AFRICOM Related Newsclips January 20, 2011

8/8/2019 AFRICOM Related Newsclips January 20, 2011

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United States Africa CommandPublic Affairs Office20 January 2011

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

Tunisia: Opportunity for US to begin a New Chapter (Modern Ghana)(Tunisia) The events in Tunisia offer a real opportunity for United States and herEuropean allies to take a critical look at the way they have used the so called nationalinterests to protect autocratic regimes in the Middle East and Africa and put them on

collision with the people.

Tunisia calms as government rejects old guard (Associated Press)(Tunisia) Tunisia's new government began releasing prisoners Wednesday and movedto track down assets stashed overseas by its deposed president and his widely dislikedfamily.

Initial results: SSudan independence vote approved (Associated Press)(Sudan) Officials say preliminary results show more than 98 percent of voters in andnear Southern Sudan's capital voted for independence from the north.

Gbagbo lauds Mills on rejecting troops to Cote d'Ivoire (Joy Online)(Cote d'Ivoire) Embattled Ivorian President, Laurent Gbagbo, has lauded PresidentJohn Evans Atta Mills' stance that Ghana cannot contribute to an ECOWAS militaryintervention force in Cote d'Ivoire as a wise decision taken in the interest of peace.

Switzerland Freezes Assets of Ivory Coast's Gbagbo, Tunisia's Ben Ali (Voice ofAmerica)(Cote d'Ivoire/Tunisia) Switzerland says it has frozen the assets of Ivory Coast'sincumbent president, Laurent Gbagbo, and Tunisia's former president Zine al-AbidineBen Ali.

UN adds 2,000 troops to Ivory Coast force (Associated Press)(Cote d'Ivoire) The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday voted unanimously to deploy2,000 additional peacekeepers to Ivory Coast, where the incumbent president hasrefused to relinquish his post to the man internationally recognized as the West Africancountry's legitimate leader.


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Country Assesses Reasons for Accounts Closing in U.S. (Angola Press)(Angola) The Angolan executive will make an assessment of the reasons behind theclosing of the accounts of the Embassy in the United States of America, for the secondtime, ANGOP has learnt.

Oil Hearing to Cast Spotlight on West Africa(Wall Street Journal)(Pan Africa) International environmentalists and lawmakers are looking nervously toWest African oil-patch countries including Nigeria and Angola, where watchdoggroups say a near epidemic of unaddressed spills is the result of either lax regulation,pipeline vandalization by groups seeking to divert oil for their own profits or anunderprepared spill-response effort.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Websitey Security Council reinforces UN mission in Cote dIvoire with more peacekeepers,

helicoptersy UN chief praises Comoros peaceful elections and welcomes acceptance of resultsy United Nations to send human rights team to assesses situation in Tunisia

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

WHEN/WHERE: Friday, January 21, 2011; Council on Foreign RelationsWHAT: Separating SudanWHO: Francis Deng, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Prevention ofGenocide, United Nations; Richard Williamson, Principal, Salisbury Strategies, LLP;

Senior Fellow, Chicago Council on Global Affairs; Nonresident Senior Fellow,Brookings Institution; Peter M. Lewis, Director, African Studies Program, Paul H. NitzeSchool of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins UniversityInfo: http://www.cfr.org/

WHEN/WHERE: Tuesday, January 25, 2011, 12:00; Elliott School of InternationalAffairs, George Washington UniversityWHAT: Tunisia: Protests and Prospects for ChangeWHO: Christopher Alexander, Associate Professor of Political Science, Dean RuskInternational Studies Program; Associate Dean for International Programs, DavidsonCollege; John P. Entelis, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Middle EastStudies Program, Fordham UniversityInfo:http://www.elliottschool.org/events/calendar.cfm?fuseaction=ViewMonthDetail&yr=2011&mon=1

WHEN/WHERE: Tuesday, January 25, 2011, 6:30 pm; Elliott School of InternationalAffairs, George Washington University


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WHAT: The Referendum in Southern SudanWHO: Jendayi Frazer, Distinguished Public Service Professor; Director, Center forInternational Policy and Innovation, Carnegie Mellon University; Former U.S. AssistantSecretary of State for African Affairs (2005-2009)Info:

http://www.elliottschool.org/events/calendar.cfm?fuseaction=ViewMonthDetail&yr=2011&mon=1#1402

