africom related news clips 10 may 2011

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United States Africa CommandPublic Affairs Office10 May 2011

USAFRICOM - related news stories

TOP NEWS RELATED TO U.S. AFRICA COMMAND AND AFRICA

AFRICOM's Libyan Expedition (Foreign Affairs)(Libya) Until Operation Odyssey Dawn began in Libya on March 19, U.S. AfricaCommand -- the United States· newest combatant command, established in October2008 -- was largely untested. There was reason to worry that AFRICOM, which would

lead the operation, was too green, and its mandate too soft, for it to perform up to U.S.standards.

Common interests, challenges discussed at African Air Chiefs Conference (Air ForcesAfrica)(Pan-Africa) Shared interests and common challenges topped discussions betweenAfrican air chiefs from 24 nations and their U.S. counterparts during the 2011 AfricanAir Chiefs Conference April 26 through 28 here.

Ghost of Osama Haunts East Africa - Will U.S. Cash in Death Dividend? (The EastAfrican)(East Africa) As the world celebrated the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden inPakistan Sunday by US Special Forces, East Africa stared at a possible new politicalnightmare.

With Help From NATO, Libyan Rebels Gain Ground (NYT)(Libya) Rebel fighters made significant gains Monday against forces loyal to Col.Muammar el-Qaddafi in both the western and eastern areas of the country, in the firstfaint signs that NATO airstrikes may be starting to strain the government forces.

Aid agencies: Refugee boat carrying hundreds sank off Libyan coast (Washington

Post)(Libya) A boat packed with hundreds of refugees trying to flee Libya sank just off thecoast near Tripoli late last week, the United Nations· refugee agency and theInternational Organization for Migration said Monday.

UN Humanitarian Chief: Libyan Civilians Under Fire, Face Widespread Shortages (VOA)



(Libya) The head of the United Nations humanitarian aid program said Monday thatLibya is facing widespread shortages and she called for a pause in the fighting in thatcountry to allow international aid agencies to address humanitarian concerns.

Libyan rebels meet in Abu Dhabi (Financial Times)

(Libya) Representatives of 25 town councils from the south and west of Libya travelledto Abu Dhabi in an attempt to outflank the Libyan leadership and demonstratesolidarity with rebels based in Benghazi.

Former Ivory Coast Leader Investigated (WSJ)(Ivory Coast) Switzerland's federal prosecutor has opened a criminal investigation intoalleged money laundering by the regime of former Ivory Coast President LaurentGbagbo, the first such move against any of the recently deposed Middle Eastern andAfrican leaders.

UN: Sudan's north, south to withdraw Abyei forces (AP)(Sudan) The United Nations says Sudan's north and south have agreed to withdraw all"unauthorized forces" from a contested border hotspot, where fears are rising that anew conflict could ignite as Southern Sudan prepares to become the world's newestcountry.

Total Cost of Piracy Menace Hits U.S.$12 Billion (Business Daily)(Somalia) The total cost of piracy in the Indian Ocean in 2010 - almost all of it by Somalipirates - is estimated to be between $7 billion (Sh560 billion) and $12 billion (Sh960billion), and could top $15 billion by 2015, according to analysts.

A Troubling Crackdown In Uganda (VOA)(Uganda) Rising prices for food and fuel have sparked protests in East Africa, taking adeadly turn in Uganda as authorities acted decisively to contain the demonstrations.Dubbed "walk to work" actions by opposition leaders to highlight the rising costs ofdriving, they have triggered violent clashes between protestors and police and soldiersin the capital, Kampala, and at least five other towns. Political rivalries are helping feedthe clashes, in which five people have been killed, more than 100 injured and hundredsmore jailed.

Tackling Africa's economic problems (BBC)(Pan-Africa) A Ugandan businessman and astronaut, he has a place on a flight of theVirgin Galactic programme. This sci-fi image of Africa perhaps seems counter-intuitive,but it represents a new confidence and a desire to re-brand the continent in the eyes ofthe world. Africa is experiencing growth rates that are exceeding the global average,and foreign direct investment has increased by more than 80% in the past decade.

UN News Service Africa Briefs



Full Articles on UN Websitey UN human rights staff discover mass graves in Ivorian city

y Sudan: UN welcomes agreement to withdraw forces from Abyei area

-------------------------------------------------------------------------UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Friday, May 13th; CSIS 1800 K Street, NW, WDC 20006WHAT: U.S. Trade Relations with Africa and Outlook for the AGOA ForumWHO: Ambassador Demetrios Marantis, Deputy United States Trade Representative;Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi, Former Minister of Trade and Industry, Republic of Kenya; JackEdlow, President of Edlow International, Co-Chair, Trade Advisory Committee onAfricaInfo: http://csis.org/event/us-trade-relations-africa-and-outlook-agoa-forum ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------FULL ARTICLE TEXT

AFRICOM's Libyan Expedition (Foreign Affairs)By JONATHAN STEVENSONMay 9, 2011Until Operation Odyssey Dawn began in Libya on March 19, U.S. Africa Command --the United States· newest combatant command, established in October 2008 -- waslargely untested. There was reason to worry that AFRICOM, which would lead theoperation, was too green, and its mandate too soft, for it to perform up to U.S.standards.

Yet in launching the U.S. intervention in Libya, AFRICOM, led by its commander,General Carter Ham, acquitted itself well. On the first day of the operation, itcoordinated the combat operations of 11 American warships and dozens of aircraft,fired 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles, and delivered 45 Joint Direct Attack Munitions toground targets. By March 23, AFRICOM-led coalition forces had steadily expanded theno-fly zone from northwest Libya and parts of central Libya to the entire coastline. Andon March 26, AFRICOM began coordinating operations to destroy armored vehicles,effectively (if not with specific intent) providing close air support to rebel forces.AFRICOM lost only one aircraft -- an F-15 fighter that crashed on March 22 due to amechanical malfunction -- and suffered no fatalities.

There was, however, political backlash to AFRICOM·s active fighting role in theconflict. Although the three African non-permanent members of the UN SecurityCouncil -- Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda -- had acquiesced to UN Resolution 1973,the bill that green-lighted the intervention, the African Union unequivocally opposed it.After the campaign began, the AU even tried to arrange a cease-fire, under whichLibyan leader Muammar al Qaddafi would have opened channels for humanitarian aid



and undertaken negotiations with the rebels but would also have been allowed to stayin power.

