africom related news clips september 21, 2010

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United States Africa CommandPublic Affairs Office21 September 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

USAID Education Officer Commends New Hope Academy (The Informer - Monrovia)(Liberia) The Director of Education for United States Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID-Liberia), says the sacrifices and labor of study of students in the

country would yield bountiful fruits.

U.S. Judges Dismiss Case Against Shell (This Day)(Nigeria) A US Appeals Court yesterday dismissed a case against Royal Dutch Shell Plc(RDSa.L) that could have held the company liable over accusations that it assistedNigerian authorities in violently suppressing protests against oil exploration in the1990s.

Witness in 1998 Bombings Is Identified at a Hearing (New York Times)(Kenya/Tanzania) Hussein Abebe, 46, has been cooperating with the authoritiesagainst Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a terrorism suspect captured in 2004, then held in asecret C.I.A.-run jail and later in the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

U.S. military advisor in Mauritius sentenced to 35 years in prison for drug trafficking

(Xinhua)(Mauritius) A U.S military advisor was sentenced to 35 years in prison for drugtrafficking by the Mauritius justice system, Mauritius media reported on Sunday.

Canadian held in Libya as US oil spy suspect: report (AFP)(Libya) A Canadian suspected of industrial espionage on behalf of the United Stateshas been prevented from leaving Libya for security reasons, the newspaper Oea

reported on Monday.

French hunt al-Qaida after kidnappings (UPI)(Niger) The confrontation between France and al-Qaida's North African network mayhave reached critical mass with last week's kidnapping of seven people, five of themFrench citizens, in Niger.



Violence Disrupts Zimbabwe Constitutional Process (Voice of America)(Zimbabwe) Zimbabwe·s prime minister has condemned violence that disrupted publicmeetings to discuss a planned constitutional revision.

At South Africa summit, hard-liners pushing to seize white farms (Christian Science

Monitor)(South Africa) A fight for the soul of South Africa·s ruling party is under way inDurban at an African National Congress (ANC) policy conference that could decidewho rules the party and how it is run for the remaining two years of this presidentialterm.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Websitey UN puts spotlight on consolidating peace in Central African Republic

y Guinea: UN envoy continues consultations over political tensions

y UN agency urges resumption of family-visit flights for Western Sahara refugees-------------------------------------------------------------------------UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Tuesday, September 21, 2:00 p.m., U.S. Institute of PeaceWHAT: Civil Society in Darfur: The Missing PeaceWHO: Theodore Murphy, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue; Jérôme Tubiana,Independent researcher; Jon Temin, Moderator,U.S. Institute of PeaceInfo: http://www.usip.org/events/civil-society-in-darfur-the-missing-peace

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, September 22, 9:00 a.m., U.S. Institute of PeaceWHAT: A Fresh Look at Post-conflict EconomicsWHO: Ambassador Charles Ries, Executive Vice President of the Clinton Bush HaitiFund and Former Minister for Economic Affairs and Coordinator for EconomicTransition in Iraq; Graciana del Castillo, Senior Research Scholar at ColumbiaUniversity, and author of "Rebuilding War-Torn States"; Gary Milante, ResearchEconomist, The World Bank; Julia Roig, Executive Director, Partners for DemocraticChange; Patrick Doherty, Director, Smart Strategy Initiative at the New AmericaFoundationInfo: http://www.usip.org/events/fresh-look-post-conflict-economics-theory-experience-and-reality

WHEN/WHERE: Thursday, September 23, 9:00 a.m.WHAT: Breakfast Briefing with The Honorable Robert P. Jackson, New Ambassador ofthe United States to CameroonWHO: Business Council for International Understanding with Chevron CorporationInfo:http://www.bciu.org/wip01/online_event_invitation.asp?continent=0&country=0&cu



rrentorpast=current&eventsorprograms=events&IDNumber=1431&ProgramIDNumber=0&Keycode=8031275 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------FULL ARTICLE TEXT

USAID Education Officer Commends New Hope Academy (The Informer - Monrovia)

The Director of Education for United States Agency for International Development(USAID-Liberia), says the sacrifices and labor of study of students in the country wouldyield bountiful fruits.

Madam Julia Richards told graduates of New Hope Academy in Paynesville, outsideMonrovia, on Sunday, September 10, 2010, that there were also 'bountiful positiveenergy and hope in the country, as such, 'formidable opportunity costs made to sendthem to school by their families would soon be seen as having been worth it.'

