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Africa Center for Strategic Studies 

Media Review for March 19, 2013

 Congolese war criminal Bosco 'The Terminator' Ntaganda unexpectedly turns himself in at US embassy in Rwanda
One of Africa's most wanted war criminals walked into the United States embassy in Rwanda today and asked to be transferred to the International Criminal Court at The Hague. The US said it was "considering his request" after Bosco Ntaganda, nicknamed the "Terminator" appeared on their doorstep in Rwanda's capital, Kigali. Mr Ntaganda appears to have fled his base in Eastern Congo and sought refuge at the US embassy after a recent split in the armed rebellion of which he has been a commander. One faction of the M23 rebels, who are in peace talks with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is believed to be close to a peace deal and has been openly battling with fighters loyal to the indicted war crimes suspect. Mr Ntaganda's followers fled across the border into Rwanda in recent days as a rival faction took control of M23. The Independant

Rebel Surrender, a Boost to DRC Peace Process, Says Official
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has expressed confidence the U.S embassy in neighboring Rwanda will ensure Bosco Ntaganda is prosecuted on war crimes charges. "We have maintained close contact with our counterpart in the US government as well as in Rwanda, because the two governments have to cooperate so that Ntaganda is sent to be judged," said the DRC Information Minister Lambert Mende. Mende says the surrender of Ntaganda could change the dynamics of instability in the restive parts of the north Kivu province and surrounding areas in the DRC. VOA

 

Libya cracks down on illegal armed groups
Libya started Monday raiding headquarters and camps of illegal battalions in and around the capital Tripoli. An operation was launched Monday at a site in Ben Ghashir area, a suburb of the Libyan capital Tripoli, where there are reportedly a number of military vehicles controlled by illegal militants, said Faitouri Graybeal, a commander of the joint security force officially formed Sunday to specifically fight the outlaws. Xinhua

 

Big Terror, Small Towns: Al Qaeda in Africa operates on a simple principle: All jihad is local.
Earlier this month an upstart Nigerian terror group said it executed seven hostages it seized in February. Kidnappings, sometimes with barbarous outcomes, have been a tactic of choice for jihadists in north and west Africa since before the French intervened in Mali in January. Single-digit hostage-crises can be tempting for counter-terror strategists to dismiss, along with local trafficking and other forms of boondock gangsterism. Islamist activities in Africa, the thinking goes, are local in scope and regionally manageable-tinpot demagogues riding under the name-brand of al Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM). "Despite its pillorying by the media," one researcher at the Paris Military Academy wrote in an August 2010 paper, "the activities of AQIM may well be no more than overstated terrorism which masks the real issues at stake"-instability, poverty, cronyism and so forth. The Wall Street Journal

 

Obama to meet four African leaders in March
US President Barack Obama will welcome four African leaders to Washington this month, the White House said. Obama on March 28 will meet with the president of Senegal, Macky Sall; of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma; of Malawi, Joyce Banda; and the prime minister of Cape Verde, Jose Maria Pereira Neves. Spokesman Jay Carney said the leaders will discuss issues that include economic development and reinforcing democracy in sub-Saharan Africa. France 24

Real Talk from Under Secretary General Jeffrey Feltman

In his role with the United Nations as the Undersecretary General for Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman's portfolio covers the entire world's political conflicts. As President Barack Obama's former Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East, it's clear that the Middle East and North Africa is the area he's most comfortable in discussing. [...] Regarding the situation in Mali, Feltman felt sure that the UN Security Council would indeed authorize a new UN peacekeeping force shortly. A UN assessment team is on the ground in Mali this week to gather information for a recommendation to the Council, Feltman said. The security gains achieved by France and African nations would not be enough to save Mali, Feltman cautioned, without addressing the underlying political issues as well. UN Dispatch

 