Qaddafi, of course, had been the driving force behind the creation of the AU, in 2002 (aneffort he hoped would revitalize his geopolitical relevance). Many African leaders, from

relatively enlightened ones such as Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to incorrigiblerogues like Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, could well view Operation OdysseyDawn as a harbinger of new liberal interventionism in Africa, and AFRICOM as itsprincipal instrument and a potential threat to regime security. Now, especially if NATOand the Obama administration eventually use ground troops to ensure Qaddafi·souster, as retired U.S. Army General James M. Dubik suggested it should in an April 25New York Times op-ed, AFRICOM will have a hard time reestablishing its bona fideswith African governments, which were fairly tenuous even before the Libyanintervention.

Although regaining African countries· trust will be difficult, it is not impossible.AFRICOM was created for relatively banal bureaucratic and planning reasons -- tobring U.S. military activities in Africa, which had been inefficiently divided amongthree existing commands (European Command, Central Command, and PacificCommand), under a single one. But an awkward Pentagon rollout seemed to suggestthat it would entail increasing the number of U.S. bases in the region and anintensification of military activity there. In particular, in 2007, the principal deputyundersecretary of defense for policy, Ryan Henry, noted that the Command ´wouldinvolve one small headquarters plus five 'regional integration teams' scattered aroundthe continent,µ and that ´AFRICOM would work closely with the European Union and

NATO.µ These remarks planted suspicions among African officials of the United States·´militarizationµ and ´recolonizationµ of the continent.

That perception seemed to jibe with the United States· unabashed interests: ensuringphysical and diplomatic access to African oil and gas, containing growing Islamicradicalization, and forestalling terrorist attacks on the United States -- the threat ofwhich loomed larger as al Qaeda established a franchise in North Africa (al Qaeda inthe Islamic Maghreb) and Somalia·s al Qaeda²linked al Shabab became increasinglyaggressive.

Until Operation Odyssey Dawn, however, AFRICOM had managed to ease Africa·sfears. The Pentagon located the command·s headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany --electing to end increasingly fraught efforts to find a continental headquarters -- andAFRICOM·s biggest sustained military effort had been the benign Africa PartnershipStation, a group of U.S. Navy ships dispatched for six months of the year to trainAfrican maritime forces. Its kinetic actions were limited to scattered counterterrorismefforts in Somalia. Even U.S. naval measures to thwart proliferation and Somali piracy,



Africa·s most conspicuous international security problem in recent years, were assignedto the battle-tested Central Command (CENTCOM).

The command·s sole ground presence in Africa was the 2,000 troop-strong Combined Joint Task Force²Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) in Djibouti, which operated in permissive

countries and through multilateral channels, and therefore constituted more of adiplomatic asset than a military one. And much of AFRICOM·s time was spentproviding technical and financial support to cooperative governments and helping tocoordinate training for the AU·s five regional Africa Standby Brigades -- which areintended eventually to become the continent·s peacekeeping and intervention forces.Though fitful, these efforts have borne fruit. They culminated in a two-weekpeacekeeping simulation held in October 2010 in Addis Ababa, which involved Africansecurity forces, AFRICOM, and European military forces. Retired Nigerian MajorGeneral Samaila Iliya, co-director of the exercise, acknowledged the urgent need for theAfrica Standby Force and deemed the exercise a success.

Although regaining African countries· trust will be difficult, it is not impossible. InAfrica as in Washington, the intervention in Libya is increasingly interpreted assignifying the Obama administration·s shift from a realist foreign policy to a moreidealist and interventionist one. And France·s significant military involvement in CoteD·Ivoire in April, after Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo·s refusal to step down frompower when he lost re-election triggered a bloody civil war, would tend to bolsterAfrican fears of neocolonialism. But influential members of Obama·s foreign-policyteam -- including Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (and his likely successor, currentCIA Director Leon Panetta), national security adviser Thomas Donilon, and deputy

national security adviser John Brennan -- still favor a realist approach. Theadministration should signal through White House and State Department policystatements that future humanitarian intervention is highly contingent on particulardiplomatic, military, and humanitarian circumstances, and that the Libyan interventionconstitutes neither the beginning of a trend nor a firm precedent. Secretary Gates struckthe right tone during an April 8 visit to Iraq, when he said, referring to the broadpolitical support for the Libya intervention, that ´it's hard for me to imagine those kindsof circumstances being replicated anyplace else.µ

Together with its post-Somalia reluctance to intervene in sub-Saharan Africa, the UnitedStates· firm resistance to any impulse to deploy even military advisers on the ground inLibya may also provide at least partial reassurance to African governments. Morebroadly, AFRICOM can minimize turbulence in its relationships with them by revertingafter the Libya operation to its training and support function -- and executing that betterthan ever. A larger budget would be required. Ramped up AFRICOM-assisted militaryexercises and planning programs would communicate a commitment to steadyoperational partnership. So would funding a long-term self-assessment of AFRICOM·sprograms -- something that a recent Government Accountability Office study found



that AFRICOM especially needed in order to serve the needs of its African partners.Moving AFRICOM·s headquarters from Germany to Georgia or South Carolina, as thePentagon has planned, might also reinforce a healthy sense of distance among Africans.In word as well as in deed, the idea should be to cast the Libyan operation not as amistake but as an exception.

----------------------Common interests, challenges discussed at African Air Chiefs Conference (Air ForcesAfrica)By Staff Sgt. Stefanie TorresMay 9, 2011ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Shared interests and common challenges topped discussionsbetween African air chiefs from 24 nations and their U.S. counterparts during the 2011African Air Chiefs Conference April 26 through 28 here.

The conference aims to foster communication and dialogue between regional and

multilateral partner nations facing common challenges, topics of security, partnershipprograms, and to improve air safety across Africa. It was co-hosted by officials at AirForces Africa (17th Air Force) and the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James A. Roy, spoke during the conference, both noting the importance of discussingissues that affect both U.S. and African air forces and how cooperation between nationscan benefit everyone.