"I have been a witness to many changes that indicate that Liberia is getting on. What Isee when I look around is hope. I see eager and bright eyes, looking to the future. Isense very active brains pondering possibilities for growth and personal development,"she further told the graduates.

Madam Richards: "It is truly an honor and pleasure, for me to stand before you, andhave this opportunity to address you on this most important occasion in your life-yourgraduation! I salute you... And join the many proud parents, family members andfriends of yours in congratulating you for your accomplishment of completing high

school, for successfully having passed the WAEC Exam, and for being on the doorstepto a new life."

Turning to teachers of the academy, the USAID official lauded them for their manysacrifices which she said were responsible for the success of the students. You, too, havemade innumerable sacrifices to ensure that your students learned and perform well andnot only that, to pass the world-class WAEC exam.

Agencies such as the one I work for-USAID- are doing much more to improve thechances of young people of Liberia to have positive learning opportunities. But it ispeople such as Augustine Arkoi and humanitarian foundations such as better FutureFoundation that really torch the hearts and souls of community citizens one by one,"she declared.

Madam Richards who, before taking assignment to Liberia had worked for 24 years oneducation for Guatermala's indigenous Maya population that suffered the most in thatcountry's civil war, observed that New Hope Academy is a 'hope that boys and girlsdisadvantaged by the turmoil of Liberian civil war, have the opportunity to go to



school, to learn and achieve, to have a whole new world opened through education.'According to her, the commitment and dedication of the New Hope Academy to thiscause are 'exemplary.'

The graduation program, held on the Peace Island campus of the academy was

attended by an array of personalities from both the public and private sectors.

Among them were Grand Kru County Representative at the National Legislature,Wesseh Blamo, who also cautioned the graduates including six girls and ten boys toremain focused and acquire advanced education that would make them more useful tothe state and the larger society, saying: "graduation from secondary school was just thebeginning of professional development."

All of New Hope Academy's sixteen 12th graders who sat for the 2009/2010 senior highschool examination administered by the West African Examination Council (WAEC)

made a successful pass.

New Hope Academy was also among 14 secondary schools in the country whose 12thgraders topped the WAEC exam.

Meanwhile, Rev. Augustine Arkoi, founder of the New Hope Academy, thankedUSAID for the numerous developmental support, such as Library and bridgeconstructions, which according to him have brought much relief to the 15 thousandresidents of Peace Island community. He called on other development partners to assistthe Island have access to safe drinking water, proper waste management, among others.

--------------------U.S. Judges Dismiss Case Against Shell (This Day)

Lagos ³ A US Appeals Court yesterday dismissed a case against Royal Dutch Shell Plc(RDSa.L) that could have held the company liable over accusations that it assistedNigerian authorities in violently suppressing protests against oil exploration in the1990s.

Judges in the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York ruled that until theSupreme Court deemed otherwise, corporations could not be held liable in US courtsfor violations of international human rights law.

One judge on the three-member appeals court panel wrote a strong dissent of themajority opinion, calling it "a substantial blow to international law."

The case was brought by families of seven Nigerians who were executed by a formermilitary government for protesting Shell's exploration and development.



Shell has denied allegations of involvement in human rights abuses. The accusationsagainst Shell included violations connected with the 1995 hangings of prominentactivist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other protesters by Nigeria's then militarygovernment.

The families had sought to make the company the first foreign corporation found liablein a U.S. court for aiding human rights violations abroad under a 1789 U.S. statute, theAlien Tort Statute (ATS).

Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs and Judge Jose Cabranes said in a written ruling that theclaims could not be allowed under the statute. They said the trial judge, who declinedto dismiss some claims against Shell, should have thrown out all claims.

"We hold, under the precedents of the Supreme Court and our own Court over the pastthree decades, that in ATS suits alleging violations of customary international law, the

scope of liability -- who is liable for what -- is determined by customary internationallaw itself," the ruling said.

It noted that no corporation has ever been subject to any form of civil or criminalliability under the international law of human rights.

"We hold that corporate liability is not a discernible -- much less universally recognized-- norm of customary international law that we may apply pursuant to the ATS.

"Accordingly, plaintiffs' ATS claims must be dismissed for lack of subject matter

jurisdiction," the 138-page ruling said in part.

In a dissenting opinion, Judge Pierre Leval wrote:

"The majority opinion deals a substantial blow to international law and its undertakingto protect fundamental human rights.