WHEN/WHERE: Tuesday and Wednesday, February 8-9, 2011; National DefenseIndustrial Association, Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, DCWHAT: Defense, Diplomacy, and Development: Translating Policy into OperationalCapabilityWHO: Keynote Speakers include ADM Michael Mullen, USN, Chairman, Joint Chiefsof Staff; BG Simon Hutchinson, GBR, Deputy Commander, NATO Special OperationsForces Headquarters; ADM Eric T. Olson, USN, Commander, U.S. Special Operations

Command; Gen Norton A. Schwartz, USAF, Chief of Staff, U.S. Air ForceInfo: http://www.ndia.org/meetings/1880/Pages/default.aspx----------------------------------------------------------------------------------FULL ARTICLE TEXT

Tunisia: Opportunity for US to begin a New Chapter (Modern Ghana)

The events in Tunisia offer a real opportunity for United States and her European alliesto take a critical look at the way they have used the so called national interests to protectautocratic regimes in the Middle East and Africa and put them on collision with thepeople. For decades United States of America and her European allies have openlysupported the corrupt and despotic governments in the Middle East and Africa whoseonly interest is to maintain their grip on power without offering the people any hope ofeconomic, political and social development. These regimes have suppressed andcontinue to suppress freedom and democratic ideals cherished and enjoyed byAmericans and Europeans with the full support of US and her European allies.

Today the entire Arab World is full of leaders who have built the foundation of theirtotalitarian regimes on arms and weapons supplied to them by the United States andher allies in Europe. The security forces usually deployed by the regimes to terrorise,maim and kill the people have been financed, trained and armed by France, the US,

Britain and their cohorts. Egypt for instance receives about $1.3bn annually from the USdespite the fact that the country's autocratic leaders continue to suppress freedom ofspeech, assembly and the right of Egyptians to freely elect their leaders. The regime inSaudi Arabia has maintained its grip on power through arms sold to the government inRiyadh by the United States. Weapons built by European and American firms areconstantly used in Kuwait, Algeria, Morocco and Egypt to dislodge people with


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legitimate grievances over unemployment, poverty, high inflation, high prices of foodand other concerns.

There are many monarchies in Europe (Britain, Holland, Spain and Sweden) yet we donot see the citizens in these countries being arrested, detained, tortured and summarily

executed. On the contrary the countries in Europe with established monarchies aresome of the open and freest societies on earth. However, the monarchies and autocraticregimes in the Middle East frown on anything called democracy, freedom and humanrights and their citizens are some of the most repressed on earth.

From Bahrain in the Persia Gulf to Morocco in the Mediterranean Sea no dissent istolerated. People are arrested, detained, tortured and summarily executed for voicingfor the right to speak their mind freely. Annual Reports publish by Human RightsWatch, Amnesty International and other rights organisations contain tales of torture,and inhuman treatment carried out by the governments with weapons sold to them by

US authorities. The US which pride itself as the leader of the Free World has not givenits support to the progressive forces in these regions fighting for change, instead it hasaligned more and more with the brutal regimes.

The unflinching support the leaders receive has helped to alienate them from theircitizenry. Instead of building a society which is more tolerant and inclusive, theopposite is the situation. Large sections of the population in these countries have beenmarginalised socially, economically and politically. The people in the Middle East andAfrica see the huge wealth being created in their countries everyday yet they are notallowed to touch or benefit. In Tunisia, the recently leaked US diplomatic cables and

published by Wikileaks talk about massive corruption and nepotism at the presidency.Ben Ali is reported to have asked for a fifty per cent share of a business deal. His wifeLeila Ben Trabelsi is spoken off as an uneducated corrupt queen grabbing by forceanything that she sets her eyes on. Leila's brother Belhassen Trabelsi is the mostnotorious of the Trabelsi clan. His corrupt activities extend from banking, to real estate,tourism, information technology and airline. Imed and Moaz Trabelsi, President BenAli's nephews, are reported to have stolen a yacht belonging to Bruno Roger, a well-known French businessman and Chairman of Lazard Paris, a prominent firm withinterest in banking and asset management.