"The future holds for us threats that have yet to be revealed, requirements and

challenges that have yet to materialize, and capabilities that have yet to be developed,"General Schwartz said. "For those who embrace the spirit of cooperation andadvancement, it also holds opportunities that are to be explored and shared.

"As airmen, we share a storied heritage and boldness that resulted in humankind takingto the skies, and throwing the door wide open to possibilities, bounded only by skyitself," he said.

The African air chiefs in attendance identified common challenges, such as lack ofresources and insufficient training in many of the technical fields related to air safetyand security.

AFAFRICA Commander Maj. Gen. Margaret Woodward discussed ways of betterleveraging existing resources through partnership with the Air Force as well as witheach other.

"I think it's interesting to note that these themes -- the themes we hear from you -- areidentical to the issues you would hear from the United States Air Force as well,"



General Woodward said. "Like every region of the world, Africa faces securitychallenges that are both unique to the continent ... and shared globally. We believe thatour only chance at truly confronting these challenges successfully is in partnership withyou."

One word that kept coming up during the conference was "trust." The venue providedan opportunity to build relationships and establish trust between counterparts, not onlyfrom neighboring countries, but within and across regions.

One way the U.S. works with African nations is through state-partnership programs.The program links U.S. Guard or reserve units to a partner African nation. Together, thepartner units conduct a range of activities that may include bilateral familiarization,medical-training exercises and leadership visits.

General Woodward said Air Forces Africa members, the air component command for

U.S. Africa Command, seek to partner with African nations to reach three commonobjectives: to contribute when asked, such as offering assistance for humanitarianmissions; to foster strategic relationships that strengthen stability and promoteinteroperability between militaries; and to provide the ability to respond to a crisis ofany kind.

"The bottom line is that these objectives help us focus on areas that provide the greatestopportunity to strengthen security force cooperation between our militaries," she said."Like AFRICOM, we listen and learn from you and your perspectives. We recognizewhat works in one country may not work in another, and we tailor our engagements

and operations according to your requirements."

More than 150 military and civilian aviation specialists attended, representing morethan 20 African air forces, as well as military and civilian aviation agencies andorganizations.-------------------------Ghost of Osama Haunts East Africa - Will U.S. Cash in Death Dividend? (The EastAfrican)By Charles Onyango-ObboMay 9, 2011Nairobi ³ As the world celebrated the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden inPakistan Sunday by US Special Forces, East Africa stared at a possible new politicalnightmare.

Even with Osama's death, most analysts agree that the Al Qaeda threat has not beenburied with him, because in the last years when he has been underground and unableto operate freely for fear that he would be killed or captured by the Americans, somepart of his loose terrorist network had drifted away and become even more fractured.



Osama though, according to US officials who have analysed materials taken from hishouse after he was shot dead, still remained a rallying figure, and was still able to planoperations and call Al Qaeda troops out of the trenches.

With Osama gone, and no one with his charisma in senior Al Qaeda ranks, hisinternational network is likely to disintegrate, and its regional affiliates will have to actto raise their profile and attract financial support and recruits.

The only way they can do this is by carrying out attacks.

The wider East and North Africa are likely to pay a high price as these old Al Qaedaaffiliates bolster their brand because these groups are most active in East Africa, theHorn, and North Africa.

The biggest and most active Al Qaeda associate in Africa is Al Shabaab in chaoticSomalia.

East African intelligence forces say they have foiled many Al Shabaab attacks, but in July 2010 it managed two deadly bomb attacks at venues in the Uganda capitalKampala, where fans were watching the World Cup final. Nearly 70 people were killed,and hundreds injured.

The Shabaab later said the attack was punishment for Uganda's interference in itspolitics.

Uganda, with Burundi, mans the African Union peace-keeping force in Somalia,Amisom.

Amisom has a decidedly aggressive policy in dealing with militants in Somalia.

The attacks on Uganda, though claimed by Al Shabaab in Somalia, were carried out bya cell that is based in Tanzania together with elements from Kenya, indicating that theorganisation has spread its tentacles around the region.

In addition, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who is wanted for the terrorist bomb attackson the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in August 2007, which killed 244people, is suspected to be hiding in Somalia.

Ethiopia and the US, meanwhile, have accused Eritrea of financing, training, andharbouring Somali terrorists, and of being Al Shabaab's patron.



After the US recently dropped Sudan from its list of countries backing terrorism, Eritreaenjoys the unique distinction of being the only African state sponsor of terrorism.

What makes Al Shabaab extremely dangerous is, as several reports have noted, whateven Al Qaeda itself considered to be the organisation's "lack of discipline".

This means that even Osama himself probably saw the Al Shabaab as an affiliate that islikely to attack and cause many deaths, just for the sake of announcing its presence,rather than to gain any strategic advantage or advance any cause.

The other notable Al Qaeda affiliates in Africa are Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb(AQIM), headquartered in Algeria (formerly the Salafist Group for Call and Combat).

Another group, Armed Islamic Group (AIG), is also based in Algeria.

Then there is the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group; and in Egypt the Islamic Jihadand the Abdullah Azzam Brigades.

Though their strength varies, put together they have left a chilling trail of killings overthe past 15 years in North and East Africa.

Though West Africa has witnessed some terrorist attacks, for some reason the regionand Southern Africa are not yet attractive destinations for the suicide bombers.

In addition to the need to mark out their territory and grab attention through new

attacks, terrorist groups in the region could feel emboldened if the US becomes contentwith having killed Osama and draws down on its counterterrorism partnership withEast Africa countries.

Many of the United States' overt counterterrorism efforts in Africa are aimed towardsmilitary assistance and surveillance, and security building.

At the continental level, its main programme is the Global Peace Operations Initiative(GPOI) whose African face is the African Contingency Operations Training andAssistance Programme (ACOTA).

Smaller regional programmes

This breaks down into smaller regional programmes: The Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Initiative (TSCTI); the Joint Task Force AZTEK SILENCE; and two touch onthe wider East Africa: The East African Counter-Terrorism Initiative (EACTI), and theCombined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA).



East Africa has attracted special interest from the international counter-terrorismcommunity because of its early links to transnational Islamist terrorism -- Sudan andSomalia have both served as training grounds and transit routes for Al Qaeda, and theagents who attacked the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were closely linked to cellsin Sudan and Somalia.