"According to the rule my colleagues have created, one who earns profits bycommercial exploitation of abuse of fundamental human rights can successfully shieldthose profits from victims' claims for compensation simply by taking the precaution ofconducting the heinous operation in the corporate form," Leval said.-------------------- Witness in 1998 Bombings Is Identified at a Hearing (New York Times)

For years, the Tanzanian man had been a mystery, his identity undisclosed. And whenhe finally testified last week in a heavily guarded courtroom in Manhattan, security wasso tight that prosecutors asked the judge to instruct sketch artists to obscure his face intheir drawings.



The man, Hussein Abebe, 46, has been cooperating with the authorities against AhmedKhalfan Ghailani, a terrorism suspect captured in 2004, then held in a secret C.I.A.-run jail and later in the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Last year, Mr. Ghailani became the first detainee moved into the civilian system, wherehe faces trial soon in the 1998 conspiracy to bomb the United States Embassies in Kenyaand Tanzania, attacks that killed 224 people.

Prosecutors have said Mr. Abebe sold Mr. Ghailani hundreds of pounds of TNT thatwas used in the attack in Tanzania.

´This is a giant witness for the government,µ a federal prosecutor, Michael Farbiarz,told a judge last week, adding, ´There·s nothing bigger than him.µ

But a dispute has arisen over whether Mr. Abebe should be allowed to testify at trialbecause the government first learned of him from Mr. Ghailani when he was in C.I.A.custody where, his lawyers say, he was subjected to coercive interrogation and torture.

In a preliminary ruling, the judge, Lewis A. Kaplan of Federal District Court, called fora hearing to further explore whether the government could show that Mr. Abebe·sdecision to cooperate was voluntary, and only remotely linked to Mr. Ghailani·sstatements during his interrogation.

But after the hearing last week, Judge Kaplan appeared to have serious questions about

Mr. Abebe·s reasons for cooperating. For one thing, the witness contradicted F.B.I.testimony about what he had said earlier.

Ít·s just abundantly clear,µ the judge said, ´that there are two remarkably differentfactual narratives that could be drawn from the evidence.µ He even seemed to askwhether the government might be considering dropping their plan to have Mr. Abebetestify.

The prosecutor, Mr. Farbiarz, staunchly defended Mr. Abebe·s account, calling itíncredibly importantµ ³ straightforward, consistent, clear and reliable.

The judge seemed skeptical, saying at one point, Íf the government thinks there aren·tany factual disputes here, you·re on a different planet.µ

Ever since the Obama administration moved Mr. Ghailani into federal court, his casehas been seen as a crucial test of President Obama·s goal of trying detainees in thecivilian system. Already, Judge Kaplan has rejected two key defense requests to dismisscharges, on grounds of government misconduct and speedy-trial violations, and



prosecutors have said they do not intend to use statements from Mr. Ghailani·sinterrogation at trial.

While a ruling barring the witness from testifying would not lead to dismissal, it couldmake proving the case more complicated and have serious ramifications for other

detainee cases.

´This is the moment,µ said Karen J. Greenberg, executive director of the Center on Lawand Security at New York University, who observed the hearing. ´This will establishthe standard for how we deal with witnesses and other evidence that·s the result oftorture.µ

Judge Kaplan has never ruled on whether Mr. Ghailani was subjected to mistreatmentwhile being detained, but he assumed he was coerced, to resolve the legal issue beforehim.

Testimony revealed that the C.I.A. and Tanzanian intelligence worked closely for morethan a year to track down Mr. Abebe, based on information Mr. Ghailani was providingwhile in C.I.A. custody.

Mr. Abebe was from Arusha, a city where his family was in mining and had access toexplosives, court papers and testimony showed.

He sold the TNT to Mr. Ghailani believing it would be used for legitimate mining, hesaid, but he learned otherwise after seeing a televised report on the bombing of the

embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Mr. Abebe kept his own role a secret for eight years, he said. Then, in 2006, he wasarrested by Tanzanian authorities and questioned by them and later by the F.B.I.

An F.B.I. agent, Philip Swabsin, testified that Mr. Abebe had said he lived in constantfear of being found out. The agent recalled him saying that ´one day this day wouldcomeµ and that ´he would have a knock at the front door.µ

But when a defense lawyer, Peter E. Quijano, cross-examined Mr. Abebe, the witnessdenied ever having such fear. ´I did not have worry about being arrested,µ he said.

Mr. Quijano inquired further, trying to clarify the apparent contradiction, but Mr.Abebe did not change his account.

