africom related news clips september 29, 2010

8/8/2019 AFRICOM Related News Clips September 29, 2010

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U.S. sees progress in Sudan talks on oil-rich Abyei (Reuters)(Sudan) Negotiators for northern and southern Sudan have agreed on a framework forhow to run a plebiscite in the disputed oil-rich region of Abyei and should reach a finaldeal next month, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday.

Foreign observers deploy for Sudan referendum (AFP)(Sudan) International observers have begun work in Sudan to observe a landmarkreferendum on the potential independence of the south, the US-based Carter Centresaid on Tuesday.

Sudan's Ruling Party Sets Conditions for Vote (Voice of America)(Sudan) Sudan's northern-based government says it will not accept the results of anupcoming independence referendum in the south unless the vote is free and southernmilitary forces withdraw from disputed areas.

EU Naval Force to transfer pirates to Kenya for prosecution (Xinhua)(Kenya) The European Union Naval Force Somalia (EU NAVFOR) said it will transfer afurther four suspected Somali pirates to Kenyan authorities for prosecution.

U.N. envoy proposes Somalia peacekeeping force (Stars and Stripes)(Somalia) The United Nations must establish a ´light footprintµ in Somalia, leading tothe eventual deployment of a peackeeping force in the country, a U.N. envoy toldrepresentatives from 45 countries and international organizations at a meeting inMadrid, Spain, this week.

Nigeria kidnappers abduct school children from bus (Associated Press)(Nigeria) Gunmen kidnapped 15 school children on their way to class at a privateschool near Nigeria's oil-rich and restive southern delta, a police spokesman saidTuesday.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Websitey Chad calls on world to stand by its UN development summit pledges

y Senior UN official in DR Congo to investigate mass rape of civilians

y Sierra Leone at critical juncture in peacebuilding efforts, UN warned

y Eritrea alleges UN ¶ignoring· Ethiopian occupation of its territory

y Security Council to send more UN troops to Côte d·Ivoire ahead of upcoming polls

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

WHEN/WHERE: Friday, October 1, 12:00 p.m to 1:15 p.m ; IPS Conference Room



WHAT: The Political Economy of African Responses to the U.S. Africa CommandWHO: Carl LeVan and Jillian Emerson, co-authors of a new paper on the politics ofAfrican responses to AfricomInfo: http://www.fpif.org/

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, October 6, Noon; Cato InstituteWHAT: Why Africa Is Poor and What Africans Can Do about ItWHO: Greg Mills, Director, Brenthurst Foundation, South Africa; Marian L. Tupy,Policy Analyst, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Cato Institute; moderated byIan Vásquez, Director, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Cato InstituteInfo: http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=7401

WHEN/WHERE: Thursday, October 7, 9:00 a.m.; Center for Strategic and InternationalStudiesWHAT: Next Steps on Sudan: Has the Comprehensive Peace Agreement Paved the

Way to Peace?WHO: Lieutenant General Lazaro K. Sumbeiywo, former Kenyan Special Envoy andLead Mediator of the Sudanese Peace ProcessInfo: http://csis.org/events ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------FULL ARTICLE TEXT

Mystery airstrike as Somalia collapses (UPI)

MOGADISHU, Somalia - A mysterious helicopter attack on a gathering of Islamistleaders suggests that the United States, using either Special Forces or mercenaries, maybe trying to decapitate jihadist forces who are escalating a war to topple the Western-backed government.

The Americans, ever mindful of the casualties the U.S. Army suffered at the hands ofSomali militias in Operation Restore Hope in October 1993, are wary of deploying bootson the ground in Somalia to aid the Transitional Federal Government besieged in theseaside capital of Mogadishu.

But they have carried out several attacks using missiles, airstrikes and Special Forcessince the Islamist movement known as al-Shabaab, or Youth, emerged in December

2006 after U.S.-backed Ethiopian forces toppled an Islamist regime in Mogadishu andestablished the TFG.

U.S. SEALs aboard helicopters from a U.S. warship in the Indian Ocean, ambushed aconvoy carrying Saleh Ali Nabhan, al-Shebaab's military commander and a closeassociate of al-Qaida's top operative in East Africa, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, insouthern Somalia Sept. 14, 2009.