Established in June 2003 as a programme of the Department of State, EACTI providesstates in East Africa with military training to strengthen coastal, border, Customs,airport, and seaport security.

Under the East African Regional Strategic initiative, the American government hasspent $687 million over the past five years in Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda,Ethiopia and Tanzania helping the military and intelligence services in these countriesto boost their capacity.

The bulk of this money has gone to peacekeeping efforts in Somalia, which have so farattracted $495 million.

Kenya and Ethiopia have also been big beneficiaries of the military assistance, with theformer getting $58 million and the later $35 million over the past five years. Ugandaand Tanzania got $25.41 million and $8.5 million respectively.

Kenya's position

In the war against terror, Kenya has served as the centrepiece of American counter-

terrorism strategy as evidenced by the fact that it received $38 million or 78 per cent ofthe $49 million that has been spent since 2006.

This could account for Kenya's intelligence services' recent successes in help foiling amajor attack by Al Shabaab.

If the US strategy were to change to focus more attention on the Somalia crisis, Kenya,Tanzania's and Uganda's share of US military assistance budget is likely to rise.

This is to support both military capability and intelligence gathering in the region. Inthe period between 2009 and 2012, Kenya is expected to receive $3 billion of aid moneyfrom America, which is the largest share in Africa.

The bulk of this money is for security assistance, and fighting child mortality andHIV/Aids. Ethiopia, Sudan, and Nigeria are expected to get $2.5 billion each.

The monies poured into counter-terrorism, also enabled regional security agencies todeal with other transnational crimes like human trafficking, in addition to drugs.



Should the US decide to cash in its Osama-death dividend cheque, and divert itscounter-terrorism money to fix its debt-burdened economy at home, international crimesyndicates could increase their activities, leading to a more fragile situation in EastAfrica.

------------------------- With Help From NATO, Libyan Rebels Gain Ground (NYT)By C. J. CHIVERSMay 9, 2011QARYAT AZ ZURAYQ, Libya ³ Rebel fighters made significant gains Monday againstforces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in both the western and eastern areas of thecountry, in the first faint signs that NATO airstrikes may be starting to strain thegovernment forces.

In the besieged western city of Misurata hundreds of rebels broke through one of the

front lines late on Sunday, and by Monday afternoon were consolidating their positionon the ground a few miles to the city·s west.

The breakout of what had been nearly static lines came after NATO aircraft spent daysstriking positions and military equipment held by the Qaddafi forces, weakening themto the point that a ground attack was possible, the rebels said.

While not in itself a decisive shift for a city that remained besieged, the swift advance,made with few rebel casualties, carried both signs of rebel optimism and hints of theweakness of at least one frontline loyalist unit.

But more potential signs of loyalist weakness emerged in a battle near the eastern oiltown of Brega, where rebel fighters killed more than 36 Qaddafi soldiers and destroyedmore than 10 vehicles, according to a senior rebel military official, who requestedanonymity because he was not authorized to speak about military operations. Six rebelfighters died in the battle, the official said, adding that the rebel troops retreated eastfrom Brega after the attack on orders from NATO, presumably in advance of airstrikes.

While the rebels· tally of the dead could not be independently verified, if accurate itwould seem to represent ³ after the protracted battle for Tripoli Street in Misurata lastmonth ³ one of the largest tolls of Qaddafi soldiers killed in a single battle sinceFebruary. The battlefield success, if confirmed, might also signal a change in tactics ³or at least fortunes ³ for the reorganized Free Libya Forces, as the eastern fighters nowprefer to be called.

In an effort to prove their reach is nationwide, and not limited to eastern Libya, rebelleaders arranged a meeting Monday of 25 local council leaders, representing areas ofcentral, western and southern Libya. The leaders, meeting in Abu Dhabi, in the United



Arab Emirates, expressed their support for the uprising and their recognition of therebel National Transitional Council and its leader, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, Libya·s former justice minister.

Signs of an enemy in disarray were evident in Misurata as the rebels moved west ³

abandoned green uniforms, abandoned food and houses along the road with interiorsfull of human waste, as if the Qaddafi soldiers, under threat of air attack, had beenafraid to venture outside.

Inside the shattered ruins of one compound, a petting zoo and poultry-breeding center,the unburied body of a Qaddafi soldier, at least several days old, was sprawled facedown on the ground not far from a rotting ostrich, still in its cage.

The rebels had stopped in the afternoon just short of the town of Ad Dafniyah, wherethey took up positions with rifles and machine-gun trucks against a Qaddafi position

that blocked their way.

The Qaddafi soldiers raked the air over the rebels· heads with machine-gun fire anddropped mortar rounds, grenades from automatic launchers and rockets in the fieldand stands of trees around the rebels, to little effect. The rebels said they hadsurrounded a few holdout Qaddafi positions and would soon push on, to Ad Dafniyah.

In recent weeks, the siege of Misurata has been fought on four principal fronts ³ theone here is to the city·s west. The others include a wide and winding front line aroundthe airport, which the Qaddafi soldiers still occupy, and two to the east and southeast,

from where Qaddafi forces have been firing ground-to-ground rockets on the seaport,the city·s lifeline to the world.

The breakout in the west did not appear to have an immediate effect elsewhere. At thefront near the airport, a commander there said that his fighters were in a strongposition, but that he wanted them to move methodically because the Qaddafi soldiershad taken up strong defensive positions on both sides of the main road.

´Even now we could push them out,µ the commander said. ´But we are careful becausewe would lose many lives. So we will wait until we finish our plan.µ The commander, aformer lieutenant colonel in the Qaddafi military, asked that his name be withheld toprevent retaliation against his relatives elsewhere in Libya.

The area around the seaport and the city·s fuel terminal also remained under pressureon Monday.Late last week, the port was struck by ground-to-ground rockets that scattered landmines over part of the harbor. The fuel terminal was hit early Saturday by a separate



barrage of high-explosive Grad rockets, at least one of which ignited three storagetanks, causing a fire that still burned on Monday.

Hafed Makhlouf, the port·s supervisor, said late on Monday that the harbor had notbeen shelled in more than a day, and that the port was open. NATO warships had

helped by searching the channel with sonar, he said, and by assigning a minesweeper toclear the approach to the jetties at the harbor·s mouth.

