Obama nominates first US envoy to Somalia since 1991
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday nominated America’s first ambassador to Somalia since 1991, when ties soured as rival warlords took over the African nation. Katherine Dhanani, a long-time diplomat with deep experience of African affairs, will have to be confirmed by the Senate for the role in Somalia, where extremists have targeted government officials in a bloody campaign. The State Department welcomed the move as “historic” and said it “signals the deepening relationship” between the two countries after they launched a new era of diplomatic relations in 2013. AFP on Yahoo News
DRC Launches Offensive Against Rwandan Hutu Rebels
The Democratic Republic of Congo has launched a long-awaited offensive against Rwandan Hutu rebels based in the eastern DRC. Congolese military sources say the operation against the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) began Tuesday morning near the city of Uvira, in South Kivu province. Congo promised the offensive after the FDLR failed to meet a January 2 deadline to disarm. FDLR leaders were involved in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the group is responsible for numerous killings in Congolese territory. The Congolese army is reported to be operating without support from the U.N. peacekeeping mission, MONUSCO. MONUSCO was expected to help fight the FDLR but withdrew its cooperation after the DRC government refused to replace two generals leading the operation. VOA
At Least 27 Killed in Nigeria Blasts
Suicide bombers targeted two crowded bus stations in northern Nigeria Tuesday, killing at least 27 people in nearly daily violence in the embattled region. The first explosion, in the northeastern Nigerian town of Potiskum, killed at least 17 people on Tuesday. Witnesses said dozens more were wounded in Tuesday morning’s blast, which occurred as a man was trying to get on a bus that was preparing to depart for Kano. Authorities said it was unclear whether the bomber was wearing the explosives or had them hidden in luggage. Several hours later, two men blew themselves up at a crowded bus park in Kano, northern Nigeria’s biggest city, police said. There was no claim of responsibility for either blast, but both bore the hallmarks of militant group Boko Haram. VOA
American Missionary Kidnapped in Nigeria
Armed men kidnapped an American missionary from a school in Nigeria and have demanded the equivalent of almost $300,000 for her safe return, Nigerian police said Tuesday. The Rev. Phyllis Sortor, a missionary with the Free Methodist Church in Seattle, was identified by her church as the U.S. citizen abducted from the Hope Academy compound in Kogi state. A group of five armed men, three of whom had masks over their faces, jumped the walls of the compound and fired shots into the air at 10:30 a.m. local time Monday (4:30 a.m. ET), Kogi Police Commissioner Adeyemi Ogunjemilusi said. Time
Why female suicide bombers are Boko Haram’s weapon of choice
On Sunday, February 22, a seven-year-old girl in the northeastern Nigerian town of Potiskum was stopped by suspicious security guards and vigilantes as she tried to enter a busy market. The girl was young, all alone, and had no business entering the market, a local vigilante leader told the UK daily, the Guardian. But that did not stop her. Minutes later, she tried to slip under the ropes a few metres away from the market entrance. That’s when the explosives strapped on the seven-year-old detonated. At least six people, including the suicide bomber, were killed. Sunday’s suicide bombing was the latest in a string of attacks by women and girls in Nigeria. A week earlier, a female suicide bomber attacked a crowded bus station in Damaturu, around 100 kilometres east of Potiskum, killing seven people and wounding 32 others. On January 10, a bomb exploded at a market in Maiduguri, capital of the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno, leaving 20 dead and 18 wounded. France 24
West Africa at a turning point in the fight against Boko Haram?