The Kenyan-born Saleh was killed and the commandos landed to take his body withthem for identification.

Fazul is the alleged mastermind of the twin al-Qaida bombings of the U.S. embassies in

Kenya and Tanzania Aug. 7, 1998, in which 242 people, 12 of them Americans, died.

Nabhan was one of his closest associates. Fazul, who has a $5 million U.S. bounty on hishead, was reported to have moved to Somalia earlier this year.

On Sunday, an unidentified foreign military helicopter, flying in from the sea, firedrockets into a house in the Shabaab-held coastal town of Merca, witnesses said.

Merca, 50 miles southwest of Mogadishu, is near where Saleh was assassinated.

At least seven al-Shabaab leaders were gathered in the house but none was reportedharmed since the missiles narrowly missed them. The helicopter, painted gray or olivegreen, flew off when al-Shabaab fighters opened fire on it, witnesses reported.

The U.S. military's Special Operations Command in Africa, and the U.S. AfricaCommand in Stuttgart, Germany, denied any involvement in Sunday's incident. So didofficials of the EU naval force battling Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden.

Al-Shabaab unleashed its relentless offensive Aug. 23. The fighting has centered on theever-shrinking seaside zone controlled by the TFG and a 7,000-strong African Union

peacekeeping force that provides most of the firepower for President Sheik Sharif SheikAhmed's shaky administration.

Officials with Western aid groups estimate that 350 people have been killed inMogadishu, with another 450 wounded and 23,000 displaced in the ongoing offensive.

All told, the catastrophe in Somalia, which has been wracked by clan warfare since theoverthrow of dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991, has produced more than 614,000refugees with an estimated 1.4 million displaced.

Al-Shabaab has been joined in the offensive by another Islamist faction, Hezb-ul Islam,a onetime rival that has switched sides before.

The TFG suffered another major setback Sept. 21 when Prime Minister Omar AbirashidAli Sharmarke resigned after a rancorous dispute with Sheik Sharif over a newconstitution.



They had been feuding for months and Sheik Sharif has been plotting to oust himthrough a vote of no-confidence since May.

Sharmarke, whose father was president until he was assassinated in 1969, said he wasquitting "for the sake of my nation's survival." But political insiders said he sought to

avoid "becoming a scapegoat for the country's deteriorating situation."

The TFG was weakened further by the defection of a moderate Islamist militia, AhluSunna Wal Jamaa, that had joined forces with it several months ago.

The president declared Saturday that al-Shabaab seeks to turn Somalia into a base foral-Qaida from which to terrorize the Horn of Africa.

That appeared to be a ploy to secure greater international support. But given hisgovernment's failure to co-opt opposition groups into a unity administration, Sheik

Sharif's Western backers are unlikely to come to his aid.

U.N. and aid officials say large numbers of jihadists from Pakistan and Afghanistanhave been moving to Somalia to expand the war, as evidenced by two deadly bombings July 11 in Kampala, capital of Uganda which is a key contributor to the AUpeacekeeping force. Seventy people were killed.-------------------- Who Attacked al-Shabab? The Rebel Leader Speaks (Time)

Who attacked Somalia's al-Shabab on Sunday? At about 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 26, a

mysterious helicopter opened fire on a meeting of top leaders of the increasinglyambitious al-Shabab rebel organization, which the U.S. has designated as a terroristgroup. The group's leader, Sheik Muktar Abdirahman Godane, told TIME in aninterview on Monday that he was present at the meeting in the Somali town of Mercaand watched as the helicopter, which he said was either gray or olive green,approached from the sea, circled and fired on the house where the meeting was takingplace. None of the foreign military powers with ships off the Somali coast have takencredit for the strike. "The helicopter was there for about 20 minutes in the air of Merca,and then it left," Godane told TIME. "We are now investigating the ammunition that itfired."