Old Wine in New Bottles? Justifying France's Military Intervention in Mali
France is at it again. Less than two years after Franco-British-led air strikes helped topple Muammar Gaddafi's regime in Libya in March 2011, and French troops made the arrest of the former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo possible in April 2011, the French army is once again intervening in Africa; this time, according to the official discourse, to fight terrorist and criminal groups in Mali who pose a menace to the integrity of a democratic country, the lives of about 5,000 French expatriates, and the security of both Africa and Europe. Think Africa Press

 

International summit addresses Sahel security
Mauritania on Sunday (March 17th) hosted several foreign ministers for a meeting on Sahel security. Representatives from the African Union (AU), the European Union (EU), and the United Nations (UN) examined ways of boosting security co-operation and implementing the African plan for peace in the Sahel-Sahara region. The foreign ministers from Mauritania, Algeria and Libya, as well as a dozen West African states participated in the Nouakchott meeting. Magharebia

 

Canadian remains found at site of Algeria gas site
Police have confirmed that the remains of a Canadian, possibly one of the militants involved in the hostage taking at an Algerian gas plant in January, have been found. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which has sent officers to Algeria, said Monday the investigation is ongoing and that no further information will be given at this time. Stars and Stripes

 

The threat of the `unholy trinity`
In January 2013, a statement from the White House claimed that the United States (US) government's counter-terrorism strategy had succeeded in eliminating al-Qaeda's core leadership, but noted the emergence of its cells in Africa as a worrying development. Despite the global decline in the visibility of 'al-Qaeda central', local al-Qaeda affiliates or 'self-declared al-Qaeda wannabes' have become a serious concern. The story starts in September 2006, when al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) officially announced its affiliation with al-Qaeda. The declaration by the group, which has Algerian roots, was welcomed by the leadership of al-Qaeda. On 11 September 2006 the then second-in-command and present-day leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, called the merger a 'blessed union' and described AQIM as 'a source of chagrin, frustration and sadness' for the region. ISS

 

Blasts at Nigeria bus park kill at least 20
A series of blasts targeting buses full of passengers in Nigeria's second city of Kano killed at least 20 people on Monday, but the toll was expected to rise, a rescue official and a security source told AFP. Initial reports indicated that two suicide bombers rammed a car packed with explosives into a bus at the New Road station in Sabon Gari, a predominantly Christian neighbourhood in the majority Muslim city. AFP

 

Nigeria: President Jonathan dents reform credentials   

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan risked damaging his reform credentials ahead of the 2015 elections by pardoning a state governor who was jailed for corruption. Former Bayelsa state governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha who was impeached and later convicted for stealing millions of dollars was pardoned by the Nigerian leader last week. Jonathan once served as Alamieyeseigha's deputy and his impeachment marked the president's rise in Nigerian politics. The Africa Report

 

Kenya: Uhuru Kenyatta challenges ICC case
Lawyers for Kenya's President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta have urged the International Criminal Court to drop charges against him. He denies accusations of instigating violence after the disputed 2007 poll. The special hearing came a week after charges against his co-accused, Francis Muthaura, were dramatically dropped. BBC

 

Kenya: Raila Odinga claims he won election
Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who was the Coalition for Reform and Democracy (Cord) presidential candidate in the recently concluded presidential poll, on Monday claimed that he had won the March 4 General Election. Mr Odinga said he garnered 5.7 million votes against Jubilee's Uhuru Kenyatta's 4.5 million votes, but Mr Kenyatta was declared the winner prompting his coalition to move to the Supreme Court to contest the outcome. However, he did not explain how he had arrived at the figures. Daily Monitor

 

'Tahrir Lounge' pushes grassroots democracy
In a project funded by Germany, a team of young Egyptians in Cairo is trying to boost civil participation and create political awareness without subscribing to any particular ideology. At a recent evening in Cairo, a group of about 40 young Egyptians took part in a lively discussion about corruption and nepotism, hot-button issues in their still politically turbulent country. Deutsche Welle