Mr. Abebe also testified that Tanzanian officials had encouraged him to cooperate withthe Americans so that he could go back to Arusha. In his earlier ruling, Judge Kaplan



noted that Mr. Abebe had been released from custody only after the F.B.I questionedhim and he had ´promised to appear as a witness.µ

Mr. Abebe, speaking through a Swahili interpreter, said he had agreed to cooperatebecause of his anger that he had been deceived and that the explosives were used to kill

people. ´For myself, I cannot even kill a, slaughter a chicken,µ he said.

But he was not required to cooperate, he testified. Ít was not a must,µ he said.

The hearing, in which a C.I.A. representative testified in a classified session, also shedlight on how detainees in the agency·s so-called black sites were used to supportintelligence operations.

´There is at least some evidence that there was an ongoing interactive process betweenthe efforts to smoke out Hussein and find him, identify him and find him,µ the judge

said of Mr. Abebe, ánd the interrogation of Ghailani by the C.I.A.µ

At one point, Judge Kaplan noted, ´somebody in Tanzaniaµ came up with á greattheoryµ of where Mr. Abebe might be found.

´They think they know the neighborhood,µ the judge said, and that led to a ´furtherinteraction with Ghailani.µ

Í won·t say anything more on that,µ the judge added, ´because of the sensitivity.µ Butit appeared that the C.I.A. had gone back to Mr. Ghailani and interrogated him again

for information that helped locate Mr. Abebe.--------------------U.S. military advisor in Mauritius sentenced to 35 years in prison for drug trafficking (Xinhua)

PORT LOUIS - A U.S military advisor was sentenced to 35 years in prison for drugtrafficking by the Mauritius justice system, Mauritius media reported on Sunday.

The anti-narcotics police brigade discovered that Scott Bradley Mertz was in possessionof 1,181 grammes of heroine with a market value of 400,000 U.S. dollars.

According to the media reports, the drugs were destined for a notorious drug traffickerin Mauritius.--------------------Canadian held in Libya as US oil spy suspect: report (AFP)



TRIPOLI ² A Canadian suspected of industrial espionage on behalf of the United Stateshas been prevented from leaving Libya for security reasons, the newspaper Oeareported on Monday.

It said Douglas Oriali, who also has Australian and Irish citizenship, is suspected of

working with US intelligence "to gather information aiming to ensure the failure of adrilling project off the Libyan coast by Britain's BP."

The paper quoted "a senior official" as saying that Oriali on arrival said he was anarchaeologist visiting Libya as a tourist.

Oriali was placed under surveillance, the official said, adding he was then preventedfrom leaving the country after "contacts with a US diplomat in Libya who is suspectedof being an intelligence agent."

The Canadian embassy, contacted by AFP, refused to comment.

However, the newspaper quoted "sources from the embassy" as saying Oriali is beingheld at his Tripoli hotel and that he has been questioned twice by Libyan security andthat his laptop and mobile phone have been confiscated.

Oea said that under questioning, Oriali supplied the authorities with his Internetbanking details and information about the content of emails.

BP has said it would start drilling off the Libyan coast during the second half of the year

under a 2007 deal with Tripoli allowing it to drill five wells in the Gulf of Sirte at depthsof about 1,700 metres (5,500 feet).

That is slightly deeper than the Gulf of Mexico BP well that ruptured on April 20,causing the worst US environmental disaster on record.

On September 7, the Libyan government website said the country has no stake in BP orany other international oil firms, countering speculation to the contrary.--------------------French hunt al-Qaida after kidnappings (UPI)

NIAMEY, Niger - The confrontation between France and al-Qaida's North Africannetwork may have reached critical mass with last week's kidnapping of seven people,five of them French citizens, in Niger.

A contingent of French Special Forces troops was reported to have deployed in Niamey,Niger's capital. Their stated mission is to support Niger's military hunt the kidnappers



and their captives but they could be the vanguard of a larger French force across theregion.

French surveillance aircraft based in neighboring Mali, where AQIM also operates, haveflown to Niamey to help in the search.

The abductions Thursday took place near the French-owned Arlit uranium miningfacility in the north of the country and although no group has claimed responsibility theincident bore all the hallmarks of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb or Tuareg insurgentswho often work with the jihadists.

The kidnappings came six weeks after French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared waron AQIM for beheading a 78-year-old French hostage, Michel Germaneau, in Mali July24, three months after he was kidnapped in Niger.

AQIM said it killed Germaneau in retaliation for an attack on a jihadist base in thedesert two days earlier by French and Mauritanian troops. Six jihadists were killed inthe raid, which was seen as a botched bid to rescue Germaneau.