Godane, who rarely speaks to Western media, said that seven al-Shabab leaders hadgathered at a house belonging to one of the group's local members to try to resolve apower dispute that had arisen between Godane and Sheik Muktar Robow, another al-Shabab leader, over strategy and control of the organization. Godane refused to saywhether anyone was killed or injured in the attack, which was first reported by the NewYork Times. (The Times stated that no one was hurt.) Godane said al-Shabab closed offthe town after the attack and prevented anyone from leaving, to try to learn if someone



in the area had informed on the meeting. Mobile-phone communication was also cutoff.

Officials from the U.S. and the European Union, which have warships patrolling off theSomali coast, denied deploying the helicopter. "I can tell you we don't have any troops

in that vicinity at all," Major Bryan Purtell, spokesman for the U.S. military's SpecialOperations Command Africa, told the Associated Press. The African Union also said itwas not involved. That is likely, because the A.U. forces in Somalia are notoriouslyundermanned and underfunded and have no air power at all. "You made me have thelaugh of the year," Major Barigye Bahoku told the AP. "There is no way the AfricanUnion force can be involved in such a strike. We don't have helicopters ³ any aircapacity whatsoever."

The attack is not unprecedented. In September 2009, an American strike team killed al-Qaeda suspect Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan in Somalia. Nabhan was allegedly involved in

the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. He was also suspected in thebombing of an Israeli hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, in 2002 and the failed attempt to shootdown an airliner leaving Mombasa the same day. Still, it would be highly unusual forany military force to send a single helicopter to attack the al-Shabab leadership.

Al-Shabab has been increasingly active over a wider geographical range in recentmonths and is believed to have forged closer ties to al-Qaeda, receiving funding,training and fighters from the group. At the same time, its chief rival, the U.S.-backedTransitional Federal Government (TFG), has become weaker and weaker, riven byinternal squabbling, corruption and mismanagement. Last week, TFG Prime Minister

Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke resigned under pressure from President Sheik SharifAhmed in what was largely seen as a turf battle. The TFG suffered another serioussetback over the weekend when a moderate Islamic group, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa,withdrew its support for the government. The group said it had lost faith in the TFG.

Sharif's government now controls only a few acres of territory in Mogadishu, while al-Shabab's influence has spread; it now controls much of Somalia's south, including theport of Kismayu, where it earns much of its revenue. The group took control of Merca,down the coast from Mogadishu, in 2008.

In the interview with TIME, Godane said al-Shabab was doing well thanks to donationsand income. "We get funding from different sources," he said. "A rich Muslim may wishto fund the jihad for the sake of Allah. We have supporters throughout the world." Hereserved his harshest words for the U.S., which he said was powerless to get rid of al-Shabab despite Washington's funding of the TFG and its involvement in strikes like theone that killed Nabhan last year. "Only Allah can remove us," he said. "America cannotremove anything. They are enemy of Allah, and they will taste his punishment if theydon't ask for forgiveness."



--------------------13 African refugees drown in US Navy rescue attempt (Christian Science Monitor)

Thirteen refugees from Somalia and Ethiopia drowned Monday when their skiffcapsized off the coast of Somalia. They were receiving humanitarian assistance from the

United States, the US Navy said today in a statement.

The announcement came as the International Contact Group for Somalia concluded atwo-day conference in Madrid, pledging to boost the African-led peacekeeping force inSomalia. About 900 soldiers from Uganda and Burundi will join the 7,100 troopscurrently supporting the beleaguered government.

Two decades of civil war and an ongoing Al Qaeda-backed insurgency have displacedmore than 1.5 million people internally in Somalia and sent another 680,000 refugeesabroad, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"I think the international community and the European Union have to respond,"Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told a news conference Tuesday. "IfAfrican countries are willing to send their soldiers, from Spain's point of view it wouldbe logical for other international players including the European Union to contributetoward achieving a deployment with that number of soldiers."

Somalia's deteriorating security conditions have sent a flood of refugees abroad, as TheChristian Science Monitor has reported in the past. In 2007, "tiny fishing vessels carried26,000 men, women, and children ² a record number ² from Somalia to Yemen." In 2009,

that number rose to 74,000 people, according to the UN.