“Each time one of us is attacked, all of us are being attacked”, Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou told reporters in the country’s capital Niamey. Togolese president Faure Gnassingbé and Benin’s president Thomas Yaya Boni visited Niger on Tuesday (24.02.2015) after militants attacked the Nigerien town of Diffa in southeastern Niger in early February, which lead to protests in Niamey. The two leaders voiced their solidarity with countries affected by the insurgency. Benin’s president also declared that the need to fight Boko Haram wasclear and was not up for discussion – it was a serious issue that needed to be addressed. The African Union (AU) mandate to fight Boko Haram combines the forces of Nigeria and its neighboring countries, Chad, Cameroon, Benin and Niger, which have pledged 8,700 troops towards the regional effort against the group. Deutsche Welle
Internal politics hampering Nigeria’s Boko Haram fight
Internal politics within Nigeria is one of the reasons the country is failing to deal with terror group Boko Haram, a Nigerian researcher and international law expert said on Tuesday. “Tied to the politics is the internal power struggle between the north and south of Nigeria… who controls the oil wealth of Nigeria,” University of Johannesburg post-doctoral fellow Dr John-Mark Iyi told reporters ahead of a conference on Boko Haram and international law. “It affects how the president responds to Boko Haram and explains why his response here and there has been questionable.” Boko Haram made headlines last year when it kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in April. The girls have never been found, despite claims by the government that they would be returned. News 24
Africa is new ‘El Dorado of espionage’, leaked intelligence files reveal
Africa emerges as the 21st century theatre of espionage, with South Africa as its gateway, in the cache of secret intelligence documents and cables seen by the Guardian. “Africa is now the El Dorado of espionage,” said one serving foreign intelligence officer. The continent has increasingly become the focus of international spying as the battle for its resources has intensified, China’s economic role has grown dramatically, and the US and other western states have rapidly expanded their military presence and operations in a new international struggle for Africa. With South Africa a regional powerhouse and communications hub, Pretoria has become a centre of the continent’s new Great Game, intelligence officials say, and a target of global espionage. The leaked documents obtained by al-Jazeera and shared with the Guardian contain the names of 78 foreign spies working in Pretoria, along with their photographs, addresses and mobile phone numbers – as well as 65 foreign intelligence agents identified by the South Africans as working undercover. Among the countries sending spies are the US, India, Britain and Senegal. The Guardian
Inside the battle for intelligence in South Africa
South Africa’s spies are no strangers to scandal, but the leaking to Al Jazeera of hundreds of their secret documents puts the State Security Agency (SSA) under more scrutiny than ever. Many of the leaked cables come from friendly agencies such as Israel’s Mossad, Russia’s FSB and Britain’s MI6, which are likely to see the breach as a violation of the trust between intelligence services, posing questions about the reliability of the South African service. “The State Security Agency has now become a state within a state beyond effective scrutiny and oversight of parliament,” according South Africa’s shadow defence minister David Maynier. Al Jazeera
Spy Cables expose S Africa’s alarming security failings
South African government and security agencies have left secrets exposed at every level and foreign spies have access to all areas of government, according to Intelligence documents obtained by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit. A secret security assessment by South African intelligence says foreign espionage is booming, with more than 140 foreign spies estimated to be operating in South Africa – and that the South African state is doing a poor job of protecting itself. They are thought to have gained access to government departments, ministries and “even the presidency” and are suspected of breaking into nuclear power plants, stealing military blueprints and hacking computers. The report slams poor security awareness among civil servants, who regularly failing to observe the most basic procedures, leaving classified information unlocked and failing to adequately vet new recruits. Al Jazeera
US makes UN push for South Sudan sanctions
The United States on Tuesday presented a UN draft resolution on imposing sanctions in South Sudan where warring factions have repeatedly failed to abide by agreements to end 14 months of war. The measure was submitted to the Security Council a day after Ethiopia opened a new round of negotiations between the warring sides that were billed as a final opportunity to reach a settlement. Under the resolution, the Security Council could impose targeted sanctions such as a global travel ban and an assets freeze on individuals who are deemed a threat to the stability of South Sudan. AFP on Yahoo News
Libya lawmakers ‘create army chief post for Haftar’
Libya’s internationally recognised parliament created a new army chief post on Tuesday, with a lawmaker and state media saying the job will go to a once retired general fighting to eradicate Islamist forces. “The chamber (of deputies) adopted today a law regarding the general leadership of the Libyan army,” calling on parliament speaker Aguila Salah Issa to name a chief, MP Issa al-Aribi told AFP. Another MP said the law was adopted to “legitimise” General Khalifa Haftar, who calls himself chief of the Libyan National Army, and that he would be formally named in the “coming hours.” AFP on Yahoo News