The French government said that operation was intended to thwart an imminent, butunspecified, AQIM attack against a West African nation, presumably Mauritania whichhas taken a hard line against the jihadists.

The raid was the first counter-terrorism operation in northern Africa in which Westernforces are known to have participated.

AQIM leader Abdelmalik Droukdel issued an audio tape in which he declared thatSarkozy had by initiating the July 22 raid "opened the gates of hell on himself, hispeople and his nation."

That suggested AQIM, while going after French targets in North Africa, might also seekto carry out attacks in France itself, escalating the confrontation with Sarkozy to adangerous new level.

The Arlit kidnappings mark AQIM's first known operation in northern Niger, wherethe French state-owned company Areva has several uranium mines that provide 40percent of France's requirements for nuclear power generation.

That indicates a menacing expansion of AQIM's operational zone in a region that is vitalto France's economic well-being.



France has been plagued by Islamist terrorists from Algeria and other North Africanstates since the 1990s, mainly members of the now-defunct Armed Islamic Group whichfought against Algeria's military government for most of that decade.

France has never been singled out by al-Qaida's various networks, in part because it

didn't join the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

But the Armed Islamic Group, known by its French acronym GIA, was infamous for itsbrutality, beheading its victims and massacring civilians before it splintered. Its hard-liners eventually morphed into AQIM and swore allegiance to Osama bin Laden.

France is the first European state to become directly involved in fighting jihadists inNorth Africa, which was part of the empire France carved out in Africa starting in the17th century.

European intelligence services have been battling North African jihadists for years, longbefore 9/11 finally thrust the Americans into combating terrorism.

The emergence of AQIM in September 2006 gave rise to concerns that the jihadistswould unleash a wave of attacks in Western Europe, where the North African jihadistslong maintained elaborate financial and logistics support networks.

That hasn't happened, although several major plots have been foiled. One of the mostambitious occurred in 1994 when four GIA activists seized an Air France Airbus inAlgiers on Christmas Eve and threatened to crash it into the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

French police commandos stormed the aircraft in Marseille, where it was beingrefueled. They killed all the hijackers before they could carry out an operation thatwould have preceded 9/11 by seven years -- an example of what the Maghreb jihadistsmay be capable of, particularly if they still have some sort of support network in France.

Many Western European states, particularly France, Spain, Belgium and Italy, havelarge, often disaffected, Muslim communities made up largely of North Africans inwhich the jihadists would be able to operate.--------------------Violence Disrupts Zimbabwe Constitutional Process (Voice of America)

Zimbabwe·s prime minister has condemned violence that disrupted public meetings todiscuss a planned constitutional revision.

Morgan Tsvangirai Monday accused opponents of the process of ´hiring thugsµ todisrupt the constitutional outreach process.



Witnesses said protesters threw stones and shouted at participants at several publicevents in Zimbabwe·s two main cities.

At least five people were injured Sunday at one meeting in the capital, Harare. After theviolence broke out, other meetings across Harare and Buluwayo were abandoned.

A local group monitoring the meetings, Sokwanele, said an ´overwhelming numberµ ofthe violent protesters are from the ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe.ZANU-PF leaders have denied the accusations.

Douglas Mwonzora, one of the heads of the committee overseeing the constitutionalprocess, said Monday he was ´dismayedµ by the violence, adding that upcomingmeetings were postponed ́ indefinitely.µ

President Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.

The constitutional reform is mandated by the coalition agreement between Mr.Mugabe·s and Mr. Tsvangirai·s parties. The parties reached the agreement, underinternational pressure, following the disputed and violence-plagued 2008 elections.

After a new constitution is passed, the parties have agreed to hold a new election.--------------------At South Africa summit, hard-liners pushing to seize white farms (Christian ScienceMonitor)

A fight for the soul of South Africa·s ruling party is under way in Durban at an AfricanNational Congress (ANC) policy conference that could decide who rules the party andhow it is run for the remaining two years of this presidential term.

At stake at the ANC's National General Council are not just a handful of politicalcareers, but the party's commitment to democracy, property rights, a free marketeconomic system, and transparency.

ANC dissidents aren't likely to remove South African President Jacob Zuma from thetop spot. But given that the two ANC allies that worked the hardest to put Mr. Zumainto power in the 2008 election now appear at odds with him, the conference shouldforeshadow trouble for Zuma down the road.

The ANC won over 65 percent of the vote in the last general election with the help ofthe Congress of South African Trades Unions and the South African Communist Party,so the ANC·s hold on power is not in imminent danger.

But Zuma·s leadership over the ANC itself appears increasingly fragile.