´The situation for the moment is O.K.,µ Mr. Makhlouf said.

Two vessels ³ an aid ship and a fishing boat carrying rebel supplies ³ entered theharbor on Monday and tied off at its piers, the first to arrive there since last Wednesday.

A few minutes after Mr. Makhlouf spoke, three mortar or artillery rounds explodednearby ³ a reminder that no matter the success at the city·s western front, at the eastern

front the Qaddafi forces remained within range.

Later in the evening, more shells landed in the city, apparently fired from the vicinity ofthe airport. One of them struck a civilian neighborhood, wounding four women andtwo children.

Rebel fighters said the advance to the west was significant. On at least this front, theQaddafi forces were now outside of mortar range of the city, they said, andapproaching the edge of the range of many of their heavier weapons.

The rebels have said that pushing the Qaddafi forces out of the range of Grad rocketshas been one of their immediate tactical goals. That would be about 12 miles for thevarieties the loyalists are known to possess, though newer generations of the rocketscan fly more than 20 miles.

And as more rebel forces flowed westward ³ hundreds of fighters were on the roadoutside Ad Dafniyah on Monday afternoon ³ they spoke of pushing even farther, andtrying to connect with supporters in towns to the west, and demonstrating to otherLibyans that the Qaddafi military could be broken.

Outside the airport, the commander dared a sentence that mixed prediction with hope.´I think the days of Qaddafi are now shorter,µ he said. ´Maybe he has only a few weeksmore.µ--------------------Aid agencies: Refu-gee boat carrying hundreds sank off Libyan coast (WashingtonPost)By Michael BirnbaumMay 9, 7:17 PM



TRIPOLI, Libya ³ A boat packed with hundreds of refugees trying to flee Libya sank just off the coast near Tripoli late last week, the United Nations· refugee agency and theInternational Organization for Migration said Monday.

The ship, which left from the Tripoli area, capsized just hundreds of yards from the

shore, the organizations said, citing accounts by refugees who arrived on the Italianisland of Lampedusa on Sunday on a vessel that left immediately after the one thatcapsized. But precise details, including the number of people who died, remainedunclear.

Refugees said they saw bodies floating in the water as they sailed through the area, saidLaura Boldrini, a spokeswoman for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner forRefugees.

´They said they saw the boat capsizing in front of them,µ Boldrini said. It was not clear

how many bodies had been recovered. The Libyan government has severely restrictedthe movements of reporters in Tripoli, hampering their ability to collect information.

Thousands of people have fled Libya since fighting started in February between rebelsand forces loyal to Moammar Gaddafi, who has led the country since 1969. Lampedusa,which is about 180 miles off the coast of Libya, has been flooded with refugees. Aidagencies have said that the refugees have made the sea journey in dangerouscircumstances.

Some have come over in small craft. More recently, Boldrini said, larger ships have been

making the voyage, and they are often overloaded. She said that the ship that arrivedimmediately before the one that sank was carrying 655 people and that the one thatfollowed was carrying 798 people.

A spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, which has also beeninvolved in aid work in Lampedusa, said one survivor of the shipwreck told them thatshe made it back to the Libyan shore but was forced onto the next ship by armed men. Itwas unclear who the men were. Libyan officials did not respond to requests forcomment.

´Some of the people who survived this shipwreck were obviously not keen to get onanother boat,µ said Jean-Philippe Chauzy, a spokesman for the InternationalOrganization for Migration. ´They and others waiting in the area were forced onto theship by armed men, who were apparently shooting into the air.µ

Chauzy said that refugees had told his organization that they had to pay little or nomoney for the passage to Lampedusa but that the people running the boats took alltheir possessions before allowing them on the ship.



Tripoli·s Roman Catholic bishop, Giovanni Martinelli, who has close ties to EritreanCatholic migrants working in Libya, told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera thatEritreans and Somalis were among those on board the ship that sank.

Ships in poor condition have made fleeing Libya extremely dangerous. The Guardian, aBritish newspaper, reported Monday that 61 people died after their boat ran out of fueland was left to drift in the Mediterranean for 16 days at the end of March. Thenewspaper reported that the migrants made contact with a NATO aircraft carrier and amilitary helicopter, but that they were not rescued. NATO said it had not received anydistress calls.

And a ship carrying refugees ran aground near Lampedusa over the weekend. Allaboard were rescued.

Meanwhile, heavy fighting continued in the rebel-held city of Misurata on Monday,according to residents there reached via Skype. The city is under siege by governmentforces and has come under heavy assault in recent weeks.

The city·s main fuel depot, which was hit early Saturday, is still ablaze, saidMohammed Abdullah, a professor. ´It is still burning ³ the oil is still burning,µ theMisurata resident said. Rebel officials said this weekend that the city has enoughsupplies to last three or four weeks.

A ship chartered by the International Committee of the Red Cross arrived in Misurata

Monday morning, bringing medical supplies for the hospital, spare parts to repairwater and electrical supply systems, and baby food for the civilian population,according a Red Cross spokeswoman in the rebel headquarters of Benghazi.

Early Tuesday, planes and explosions were heard over Tripoli, and the Libyangovernment took journalists to the site of a library and school that it said had beenbombed by NATO. It was the same site that had been bombed just over a week ago andis 50 yards from a large communications tower, which was not hit. Several largeexplosions and gunfire were heard hours later.------------------UN Humanitarian Chief: Libyan Civilians Under Fire, Face Widespread Shortages (VOA)By Larry FreundMay 9, 2011The head of the United Nations humanitarian aid program said Monday that Libya isfacing widespread shortages and she called for a pause in the fighting in that country toallow international aid agencies to address humanitarian concerns.



The humanitarian aid chief at the United Nations, Valerie Amos, told the U.N. SecurityCouncil that the the breakdown of infrastructure, and shortages of cash and fuel arecausing serious problems for the Libyan people. Amos said more than 746,000 people,most of them third-country nationals, have fled Libya. She said some 5,000 people arestranded at border points in Egypt, Tunisia and Niger. About 58,000 internally

displaced people are living in settlements in eastern Libya.