Militants, migrants and the Med: Europe’s Libya problem
Islamic State militants in Libya have vowed to attack Europe. Meanwhile, boatloads of migrants flee the collapsing state for European shores. Could the Mediterranean migration mask an influx of militants? Italy and Egypt have warned that Islamic State (IS) militants could hide among thousands of migrants rescued by European patrols. Both countries are troubled by the situation in Libya and have an interest in influencing it. However, neither has given any evidence to support its warnings. The migrants are mostly from Syria and sub-Saharan Africa. The idea that they pose a threat evokes a vicious logic at odds with humanitarian imperatives: refugees bring conflict, as conflict breeds refugees. BBC
The Guardian view on Libya: more diplomacy, not bombs, required
If the globe can be divided, as some analysts say, between the world of order and the world of disorder, then Libya certainly stands as a daunting example of the latter. The world of disorder is that of failed states and territories where a vacuum of authority has led to chaos, often violence and civil war. It is the ideal terrain for sectarian terrorist groups. Libya is becoming just such a place, and right on Europe’s doorstep. Warring factions, some of which have decided to take up the Islamic State franchise, have for months been trying to carve up this vast country and its oil resources. This is certainly not what Libya was meant to become after the overthrow of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. It is not what David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy had in mind when they visited Tripoli in the aftermath of the UN-sanctioned European-led Nato intervention, whose initial aim was to prevent a mass slaughter in the city of Benghazi. Gaddafi had promised a “river of blood” as he attempted to crush an Arab-spring-inspired uprising against his rule. The Guardian
Egypt’s Sisi widens anti-terror campaign
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has signed off on an anti-terrorism law that gives authorities more sweeping powers to ban groups on charges ranging from harming national unity to disrupting public order. The move, announced in the official Gazette on Tuesday, is likely to increase concern among rights groups over the government clawing back freedoms gained after the 2011 uprising that ended a three-decade autocracy under Hosni Mubarak. Authorities have cracked down hard on the Islamist, secular and liberal opposition alike since then army chief Sisi toppled elected Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule. The new law comes on the back of a brutal government crackdown targeting Islamist and secular dissidents that has left hundreds dead and thousands imprisoned. Al Arabiya
Egypt Mubarak-era ministers Adly and Nazif acquitted
A court in Egypt has cleared former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly of corruption charges at a retrial. The two men were accused of illegally profiteering from a deal with a German firm to import vehicle number plates. They were given prison sentences after being found guilty at their original trial in 2011, following the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak. But their convictions were overturned by an appeals court in 2013. In recent months, a number of Mubarak-era officials have secured acquittals in court cases. BBC
Egypt: : Discrimination by Law
In November 2013, a Thomson Reuters Foundation survey ranked Egypt as the worst of 22 Arab states with regards to women’s rights. Several people argued that any country strictly following Islamic laws should rank lower, because Egypt and many other Arab and Muslim countries are not strict in following Islamic Sharia (religious laws), like in cutting off the hand of a thief, for example. However, Egypt – along with most Muslim countries – incorporates a list of laws based on Islamic Sharia. Some of these are indisputable Sharia laws while others are based on individual interpretations, and both are indeed discriminatory. Suffice to say that in the second highest ranking Arab state in the survey, Oman, women inherit 50 percent of what men do, a man can divorce his wife for any reason while a woman needs grounds to file for divorce, and there are no laws against female genital mutilation. The starkest examples of sexist laws in Arab and Muslim countries come in the personal status laws. IPS
Algeria to assemble 200 T-90 tanks
Algeria has signed a contract for the license assembly of around 200 T-90 main battle tanks with Russian arms exporting firm Rosoboronexport. According to Moscow Defence Brief, the deal, signed last year, is worth around $1 billion. Russian business newspaper Vedomosti, quoting defence sources, on Friday said that this follows on a contract for the delivery of 185 T-90S tanks, delivered between 2006 and 2008 in a deal worth $1 billion. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), another 120 T-90S tanks were delivered between 2012 and 2013 under a 2011 deal worth $470 million. The T-90 is a modernised version of the T-72, but although developed from the T-72, it uses a 125 mm 2A46 smoothbore tank gun, a new engine, and thermal sights. Standard protective measures include a blend of steel, composite armour, and Kontakt-5 explosive-reactive armour, laser warning receivers, Nakidka camouflage and the Shtora infrared anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) jamming system. DefenseWeb