In the latest incident, the USS Winston S. Churchill on Sunday identified a skiff driftingin the Gulf of Aden with 85 refugees from Somalia and Ethiopia.

"Using a rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), Churchill crew members boarded the skiffand immediately rendered assistance, providing food and water to the skiff'spassengers," according to the statement posted on the US Navy website.

The RHIB then began towing the skiff toward the coast of Somalia. Later, "whiletransferring humanitarian supplies to the skiff, the passengers rushed to one side andthe skiff began taking on water, quickly capsizing and sinking rapidly, leaving all 85passengers in the water," the statement said, adding that 13 people drowned.

The final destination of the refugees was unknown, and the incident is under Navyinvestigation. A common destination is Yemen. According to the UN, at least 309people drowned or did not survive the trip in 2009. In 2008, some 590 people diedduring the crossing.



As the Monitor reported in 2007, not only innocent refugees risk their lives to fleeSomalia on the flimsy skiffs.

Among the latest wave of refugees are rank-and-file members of Somalia's defeated

Islamists, and now ousted moderate UIC leaders are also seeking refuge in Yemen,sparking concern from Yemeni officials and Western diplomats that Al Qaeda-linkedradical Islamists are also using these well-worn human-trafficking routes to escape fromSomalia to the Arabian Peninsula.

"We are concerned that terrorist operatives will try to escape Somalia and establish safehaven elsewhere," says one Western diplomat in Yemen's capital, Sanaa. "Governmentsin the region, including Yemen, share that concern. They are doing what they can toprevent suspected terrorists from setting up a base in their country."--------------------

Free Aids Drugs for Extra 32,000 Citizens (The Monitor)

Kampala ³ An extra 32,000 people living with HIV will receive free life-prolongingtreatment over the next two years after the United States government gave Ugandamore money.

Dr Kihumuro Apuuli, the director general of the Uganda Aids Commission (UAC), thegovernment body that coordinates the national response to the epidemic, toldParliament yesterday that the new funding will double the number of Ugandansreceiving free anti-retroviral treatment.

"This is good news because Americans have been helping only 36,000 people but theyhave doubled this number beginning this financial year," Dr Apuuli told MPs on thePublic Accounts Committee yesterday. Ms Joann Lockard, the public affairs officer atthe US embassy in Kampala, yesterday confirmed the funding increase. "We are talkingabout an increment of between $20 million- $30 million. Our funding for HIV/Aidsnow stands at $300 million," she said.

The development represents a change of heart in the Obama Administration, which hadearlier indicated that it would not increase its current level of funding committedthrough the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar), an initiative of theAmerican government.

Dr Apuuli told MPs that despite the increase, Uganda needs more than $500 million(about Shs1 trillion) to combat the epidemic and will need to find new ways to addressthe rising number of infections. "The Americans have increased funding but they aretelling us to either swim or drown if we don't reduce the new infections," Dr Apuuli



said. "For instance last year we registered 124,000 new infections compared to 110,000 in2008. This means in the next two to three years more 14,000 will need ARVs."

Increased need

MPs heard that the number of Ugandans living on ARVs - the drugs that reduce HIV inthe body and postpones the onset of Aids - had risen from 10,000 a decade ago to nearly200,000, many of them getting donor-funded treatment. However, figures from UACindicate that an extra 300,000 Ugandans in need of ARVs do not have access to thedrugs because they cannot afford them, and that an extra 124,000 become infected everyyear, increasing the number of those who need treatment.--------------------

International Experts Call Terrorism and Humanitarian Crises Greatest Threats to Africa;

Morocco Cited as 'Key African Partner' (PRNewswire-USNewswire)

Mbarka Bouaida, Moroccan Parliamentarian, joins international forum on political andeconomic development in Africa.ATLANTA, Sept. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This week, U.S. and internationalleaders, policymakers and experts convened in Atlanta, GA to examine the dauntingeconomic, political, and humanitarian challenges facing Africa today, and the role theU.S. and international community can play to address them. The Leon H. SullivanFoundation's Africa Policy Forum, held for the first time in the U.S., brought togetherinternational experts of diverse backgrounds and expertise to develop its "Vision for the21st Century."