Amos said widespread shortages are paralyzing Libya in ways that will seriously affectthe general population in the months ahead, particularly the poorest and the mostvulnerable. She said that despite repeated U.N. requests, civilians in Libya are stillcoming under fire. "This has to stop. The Security Council must continue to insist thatall parties respect international humanitarian law and insure civilians are spared. Thereported use of cluster bombs, sea and land mines as well as deaths and injuries causedby aerial bombing show a callous disregard for the physical and psychological well-being of civilians," she said.

Amos called on all sides in the fighting to agree to a temporary ceasefire in Misrata andother areas.

The U.N. humanitarian chief said that $144 million has been raised for relief work inLibya, less than half of what is needed, although she indicated that additional fundswill be requested in the days ahead.-----------------------Libyan rebels meet in Abu Dhabi (Financial Times)By James Drummond

May 10 2011 01:37Representatives of 25 town councils from the south and west of Libya travelled to AbuDhabi in an attempt to outflank the Libyan leadership and demonstrate solidarity withrebels based in Benghazi.

Spokesmen said about 60 people attended the meeting in the capital of the United ArabEmirates on Monday to undermine claims by Colonel Muammer Gaddafi that the rebelnational council in Benghazi in the east of the country aimed to split Libya in two. Theysaid Libyans from the west and south also support the uprising, which began in March.

´All these councils called each other and requested the [United Arab] Emirates to hostthis meeting,µ Mr Zaidan said. ´Most of the people came from inside either via Tunisiaor via Niger and they will return back.µ

The UAE is one of two Arab states, alongside Qatar, which have sent planes to helpenforce a Nato-enforced no-fly zone over Libya. Mr Zaidan insisted that Monday·smeeting was not directly funded or initiated by the UAE.



In January, the Swiss government ordered a freeze on assets belonging to Mr. Gbagboand 90 other people associated with his regime, as well as 11 banks and businesses withclose ties to his government.

Last week, the government said Swiss banks had frozen a total of 80 million francs ofassets.

Also last week, Alassane Ouattara took the oath as president of the Ivory Coast aftermonths of civil conflict. Supporters of Mr. Ouattara fought the forces of Mr. Gbagboafter he refused to relinquish his president's post following his election defeat inNovember 2010.

The push to recover assets comes as Ivory Coast prosecutors over the weekendquestioned Mr. Gbagbo, who has been under house arrest since April 11, regarding his

role in the post-electoral violence that left at least 3,000 dead. Ivory Coast prosecutorshave said they also would question the former president over allegations that he stoleproceeds from the country's central bank.

Mr. Ceccaldi and another lawyer for Mr. Gbagbo have complained they were deniedentry into the Ivory Coast and couldn't represent his client during his questioning onSaturday.

In Ivory Coast, fighting has continued in the southwestern region of Bas-Sassandra,some 62 miles east of the border with Liberia. Residents there said the army has sealed

routes leading to the border, trapping pro-Gbagbo soldiers and Liberian mercenariesbelieved to have fought for the former president in the heart of the cocoa-producingbelt.

"The mercenaries can't blend in because of their accents and we also know who is pro-Gbagbo here," said Aboubacar Ouedrago, a resident in the important growing region ofSoubre. Heavy-weapons fire was heard across the area all day, he added.

The Hague-based International Criminal Court has said it was planning to launch aninvestigation into alleged widespread killings in Ivory Coast, a probe that could involveboth sides of the conflict.

Ivory Coast government officials have promised to investigate the mass graves of about800 people found in the western town of Duekoue last month. Human-rights groupssaid forces loyal to Mr. Ouattara were behind the massacres. Mr. Ouattara haspreviously said no crime would be left unpunished, even if perpetrated by hissupporters.



Meanwhile, new governments in Tunisia and Egypt are pressing ahead with efforts torecover assets after regime changes. Tunisia has been in discussions with lawyers andother advisers about assisting with the asset-recovery process.

Switzerland and other financial centers have frozen hundreds of millions of dollars of

assets belonging to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Tunisia's formerpresident, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. However, no charges have been filed outside thesecountries.

In Egypt, a court has sentenced the former interior minister to 12 years in prison forcorruption, the first conviction of a senior former regime official since a popularuprising drove Mr. Mubarak from power on Feb. 11. Many top officials from Mr.Mubarak's regime are behind bars pending corruption investigations, including theformer prime minister and Mr. Mubarak's two sons, Gamal and Alaa.----------------------

UN: Sudan's north, south to withdraw Abyei forces (AP)The United Nations says Sudan's north and south have agreed to withdraw all"unauthorized forces" from a contested border hotspot, where fears are rising that anew conflict could ignite as Southern Sudan prepares to become the world's newestcountry.

The northern and southern governments agreed to deploy a joint north-south force inAbyei and withdraw the forces that are stoking tensions in the area, the U.N. in aSunday statement.

The deal is the latest effort to quell tensions in Abyei, a fertile and oil-producing borderregion to which both north and south Sudan stake claim.

The north and south have signed several U.N.-brokered deals on the status of Abyeithis year, but none of them have been fully implemented and the status of the territoryremains unresolved.

The International Crisis Group warned Sunday that "Abyei is on the brink of dangerousnew conflict."

"Failure to halt the downward trend toward violence in Abyei could unravel thetenuous peace that has been strong enough to get through the Southern Sudanreferendum," the Brussels-based think tank said in a statement.

A land of blond grasslands during the dry season and lush green expanses during therainy season, Abyei is home to Ngok Dinka subsistence farmers who are loyal to thesouth.



The region is also used by the Misseriya people, Arab cattle-herders who grazeseasonally through Abyei, moving south to water their cattle at the River Kiir, whichthey call the Bahr el-Arab. Even the name of this treasured water source is contested bythese two populations who warily coexist on this land.

Abyei was promised its own self-determination vote in the 2005 north-south peace dealthat ended decades of war. That referendum was set to occur at the same time asSouthern Sudan's January independence vote, but it did not happen due to a disputebetween north and south over who should be eligible to vote.

As southerners headed peacefully to the polls in January, clashes broke out in Abyei.The militarized zone has been on edge since then, with more than 100 people killed inclashes.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday that the military standoff is

unacceptable and threatens peace.

Hollywood star and activist George Clooney's satellite monitoring project has releasedimages showing hundreds of torched huts and burned villages after some of theseattacks.

At least 14 people died in a clash between armed forces earlier this month.