Tunisia arrests about 100 militant suspects, signs of Islamic State influence
Tunisia arrested about 100 suspected Islamist militants in the last three days, some of whom were preparing attacks, officials said on Tuesday, and published video footage showing evidence of an Islamic State influence on some of those detained. Tunisia is waging a campaign against hardline Islamist groups who emerged in the country during its transition to democracy after the 2011 uprising against autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali. News of the arrests comes one week after four Tunisian policemen were killed by militants in the central region of Kasserine, close to the Algerian border. “In the past three days we foiled terrorist operations and arrested about 100 jihadist elements,” Mohamed Ali Aroui, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said. Reuters
‘We stayed, you didn’t': Post-conflict Africa grapples with tensions of returnees from the diaspora
Somalia’s parliament just approved a new parliament, a crucial step on the road to voting on a new constitution and presidential elections scheduled for 2016. A key role of the new cabinet will be keeping the Somali remittances lifeline flowing, as California-based Merchant Bank , one of the USA’s few banks still providing services to money transfer companies has said it would stop transacting with remittance companies, which cannot legally expatriate funds on a large scale without the assistance of a commercial bank. The decision comes as tough new anti-money laundering legislation in the US makes banks legally responsible for money laundering activities enabled by its services, even if the bank has no complicity in or knowledge of those activities. Mail and Guardian
Burundi Security Sector Reform
Nicole Ball, a leading scholar of security sector reform (SSR) processes, reflects on the successes and lessons learned from Burundi’s Security Sector Development program. The program is noteworthy for its integration of governance considerations into the rebuilding of the Burundian security sector. While still a work in progress, the program also represents one of the few successful models from which other SSR initiatives can draw. Africa Center for Strategic Studies
Pushing the reset button on Lesotho’s democracy
On Saturday 28 February, the people of Lesotho will head to the polls. The national election is being held two years earlier than originally planned – sadly not because citizens of the mountain kingdom are so eager to exercise their democratic privileges, but because their democracy is failing and urgently needs a fresh start. Tensions that had been simmering within the ruling coalition exploded into the open in August last year, when a component of the army – under renegade Lieutenant-General Tlali Kamoli – forcibly occupied police stations in Maseru, killing one policeman in the process. Fearing a coup, and for his own life, Prime Minister Thomas Thabane fled across the border into South Africa. Kamoli is now in exile as part of a Southern African Development Community (SADC) deal, along with his would-be successor and the police chief. ISS
Togo presidential election to be held on April 15: government
Togo’s presidential election will be held on April 15, the government said on Tuesday, the eve of a ruling party conference at which incumbent Faure Gnassingbe is expected to be selected as candidate. The Council of Ministers, sitting in Pya, 440 kilometres (275 miles) north of the capital, Lome, announced in a statement that “the electorate is called for the presidential election on April 15, 2015″. Gnassingbe, in power for the last 10 years, is expected to be chosen to run for a third term of office when his ruling Union for the Republic (Unir) party meets on Wednesday. Some 700 delegates are expected at the convention, where Gnassingbe, who took over after the death of his father in 2005, is expected to be widely considered among party supporters as the only choice. AFP on Yahoo News
Tens of thousands flee new CAR violence
Surging violence in the Central African Republic has forced tens of thousands to flee their homes in recent weeks to escape killings, rape and pillaging by militias, the United Nations said Tuesday. Since the beginning of the year, some 30 000 people have left their homes and found refuge within CAR, while more than 20 000 others have flooded into neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo since December, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said. “There is just total lawlessness, and the civilian population is being caught in the middle,” agency spokeswoman Karin de Gruijl told reporters in Geneva. The exodus is only the latest example of the instability and violence that has long rocked CAR. News 24
The card aiming to end Nigeria’s fraud problem
Nigeria has a bad reputation when it comes to fraud. “Dear Friend” emails originating from the country – also known as 419 scams – are among the most notorious in the world, with statistics from Ultrascan AGI suggesting losses from such schemes totalled $12.7bn (£8.2bn) in 2013. And the number of scams is growing by 5% each year. “Nigeria certainly has a problem,” says Cormac Herley, principal researcher at Microsoft Research, who has looked in detail at 419 scams. “[The country has] become associated with a particular form of scam that’s very visible and known to everyone who receives those emails.” However, identity fraud is also a serious problem. BBC
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