"Our collective thinking and debate on 'Africa' is vital to help all nations on thecontinent reach their highest potential," said Ms. Mbarka Bouaida, the youngestmember of Morocco's Parliament and chair of its Foreign Affairs Committee, during thepanel discussions. "This conversation is not complete if it doesn't include 'NorthAfrica.' Morocco and its neighbors have great potential as a region and can contributetremendously to its southern neighbors."

Joining Ms. Bouaida at the four-day event were former UN Ambassador AndrewYoung, Susan D. Page, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs,General William "Kip" Ward, Commander of US AFRICOM, as well as several African

ministers, international NGO leaders, and representatives from U.S. corporations doingbusiness in Africa.

Two of the Forum's key topics were the growing threat of terrorism in Africa and thegrave humanitarian crises festering across the continent. The panelists uniformlyacknowledged that increased international attention is particularly important inunstable areas with weak leadership that could easily become "failed states." "As



President Obama has said, 'The more one area is unstable, the more unstable we allare,'" Deputy Assistant Secretary Page told the panel.

U.S. business opportunities and responsibilities in Africa were highlighted in a forumon economic development moderated by National Public Radio's Charlayne Hunter-

Gault, noted author and expert on African affairs. The experts reiterated that increasedU.S. engagement in Africa is necessary for real progress. Morocco's free tradeagreement with the U.S. and its nearly $700 million Millennium Challenge Corporationpartnership were singled out as models for the continent.

"For centuries, Morocco has been a key partner with its African neighbors economicallyand politically³during times of peace and conflict," said Ms. Bouaida. "Morocco hasseen great success in the areas of social and economic development anddemocratization. What will make this success greater is continued progress throughoutthe continent."

(For media inquiries and interview requests for Ms. Bouaida during her U.S. visit,please contact Calvin Dark, [email protected], 202-309-0372.)The Moroccan American Center for Policy (MACP) is a non-profit organization whoseprincipal mission is to inform opinion makers, government officials and interestedpublics in the United States about political and social developments in Morocco and therole being played by the Kingdom of Morocco in broader strategic developments inNorth Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. For more, please visitwww.moroccanamericanpolicy.org--------------------

U.S. sees progress in Sudan talks on oil-rich Abyei (Reuters)

WASHINGTON ² Negotiators for northern and southern Sudan have agreed on aframework for how to run a plebiscite in the disputed oil-rich region of Abyei andshould reach a final deal next month, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said negotiating teams from the two sidesmet through the weekend in New York in U.S.-mediated talks and saw some progresstoward resolving a key issue ahead of the January vote, which is due to take placealongside a larger referendum on independence for southern Sudan.

"We thought that they were useful meetings. They established a foundation forresolving the Abyei challenge," Crowley told a news briefing.

He said the two sides were due to meet again next month in Ethiopia's capital AddisAbaba "and we would expect that the parties should come to the meeting prepared toreach an agreement on Abyei."



The New York talks, mediated by the U.S. special envoy for Sudan, Scott Gration, andanother senior State Department official, took place after last week's mini-summit onSudan at the United Nations attended by U.S. President Barack Obama and other worldleaders.

International concern is rising ahead of the planned January 9 votes in both Abyei andsouthern Sudan which could see the south split off as Africa's newest country, withsome observers worried about renewed violence between two sides that fought a longcivil war before a peace deal in 2005.

Obama has offered the northern government in Khartoum the possibility of improvedties with the United States if it works to bring peace to Sudan, including the violence-ravaged western region of Darfur.

THREE MONTHS TO GO

Both sides pledged at the U.N. meeting to hold the referendums on time. But U.S. andother officials say it remains unclear if Khartoum is either able or willing to pull off thecomplex and sensitive votes with just over three months to go.

Crowley said the U.S.-led peace effort was focused for now in Abyei, a disputed centralregion which is being given its own vote on whether to join the north or the south.

The two sides have been deadlocked over the membership in the region's referendum

commission, while borders also have not been demarcated following threats by thenomadic Arab Missiriya in the north.