Ben Ali, Leila Trabelsi and their associates in Tunisia are no different from the rulers inEgypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. Over the years the corrupt leaders have signedhuge oil and other business contracts with American and European firms and siphonedwhat should have gone to the people into their private bank accounts in America,France, Britain and Switzerland with the full knowledge of American and Europeanpolitical establishments. The series of corrupt deals involving members of the SaudiRoyal family and British defence, security and aerospace company (BAE Systems) are acase in point. Billions of dollars worth of arms sold to Saudi Arabia by BAE Systems


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had their prices inflated and the proceeds diverted to Switzerland by members of theSaudi Royal family and Prince Bandar in particular. Then British Prime Minister, TonyBlair ordered the Lord Goldsmith and the Serious Fraud Office to stop investigating theBAE deals saying the investigations were harming British interests. In the same vanethe media reported in August 2009 that Britain freed Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the jailed

1988 Lockerbie bomber, because of a $500 million oil deal between Gaddafi and BritishPetroleum.

In French speaking Africa, France is more interested in protecting her business andother interests in Gabon, Cameroon and Congo Brazzaville than ensuring that citizensin those countries enjoy political an economic freedom. A November 2009 article in theNew York Times written by Adam Nossiter titled Ill will grows in former colonialRegion tells of French leaders pulling the strings in Africa, supporting dictators, sidingwith leaders who rig elections and actively promoting FrenchAfrique in contrast withassertions by Nicolas Sarkozy, that France was ending its opaque and corruption ridden

policies in its former African colonies. The US and Europe it seems are more interestedin protecting their interests in these regions than making sure the freedom, democracyand respect for human rights they preach is practised by their friends and allies in theregions.

While these shady deals have continued unabated and have helped to shape US andEuropean policy in the larger Middle East and Africa, the shady deals have also createda situation where the leaders have remained largely unaccountable; worked to preserveUS and European interests rather than that of their people and countries.

As unemployment, inflation and prices of basic commodities soar, the leaders who livein securitised palaces continue to act in business as usual fashion. They continue toremain detached from their people, most of whom have become frustrated, depressedand live in fear of their leaders. In Egypt many people have sought to solve theirproblems by committing suicide. The same is true in other countries as the case inTunisia shows, where a young graduate unemployed youth set himself ablaze and inthe process triggering the violence that toppled Ben Ali.

But the frustration, depression and suicides are not the only consequences. Thedetachment of the leaders from the people has created a wide gap that has beenexploited by Al Qaeda and other Jihadists' groups. The support Al Qaeda and itsaffiliate organisations enjoy in the Middle East and the Sahel region of Africa showsthat there is a strong link between the growth of terrorism on one hand and politicalrepression, economic and social marginalisation on the other. The growth of terrorismand terrorists' attacks against American and European targets also show that poor andmarginalised people will find solace in extremism as a way to express their frustrationand to challenge the existing order.


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The 9/11 and 7/7 attacks should have led the US and Europe to assess and examinetheir relationship with the corrupt regimes in these countries. The attacks should haveencouraged the United States to push for economic and political reform in thesecountries and to distant itself from the corrupt and repressive regimes that would notreform. The US and Europe after the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks should have made their

policies towards the regions more transparent and build allies based on the tenets ofdemocracy, respect for rule of law and economic and social freedoms.

But this was never to happen. Instead the assessment that was made after 9/11 ratherled to a closer collaboration between the hated regimes and the United States and herallies. The 'War on Terror' announced by the Bush administration after the 9/11 attackshas been seen as a gold mine by Ben Ali and his cohorts in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco,Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen among others. These leaders have used the 'War onTerror' as an excuse to further curtail the few rights and freedoms that previouslyexisted. The 'War on Terror' has been used to silence critics of the regimes to the point

that anything associated with rights and freedoms is quickly linked to extremism andterrorism and brutally crashed. It was therefore no surprise that the Tunisian InteriorMinister sought to link the genuine protests over poverty, unemployment, highinflation and high food prices to extremists groups. Linking the protests to terrorismwas a ploy not only to win the sympathy and support of American and Europeangovernments but also to use it as an excuse to brutally smash the demonstration.

The leaked cables indicate that United States is aware of the harassments, human rightsabuse and massive corruption, that largely defined Ben Ali's government. A statementfrom one of the cables reads: Tunisia is a police state, with little freedom of expression

or association and serious human rights problems. Another cable also notes thatPresident Ben Ali's extended family is the nexus of Tunisian corruption. The Cableconcludes: Corruption is the elephant in the room; it is the problem everyone knowsabout, but no one can publicly acknowledge. The lack of transparency andaccountability that characterize Tunisia's political system similarly plague the economy,damaging the investment climate and fueling the culture of corruption.