On the left, Zuma faces challenges from a massive labor union conglomerate whosestrikes last month nearly brought the nation to a halt.

And on his populist right, Zuma·s authority is being challenged by the pugnacious

Julius Malema, the controversial leader of the ANC·s Youth League, who has repeatedlycalled for the ANC·s older generation to step aside for the new generation.

"The issue of generational mix will not be avoided,µ Mr. Malema said in an interviewwith the Monitor. ´We will make sure that this generational mix is done in all ANCstructures.µ Malema also said he will push for South Africa to nationalize mines, aproposal that would likely scare off foreign investment, and confiscate white-ownedfarms.

Radical transformation?

´We are going to use the NGC [National General Council] as a launch event for thisradical economic transformation," said Malema. ´We need to translate our wealth fromthe minority to the majority unashamedly and without pleasing Britain, the imperialist."

South Africa hasn·t been a British colony for 63 years. But anticolonialist rhetoric likeMalema's is striking a chord here, as public-sector unions turn against a governmentthey once supported and calls for nationalization are finding a large audience.

"It's going to be tough,µ says Adam Habib, the deputy vice chancellor of the Universityof Johannesburg and a political analyst. ´But what the meeting will achieve is to make a

compromise on certain issues, otherwise I can't see the congress agreeing on anythingthe ANC Youth League, Cosatu [Congress of South African Trades Unions], and SACP[the South African Communist Party] would raise.µ

Malema could overstep his bounds, says Steven Friedman, a research associate at theInstitute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) and visiting professor of politics atRhodes University. Pushing for a change of leadership, he says, would almost certainlybackfire on the Youth League.

"The platform is to make policy review,µ says Mr. Friedman. ´There will be greatopposition for the Youth League if ever they raised the subject [of leadership]. TheYouth League will run into trouble."

But the issue of leadership will not be easily avoided, says Tiniyiko Maluleke, executivedirector for Research at the University of South Africa (Unisa).



"The issue of leadership is of interest not only to the ANC Youth League or Malema butto the alliance partners [including COSATU and the SACP],µ says Professor Maluleke."Any attempt to prevent it will be difficult."

Zuma hits

The conference is likely to be a raucous affair, with opportunities for Malema and otherformer allies of Zuma, such as Zwelinzima Vavi of COSATU, to vent against thepresident's failure to deliver on campaign promises.

In his opening speech at the National General Council, Zuma took a tough line with hiscritics. ´We have no choice but to reintroduce discipline in the ANC,µ Mr. Zuma isreported to have told the 2000 ANC delegates at the meeting in Durban. ´If we fail to doso, we would be weakening the very fiber and existence of the ANC.µ

Singling out the ANC Youth League, he added, ´We have noted some regrettable

incidents, particularly relating to the ANC Youth League conferences, which areunacceptable and need to be dealt with. It is clear that the time has come for theorganization to act. We must take a decision that those who engage in such activities arein fact undermining the organization and its work.µ

In his Monitor interview, Malema says he wanted to press on with the Youth League·sradical agenda for transforming the economy, and insisted that seizing land from whitefarmers is the right course of action.

The willing-seller willing-buyer method of transferring land from whites to blacks has

failed, Malema says. He wants South Africa to emulate Zimbabwe, and force sales ofwhite land at prices set by the government. ´The farmer should take it or leave, but thebottom line is that the government should determine the price of land."

In a May interview with Britain·s Daily Mail, Malema praised the land-grab policies ofPresident Robert Mugabe, saying taking land from white farmers ´was very goodexcept the violent part of it.... We·ve got a majority in parliament to make legislationthat will give us power to expropriate land with compensation,µ he said.--------------------UN News Service Africa Briefs Full Articles on UN Website

UN puts spotlight on consolidating peace in Central African Republic20 September ² The United Nations today called on the international community toprovide critical additional aid to the Central African Republic (CAR) to prevent aresumption of conflict in an impoverished country that is a prime target of UN efforts toconsolidate peace in once violence-torn nations.



Guinea: UN envoy continues consultations over political tensions20 September ² A senior United Nations official is holding consultations today inGuinea with key officials as part of an international effort to resolve the tensionssurrounding the deferral of the country·s second round of presidential elections.

UN agency urges resumption of family-visit flights for Western Sahara refugees20 September ² The United Nations refugee agency said it is seeking to clarify why afamily-visit flight for Western Sahara refugees had to be aborted last week, adding thatit hoped the confidence-building measure will be able to resume as soon as possible.

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