The south's ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement says the Khartoumgovernment is settling thousands of Missiriya in northern Abyei to influence the vote.The Khartoum government denies this.

Crowley gave no details on which specific issues had made progress in the New Yorktalks, which followed meetings between U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and VicePresident Ali Osman Taha of Sudan's national government of Khartoum and Salva Kiir,president of the semi-autonomous south, last week.

But he said the United States remained committed to helping Sudan resolve a range ofissues -- including questions of eventual borders, citizenship, and oil revenue sharing --ahead of the January referendums.

The United States has in recent weeks significantly stepped up its diplomatic efforts inSudan, which Clinton herself called a "ticking time bomb" in the heart of Africa.



Gration has made repeated trips to the region, and was recently joined on the U.S. teamby retired U.S. Ambassador Princeton Lyman, a former envoy to South Africa andNigeria with long experience in Africa.--------------------

Foreign observers deploy for Sudan referendum (AFP)

JUBA, Sudan ² International observers have begun work in Sudan to observe alandmark referendum on the potential independence of the south, the US-based CarterCentre said on Tuesday.

The referendum due in January was a key provision of the 2005 peace agreementbetween north and south Sudan that ended two decades of civil war, during whichabout two million people were killed.

"The Carter Centre deployed 16 long-term observers from 12 nations this week to assessthe referendum process in southern Sudan and in the areas in the north where votingwill occur," read a statement from the organisation, headed by former US president Jimmy Carter.

Southerners across the country will choose whether to split Africa's largest country orremain in a united Sudan.

Four teams are based in the south, three in the north and one team in the contestedborder region of Abyei, which will hold a simultaneous vote to decide whether to be

part of north or south Sudan.

Preparations are seriously behind schedule, with just over 100 days to go and voterregistration not yet even started.

The Carter Centre noted "encouraging progress," including the start of printing ofregistration materials, as well as the appointment of members of state referendumcommittees running the voting process.

But it also warned that several "important steps" remain for the process to moveforward.

These include the approval of the budget and the release of cash for the Southern SudanReferendum Commission to enable it to operate and recruit key staff, as well as thepublishing of a detailed referendum calendar.

In addition, "transparent decisions on the legal framework, institutional structures, andoperational plans" for voter registration are also required.



The observers will monitor all steps, including voter registration, the campaign period,polling, tabulation, and the resolution of disputes.

The south is determined to keep the January 9 deadline set out in the peace deal, but

critics warn that time is running short to ensure a credible vote.

Many diplomats fear the south could declare independence unilaterally if the vote isdelayed, potentially leading to renewed civil war.--------------------Sudan's Ruling Party Sets Conditions for Vote (Voice of America)

Sudan's northern-based government says it will not accept the results of an upcomingindependence referendum in the south unless the vote is free and southern militaryforces withdraw from disputed areas.

Senior ruling party official Rabie Abdelati Obeid said on Tuesday that no one in thesouth should interfere with people campaigning for the unity of the country.

The National Congress Party official says a failure of southern Sudan's autonomousgovernment to follow this guideline will invalidate the January 9 referendum.

On Monday, Sudanese Youth and Sports Minister Haj Majid Suwar said southernSudanese military forces also must withdraw from areas north of Sudan's disputednorth-south border before the referendum.

Both sides accuse each other of massing troops along the border, much of which isundefined.

Southern Sudan's main party accuses the NCP of trying to undermine the referendumto delay a secession of the oil-rich southern half of the country.

The former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement says the northern-basedgovernment is monopolizing state broadcasting to prevent supporters of secession fromairing their views. NCP official Obeid denies the accusation.

Sudan's government also has fallen behind in its preparations for the referendum.Sudanese election commission chairman Mohammed Ibrahim Khalil told Reuters onTuesday the registration of voters is likely to start three weeks later than planned inNovember.

He says the delay is needed to allow election workers to deliver forms to 3,600 voterregistration centers.



U.S. election monitoring group The Carter Center said Tuesday Sudan must alsoapprove the election commission's budget, recruit and train referendum workers, andpublish a detailed referendum calendar.