In spite of having full knowledge of the massive corruption perpetrated by Ben Ali, hisfamily and members of his government the US did little publicly to call for a paradigmshift in a way that economy was being raped until the violent demonstrations brokeout. And even while the demonstrations were underway the US and her Europeanallies were reluctant in condemning Ben Ali and his security forces. For instance in thewake of the uprising in Tunisia, Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of States was askedduring her visit to Middle East about the situation in Tunisia. Her response was: Wedon't take sides.

Secretary Clinton should have stood with the people of Tunisia and demanded change,a position that was later taken by President Obama when he spoke condemning the


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police crackdown on the protesters. A statement later released by the White Housequoted President Obama as saying:

I condemn and deplore the use of violence against citizens peacefully voicing theiropinion in Tunisia, and I applaud the courage and dignity of the Tunisian people. The

United States stands with the entire international community in bearing witness to thisbrave and determined struggle for the universal rights that we must all uphold, and wewill long remember the images of the Tunisian people seeking to make their voicesheard.

By the time the above statement was released more than fifty-five Tunisians hadperished, shot dead by Ben Ali's security forces. Additional twenty three were to dielater, bringing the total to seventy-eight. The seventy-eight people who died as a resultof police brutalities could have been saved if the US had spoken out and had been morevocal against corruption, and the impunity of Ben Ali and his security forces.

Perhaps US and her allies in Europe should begin to realise that their policies in theMiddle East and Africa are not working and need serious evaluation. The policies arebreeding more extremists than Bin Laden could have achieved on his own. It isalienating the governments from the people, and moving them closely to radicalideologies spewed by those who hate America and her ideals.

History has shown that the American people love justice and fairness; they love rule oflaw, respect for human rights, economic opportunities for all and they have beensupporting many humanitarian programmes around the world. At the same time they

hate the misuse of their taxes for activities that undermine development and humanprogress elsewhere. Therefore why should their taxes be used to support autocraticregimes who are hell bent on denying their people the very opportunities that are thesymbol of American power and progress? Why should their taxes be used to trainsecurity forces that perpetrate violence and atrocities against their own people with thesupport of the American government?

This is why I believe US should seize the opportunity brought by Tunisia revolutionand push for radical reform in the Middle East and also in Africa, that is reforms thatwill open up the countries that have been turned into prisons by the corrupt leaders.

I cannot see the US and her allies winning the 'War on Terror' either now or in the nearfuture while large section of the population in the Middle East and Africa are excludedfrom the economy, and while they remain poor and marginalised. The war againstextremism and terrorism will not be won and the influence of Bin Laden will not waneunless United States and Europe push for a more inclusive, democratic, transparent andcorruption free governments that respect not only human rights and freedom of speechbut also allow a vibrant civil society to develop.


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In Egypt for example US could use the $1.3bn annual aid it gives to the country as aleverage to push for democratic and economic reform that will enable the people toactively participate in the political and economic development of their country; toempower the people so they can openly criticise their government without being

arrested. The regimes must be encouraged to lift the censorship on media, allow privatemedia to operate freely and grant more licenses to others. If Americans can express theiropinion freely on CNN, ABC, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, why should Saudis,Egyptians, Moroccans and Algerians have to go to jail for doing the same?

Therefore it may be wise for United States to cut off funding to regimes that will notreform and use the funds to support progressive forces and engage those marginalisedby US policies in these countries

Additionally, United States must stop being quiet while great injustices are being

committed against innocent people in the name of 'War on Terror'. The men, women,children, the poor and the unemployed youth in these countries would want to knowopenly whether the United States government and the American people are with themor are with their autocratic governments. The US must say openly what it says to theleaders in private to reassure the people that the world's great democracy is behindthem.

It is important to promote and protect US economic and other interests in thesecountries but what is the gain when fifty year old economic interests are destroyedwithin a twinkle of an eye as the situation in Tunisia has shown? What is the use when

diplomats and their dependants are put at great risk in these countries? What is the gainwhen US and European citizens are kidnapped and murdered in cold blood byextremists as recent cold blood murder of two Frenchmen show in Niger? That is not tosay US and her allies should stop promoting their interests in these countries but theinterests must be pursued in open and transparent manner devoid of the corruption,hypocrisy and double standards. In short the interests must not be pursued against thesufferings of the people.