Diplomats hope the removal of forces from Abyei could reduce the chances of furtherviolence. Both sides have traded accusations that the other is supporting proxy forces in

Abyei.

"There was good will from both sides and we hope to follow-up on this spirit," saidMajor Gen. Moses Bisong Obi, the commander in charge of the 10,000 peacekeepers inthe U.N.'s Sudan mission, after Sunday's meeting in the northern town of Kadugli.

However, both north and south Sudan have made official overtures suggesting theycontrol the disputed region.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir threatened last month he would not recognize thenew southern nation if it includes Abyei.

And the first draft of Southern Sudan's interim constitution, approved by the cabinetlast week, refers to Abyei as part of the south.

Al-Bashir and southern leader Salva Kiir pledged earlier this year to resolve the Abyeistalemate by the end of March. That deadline passed with no further progressannounced by either side.



Sudan has endured various civil wars for all but a few years of its independent history.The oil-rich south will become the world's newest country on July 9, though analystssay the nation will struggle to address security and development challenges within itsborders.

----------------------Total Cost of Piracy Menace Hits U.S.$12 Billion (Business Daily)By Christine Mungai9 May 2011The total cost of piracy in the Indian Ocean in 2010 - almost all of it by Somali pirates - isestimated to be between $7 billion (Sh560 billion) and $12 billion (Sh960 billion), andcould top $15 billion by 2015, according to analysts.

This bill includes ransoms, insurance payments, the cost of naval operations,prosecutions and of rerouting ships.

A recent study reported that Somali pirates are earning up to $79,000 a year, 150 timesthe average annual income in Somalia.

The study by political and economic intelligence consultancy firm, Geopolicity,revealed that the area under the threat of piracy has steadily extended to some 2.5million square nautical miles off Somalia's coastline, an increase of one million nauticalmiles from two years ago.

Another study by anti-piracy organisation, Oceans Beyond Piracy, forecasts piracy

could cost $15 billion in the next four years, as more pirates sign up and biggerintervention measures are consequently rolled out.

The Indian Ocean accounts for fully half of the world's container traffic, and 70 per centof total global petroleum traffic passes through it.

The gulfs of Aden and Oman are among the world's major shipping lanes: About 21,000ships, and 11 per cent of global crude oil traffic, cross the Gulf of Aden every year.

The ports of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam handled a combined cargo of 25 milliontonnes in 2008 - not just for Kenya and Tanzania respectively, but also for inlandcountries such as Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Southern Sudan,Rwanda and Burundi.

Together, East Africa's ports account for approximately a fifth of sub-Saharan Africa'scontainer traffic, with an average annual growth of 6 per cent since 1995.



The Indian Ocean is particularly significant for the region in terms of communication: A17,000 km undersea fibre-optic cable connects South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Ugandaand Mozambique to Europe and Asia.

Incidents of piracy have soared from 276 in 2005 to 445 in 2010. According to the

International Maritime Bureau, there were 142 attacks between January and March 2011- 97 off the coast of Somalia - up from 35 in the same period the previous year and anall-time high.

Pirates managed to seize 18 vessels worldwide, capturing more than 340 hostages inattacks in which seven crew members died and 34 were injured.

Over the past five years, Somali pirates' ransom demands have increased a staggeringthirty-six fold, from an average of $150,000 in 2005 to $5.4 million in 2010.

The largest known ransom payment was for the South Korean oil tanker Samho Dream,for which a record $9.5 million was paid in November 2010.

Somali pirates' income for 2010 was around $238 million.

Oceans Beyond Piracy estimates that the total excess costs of insurance due to Somalipiracy are between $460 million and $3.2 billion per year, which have steadily increasedsince the Gulf of Aden was classified as a war risk area in May 2008.

The cost of piracy trials and imprisonment in 2010 was around $31 million, and the

excess cost of re-routing ships to avoid risk zones is estimated to be between $2.4 billionand $3 billion per year.

This, coupled with the cost of naval forces and protection, puts the total bill at between$7 billion and $12 billion.

The study reports that the continued growth of piracy could see the numbers of pirates,estimated to be at least 1,500, rise by up to 400 every year.

As a result, the costs of piracy could reach more than $15 billion by 2015.

Currently there are three international naval task forces in the region, with numerousnational vessels and task forces entering and leaving the region, engaging in counter-piracy operations for various lengths of time.

The primary mission is Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151), also patrolling arewarships from Russia, China and India, among others.------------------------



A Troubling Crackdown In Uganda (VOA)By Unattributed AuthorMay 9, 2011Rising prices for food and fuel have sparked protests in East Africa, taking a deadlyturn in Uganda as authorities acted decisively to contain the demonstrations. Dubbed

"walk to work" actions by opposition leaders to highlight the rising costs of driving,they have triggered violent clashes between protestors and police and soldiers in thecapital, Kampala, and at least five other towns. Political rivalries are helping feed theclashes, in which five people have been killed, more than 100 injured and hundredsmore jailed.

The United States is deeply troubled by this tragic loss of life and injury. That Uganda'ssecurity forces have arrested political opponents of the government who have takenpart in the protests is of equal concern. The government's crackdown has even extendedto the press with attempted restrictions on media coverage of the protests and on at

least one occasion the blocking of social networking websites.

With consumer prices in Uganda rising more than 11 percent in the month of Marchalone, the protestors' concerns are real and the demonstrations will likely continue. Thegovernment's heavy handed reaction increases the chances of further clashes in a cycleof violence that can feed on itself.

Uganda is a valued friend and partner of our nation and we renew our call for thegovernment there to respect the opposition's right to express its views and the people'srights to demonstrate peacefully and without fear of intimidation. Freedom of

expression and peaceful assembly are fundamental human rights and a criticalcomponent of democracy.----------------------Tackling Africa's economic problems (BBC)By Karen AllenMay 9, 2011A Ugandan businessman and astronaut, he has a place on a flight of the Virgin Galacticprogramme.

This sci-fi image of Africa perhaps seems counter-intuitive, but it represents a newconfidence and a desire to re-brand the continent in the eyes of the world.

The spaceship that will send Mr Thakkar to the stars will be launched thousands ofmiles away in Philadelphia, but it represents a desire for the continent to be takenseriously in an increasingly hi-tech world.

