partly informed by his 18 months in the George W. Bush administration as the deputy assistant secretary of state and chief U.S. diplomat in West Africa. Moss packed his novel with episodes of bureaucratic squabbling among the CIA, the Department of Defense and various fiefs within the State Department. Thrilled yet? But Moss also had the good narrative sense to throw in rampaging Islamic radicals, a military coup in Mali (a vital U.S. counterterrorism ally) and a damsel in distress — specifically a U.S. senator’s daughter kidnapped from her Mali posting as a Peace Corps volunteer. The interagency intrigues actually end up heightening the stakes as the clock ticks down. The Washington Post