The group has sent 16 people to Sudan to observe referendum preparations.

Many analysts predict southerners, who hold predominantly Christian and traditionalbeliefs, will choose independence from the Muslim-dominated northern government.

The Sudanese government agreed to hold the referendum as part of 2005 peace dealthat ended two decades of civil war with the south.--------------------EU Naval Force to transfer pirates to Kenya for prosecution (Xinhua)

NAIROBI - The European Union Naval Force Somalia (EU NAVFOR) said it willtransfer a further four suspected Somali pirates to Kenyan authorities for prosecution.

The suspected pirates were interdicted by the EU NAVFOR Spanish warship SPSGaliacia on Friday when the boarding team approached a suspicious Kenyan dhow offthe eastern coast of Somalia.

After investigation, it transpired that there were nine Kenyan crew members and oneSomali translator being held by four suspected pirates. The crew was liberated and all14 people were transferred to the EU NAVFOR Spanish warship. "Kenya is one of our

strongest partners in the region," says Major General Buster Howes, EU NAVFOROperation Commander. "Since the transfer agreement, 75 suspected pirates have beentransferred to Kenya for prosecution and EU NAVFOR is pleased to know that 14suspected pirates have already been convicted and sentenced to 5 years imprisonmenteach. I hope we will continue to tackle this regional problem together," he said.

Howes said upon its arrival in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa, the EU NAVFORship SPS Galicia will transfer the four suspected pirates to the Kenyan authorities. "Theformer hostages will be transferred to the Kenyan Police and Prosecutor to give theirstatements, and thereby assist in building the prosecution case," Howes said.

With the addition of this pirate group to date, EU NAVFOR will have transferred 10groups of suspected pirates comprising 79 individuals to the Kenyan authorities forprosecution in the Kenyan national court.--------------------U.N. envoy proposes Somalia peacekeeping force (Stars and Stripes)



The United Nations must establish a ´light footprintµ in Somalia, leading to theeventual deployment of a peackeeping force in the country, a U.N. envoy toldrepresentatives from 45 countries and international organizations at a meeting inMadrid, Spain, this week.

The U.N. will work to strengthen its partnership with the African Union and otherregional groups, which have so far taken the lead in Somalia peacekeeping efforts,according to a statement issued Monday by Augustine P. Mahiga, the U.N. SecretaryGeneral·s special representative on Somalia.

In his comments ³ made during a meeting of the International Contact Group onSomalia ³ Mahiga called on the international community to work with the TransitionalFederal Government to bring peace and stability to Somalia.

´We have all seen how the international community has rallied behind the governments

in Iraq and Afghanistan,µ he said. ´Somalia is no exception; it requires similar massiveinterventions.µ

Currently, there are about 7,200 African Union troops in Somalia propping up thefledgling government, even as Islamist militants continue to wreak havoc throughoutmuch of the country.

Mahiga said Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon would like to see the implementation ofhumanitarian and recovery activities followed by the establishment of a light U.N.footprint. Then, at the appropriate time, the deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping

operation.

Any U.N. mission would have to be approved by the U.N. Security Council.

While rebranding the African Union efforts there as a U.N. mission could help securefunding and boots on the ground, any U.N. takeover of the Somalia mission is fraughtwith questions, says E.J. Hogendoorn, director of the International Crisis Group·s Hornof Africa project.

The African Union Mission in Somalia, known as AMISOM, recently agreed to increaseits force to 8,000 troops, and discussions are under way by African nations to increasethe AMISOM presence to 20,000. Established in 2004, the current force has struggled todefend government buildings, the airport and the port in the capital of Mogadishu.

Al-Shabab, an Islamic military group, now controls much of central and southernSomalia, and its ability to export terrorism and threaten regional stability has driventhese talks of an increased international presence, analysts say.



That message was crystallized in July, when al-Shabab carried out a pair of suicidebombings in the Ugandan capital of Kampala that killed at least 74 people. Uganda is alead contributor to the current African Union force in Somalia.