Africa is experiencing growth rates that are exceeding the global average, and foreigndirect investment has increased by more than 80% in the past decade.



"It's a great time for Africa," grins Mr Thakkar. "It's a time to focus on taking advantageof our natural resources and gain from technological knowledge transfer."

Sourcing own power

But getting products out to customers in many countries in Africa continues to be as biga challenge as sending a man to the moon.

"Forty per cent of agricultural produce perishes on the way to market," says ProfessorMthuli Ncube, chief economist and vice president of the African Development Bank.

Microsoft's Mteto Nyati says Africa has a skills problem He says infrastructure,especially transport and power, will be the single biggest factor that helps transform thecontinent.

The World Bank estimates that $93bn (£57bn) worth of infrastructural investment isneeded in Africa. That includes everything from roads, railways and schools to reliableenergy sources.

Many businesses in Nigeria have taken to developing their own power sources becausethe national grid cannot be relied on - despite the country's considerable oil wealth.

Without these bare essentials operating costs remain high, making businessesuncompetitive. But less than half the amount needed is actually being spent on

infrastructure, and grand cross-border projects sometimes hit the buffers.

Prof Ncube concedes part of the challenge is down to is down to operational problems.Legal hurdles can impede the rolling out of big projects across national boundaries.

And poor leadership has caused many infrastructural initiatives to remain pipe dreams.

Yet the roll-out of technological infrastructure - like the East African cabling systemwhich provides fibre optic cables from Mombasa to the United Arab Emirates -demonstrates the enormous potential to transform a region.

Not only is the project a template for public-private partnerships, but it has alsoprovided a platform for thousands of new tech-based businesses to grow.

Everything from computerised real-time mapping services like Ushahidi in Kenya, totelephonic banking services which are set to expand massively in the region, havesprung up on the back of this kind of development.



And on top of that, the middle classes are becoming a rapidly growing domestic marketfor home-grown services.

Agricultural advantage

But Africa needs to be cautious about adopting an Asian model of businessdevelopment in a bid to stave off their markets being flooded by cheap Chineseimports.

That's a view that's increasingly gaining traction in Africa's business world.

Many believe Africa should concentrate on building up its agriculture sector MtetoNyati, managing director of Microsoft South Africa, argues that with 70% of thepopulation on the continent living in rural areas - and roughly the same number underthe age of 30 - the emphasis must be on creating jobs in areas where Africa has

resources.

"We have a problem with skills, so I don't think we necessarily should be looking atmanufacturing expansion and too much large scale hi-tech," he says.

"[We should] look at where we have a comparative advantage and it is in agriculture.We should be feeding the rest of the world."

He wants Africa's leaders to study best practices in areas such as agriculture andemulate them, rather than being seduced by the model of China.

"We cannot be China, we don't have a billion people, we have got people who areilliterate, we have to train them so we have to look at agriculture," he says.

But he fears the continent's leaders have yet to drive this through. Farmers are leavingcountries like South Africa and being hired for their skills further north, at a time whenAfrica could be feeding the world.

Social entrepreneurship

On the demand side, Africa is seeing a growing domestic market with a middle classthat now represents about 34% of the continent's population.

Some social entrepreneurs are offering help to pull people out of poverty But theAfrican Development Bank warns that more than half of them risk slipping back to jointhe poorer classes unless their spending and earning potential is harnessed.



A growing middle class buys mobile phones, travels in cars and requires housing. Yetmortgages have been risky business in a continent which has been prone to instability.Now though in East Africa mortgage markets have been on the rise.

The demand for cheap houses has attracted the innovative flair of the social

entrepreneurship sector.

Social entrepreneurs like Aleke Dondo step onto the scene when "market fails", to usethe economic jargon, often leveraging funds from donors to establish operations, whichin time will flourish into fully-fledged revenue-generating businesses.

Aleke's project in Kenya provides low-cost mortgages to former slum dwellers to pullthemselves out of poverty, asset financing for smallholder farming, and rural bankingservices in areas where previously there were none.

"We need the government to help create an enabling environment to help initiatives likethese to flourish," he says.

Do this for a period of five years and you will really start to see change, he says.

Tackling unemployment

But one of the biggest challenges for the coming decade, with a huge political price tagattached, is how to create more jobs.

South Africa may be the powerhouse of the continent but it is also one of the mostunequal societies in the world - one in four people is unemployed, according to officialfigures - and right across the continent unemployment breeds instability.

Coupled with perceptions of poor leadership, as we've seen in North Africa and morerecently in Uganda, and it can prove positively toxic.

Some commentators see Kenya's Raila Odinga as heralding a new style of leadership inAfrica South Africa's Jacob Zuma has pledged to create five million jobs and cutunemployment by 15% by 2022, but getting a quality workforce requires goodeducation.

Geoff Rothschild, director for the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, puts education right atthe very top of the continent's priorities in helping to groom the next generation ofworkers.

But it requires leadership and commitment, and Mr Rothschild is among the optimistswho see a new style of political leadership slowly emerging in Africa.



He's clearly impressed about a new generation of leaders such as Kenya's Raila Odingaand Zimbabwe's Morgan Tsvangarai.

Both prime ministers were forced into uncomfortable power-sharing deals, from which

many hope they will emerge humbled rather than vengeful.

Both men will face elections next year so let us wait and see the results.

The vast majority of Africans have yet to feel the direct benefits of growth rates of 5.5%.

But what is beginning to emerge is a consensus over what should be the priorities tosustain such growth and ensure that this - as so many analysts are saying - is Africa'sdecade.--------------------------

UN News Service Africa Briefs Full Articles on UN Website

UN human rights staff discover mass graves in Ivorian city9 May ² United Nations human rights workers have found the bodies of nearly 70people, apparently the victims of a militia backing the former Ivorian president LaurentGbagbo, in a series of graves in a suburb of Côte d·Ivoire·s biggest city, Abidjan.

Sudan: UN welcomes agreement to withdraw forces from Abyei area

9 May ² The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Sudan (UNMIS) has welcomed

the commitment of the northern and southern sides to withdraw their forces fromAbyei and to immediately deploy combined teams to the disputed area to providesecurity.

africom related news clips 10 may 2011

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