Sudan will seek alliance with anti-Museveni forces in Uganda: official
The Sudanese government is working with forces in Uganda that are opposed to president Yoweri Museveni to bring about "positive political influence", the speaker of the country's national assembly Ahmed Ibrahim al-Tahir said today. Al-Tahir did not provide any details on Khartoum's efforts in this regard but his remarks signal a new stage in the already-sour relations between Sudan and Uganda. Sudan Tribune

 

African Nations Move to Protect Migrant Rights
The number of international migrants has increased by more than 40 percent since 2000, to an estimated 214 million people. The complications presented by this increasing flow are challenging border-control authorities worldwide. Officials from 13 Francophone countries in West and Central Africa met to figure out how to better protect the rights of people on the move. VOA

 

Mugabe slips into Italy despite ban
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe slipped into Italy on Monday for the inauguration of Pope Francis and officials went to some lengths to play down the technical infringement of a European Union travel ban on Africa's oldest leader. Mugabe, who has been under the ban since 2002 because of allegations of vote rigging and human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, was whisked straight from his plane to Rome airport terminal in a black van, together with his wife, Grace, and bodyguards. News 24

 

Central African rebels hold ministers, threaten to resume fighting
Central African rebels were Monday holding five ministers -- who joined the country's unity government from rebel ranks after a peace deal -- and threatened to resume hostilities if their demands were not met, officials said. The five had travelled to the city of Sibut, north of the capital Bangui, as part of a delegation to meet representatives of the Seleka rebel coalition to discuss the application of the peace deal, Security Minister Josue Binoua told AFP. Rebel Colonel Djouma Narkoyo said the insurgents were demanding that the government make good on the promises it made in the deal clinched two months ago in Libreville. Globalpost

 

Energy companies look to Africa
Africa offers interesting investment opportunities for energy companies, the chief executive of Abu Dhabi National Energy (TAQA) told CNBC, while the Middle East is no riskier than Europe. The company operates in Morocco and Ghana, and Carl Sheldon, who has been heading TAQA as CEO since 2011, said growing populations with rising expectations presented attractive potential for long-term investors. Globalpost

 

Blinded by science: the problems of sorting out identity in Africa
The concept of autochthony - that one is entitled to 'belong' because of ancestral rights or "this is ours because we were here first" (p. 1) - is in many ways an attractive one when looking at political, economic and military conflict in Africa. Land is and always has been a key factor on a continent where agriculture is still at the heart of most economies and non-urban communities. B��s and Dunn have chosen it as their focus for looking at issues of identity in Africa and use it to examine conflicts in Liberia, Kenya, the DRC and Ivory Coast. In so doing they appear to consciously reject economic factors other than land in explaining motives for competition and violence and also suggest autochthony is more appealing and applicable than ethnicity because it implies a sense of belonging and of being somewhere first. African Argument

 

In Senegal, a new president confronts an ancient tradition: child beggars
Young boys can be seen begging on street corners in nearly every Senegalese city. But addressing the problem is challenging because of the practice's religious roots, says President Macky Sall. CS Monitor

Africa: Will African Artifacts Ever Be Returned?
Will this miserable project be the last word on the looted Benin artefacts? The Benin Plan of Action is no plan of action and does not deal with restitution of the looted Benin bronzes. After 50 years Africans must demand a concrete time frame within which the artefacts are to be returned as a condition for participating in future meetings. Pambazuka News

FOR THE RECORD - AFRICA - U.S. Government Events, Statements, and Articles.  

A weekly compilation by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS)

U.S. Diplomats See Progress in Mali Since January
U.S. Department of State
Immense progress has taken place in Mali since January when an international force of French and African troops arrived to retake the northern part of the country from violent extremists, according to two U.S. diplomats working to resolve the crisis. "The international military intervention has helped restore Mali's territorial integrity and undermined the capacity of terrorist and extremist groups to operate freely in the north of Mali," U.S. Ambassador to Mali Mary Beth Leonard said in a teleconference with reporters March 14. 
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