´Prior to the Kampala bombings, no one was talking about increasing the AMISOM

mission to 20,000,µ Hogendoorn said. ´Since then everyone has basically increased theirthreat perceptions about al-Shabab and thus are more willing to act.µ

Western governments, which hold the purse strings for the African mission, have beeninitially reluctant to increase the AMISOM force, he said. Countries are not lining uptroops to contribute to the effort, he said, and the proposed increase wouldn·tsufficiently address the al-Shabab threat in Somalia.

´It would not be a peacekeeping operation, it would be a peace enforcement operation,µHogendoorn said. ´What is clear is that the United States and most European Union

countries are not willing to consider sending in significant forces.µ

U.S. Africa Command·s top officer said last month that American troops would be ableto provide more support to the embattled Somali military if called upon. AFRICOM hasso far provided training to African Union troops, but could lend support to Somaliforces via small unit training to foster better relations, improve leadership and teach theproper role of militaries in society, Army Gen. William ´Kipµ Ward said.

Ward said he doesn·t see U.S. forces engaged on the ground in Somalia. Rather, thesupport would come in the form of logistical assistance, training and equipment.

--------------------Nigeria kidnappers abduct school children from bus (Associated Press)

KANO, Nigeria ² Gunmen kidnapped 15 school children on their way to class at aprivate school near Nigeria's oil-rich and restive southern delta, a police spokesmansaid Tuesday.

Abia state police spokesman Geoffrey Ogbonna said the gunmen stopped the schoolbus Monday morning as it headed toward the Abayi International School. The gunmenseized all the mobile telephones from the students, the bus driver and a teacher onboardbefore taking the children away, the spokesman said.

Ogbonna said the kidnappers apparently demanded more than $130,000 to release thechildren. The spokesman said he did not know the identities of the kidnappers or thehostages.

A spokesman for Nigeria's federal police force in Abuja said the agency had sentadditional investigators and officers to the region to assist in the search for the children.



Abia state, in Nigeria's southeast, sits near the Niger Delta, a maze of mangroves andcreeks where foreign oil firms draw crude in Africa's most populous nation. The regionhas long been plagued by violence from militants upset about the region's unceasingpoverty and from opportunistic criminal gangs targeting foreigners for kidnappings.

Now, with oil firms keeping their workers hidden behind razor wire and underparamilitary protection, gangs have increasingly turned to middle-class Nigerianfamilies. Middle-class children, as well as priests, politicians and doctors have beentargeted by criminal gangs. Typically, most are released a week or two after theirfamilies pay whatever ransom they can scrape together.

Last week, pirates operating off the delta's coast kidnapped three French oil workersand a Thai national. The workers have yet to be released.--------------------

UN News Service Africa Briefs Full Articles on UN Website

Chad calls on world to stand by its UN development summit pledges28 September ² Chad voiced concern today that despite the pledges at last week·sUnited Nations summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) the proposalsfor stepping up the fight against poverty, hunger disease and a host of other will remainmere words.

Senior UN official in DR Congo to investigate mass rape of civilians

28 September ² A leading United Nations official in the fight against sexual violenceduring conflict began a week-long visit to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) todayto coordinate a response to the mass rape by rebels of more than 300 civilians twomonths ago in the country·s east.

Sierra Leone at critical juncture in peacebuilding efforts, UN warned

28 September ² Sierra Leone, often cited as a success story in United Nations efforts toconsolidate peace in countries that have been ravaged by conflict, faces goodopportunities but also major risks from upcoming elections and newly found mineralwealth, a senior UN official said today.

Eritrea alleges UN ¶ignoring· Ethiopian occupation of its territory28 September ² Eritrea·s Foreign Minister today told the General Assembly that theUnited Nations ´continues to ignoreµ Ethiopia·s failure to comply with the ruling of aninternational commission that delineated the border between the two countries aftertheir 1998-2000 war.

Security Council to send more UN troops to Côte d·Ivoire ahead of upcoming polls



28 September ² The Security Council today urged parties in Côte d·Ivoire to ensure theholding of the country·s long-delayed presidential polls next month, and agreed todeploy up to 500 additional United Nations troops to assist with security during theelection period.

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