The recommendation offered by the US Ambassador in Tunis contained in the leakedcables published by Wikileaks could not be more clear. The ambassador recommendedthat US should:

keep a strong focus on democratic reform and respect for human rights, but shift theway we promote these goals; -- seek to engage the Government of Tunisia in a dialogueon issues of mutual interest, including trade and investment, Middle East peace, andgreater Maghreb integration; -- offer Tunisians (with an emphasis on youth) moreEnglish-language training, educational exchanges, and cultural programs; -- move our


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military assistance away from FMF, but look for new ways to build security andintelligence cooperation.

The above is what United States and her European allies should have done before andafter 9/11. However it is not too late. US and her allies should quickly embrace the

opportunity the Tunisian revolution offers, engage the governments and the people inthe region and usher in a new chapter that places emphasis on inclusion of all citizensin decision making, democracy, respect for human dignity, and freedom to live a life oftheir choice.------------------Tunisia calms as government rejects old guard (Associated Press)

TUNIS, Tunisia Tunisia's new government began releasing prisoners Wednesday andmoved to track down assets stashed overseas by its deposed president and his widelydisliked family.

Tensions on the streets appeared to be calming as the administration tried to show itwas distancing itself from the old guard.

Hundreds of protesters led a rally in central Tunis demanding that former allies ofdeposed President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali stop clinging to power. The march endedwith some 50 young people standing in a circle reading poetry and singing songs. Inrecent days, police have fired tear gas and clubbed protesters.

The U.N. said more than 100 people have died in the unrest that surrounded Ben Ali's

ouster.

Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia on Friday after 23 years in power, and a caretakergovernment is now struggling to calm this moderate Muslim nation on theMediterranean Sea, popular among European tourists and seen as an ally in the West'sfight against terrorism.

Ben Ali's longtime prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi, kept his post and is trying toconvince Tunisians a new era has arrived even if the composition of the interimgovernment has many faces from the old guard.

Interim President Fouad Mebazaa went on television and promised to live up to thepeople's revolt, which he called a "revolution."

"Regarding security, you have certainly noticed that it has improved," he said. "We havediscovered the leaders of the chaos, and have stopped the gangs and those who put fearin the hearts of people. The situation is moving toward stability."


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But Hafed al Maki, 50, who works at the country's largest insurance company, said hewould not wait for the 60-day constitutional limit for new presidential elections to pass"because that is enough time for the old cronies to set their roots in and start their oldways again, thieving and taking our resources. No way that's happening again."

Opposition figures and the prime minister's office have said that the 60-day limit isunrealistically short, and the delay will more likely be six to seven months.

Swiss officials estimate Tunisian government officials have put about $620 million intoSwiss banks, and the anti-corruption group Transparency International France and twoother associations filed suit in Paris alleging corruption by Ben Ali and his wife.

Tunisia's official TAP news agency reported that the Central Bank had taken control ofBanque Zitouna, a bank founded by a son-in-law of Ben Ali, to protect the deposits ofaccountholders and prevent a run on the bank.

The national prosecutor's office moved to investigate overseas bank accounts, real estateand other assets held by Ben Ali, his wife Leila Trabelsi and other relatives. Hisrelations especially his wife's family were seen as corrupt and dominated manybusinesses in the nation.

The Swiss president said that her country's federal council agreed to freeze any assets inSwitzerland belonging to Ben Ali, to help work up a possible criminal case over allegedstolen funds.

In Geneva, the United Nations' human rights chief, Navi Pillay, said she was sending an"assessment team" to Tunisia in coming days, and estimated more than 100 deaths haveoccurred so far during the unrest in Tunisia.

Tunis' stock exchange, many shops, schools and universities remained closed and someworkers have gone on strike. A curfew remains in place, thought the governmentshortened it as security improved.

In another effort to ease tensions, the government moved ahead Wednesday with plansto release 1,800 prisoners who had less than six months to serve, the official state newsagency TAP reported. It was not immediately clear what prompted the release, orwhether any were political prisoners.

The unrest has rattled Tunisia's economy, which had seen impressive growth in recentyears. Moody's Investor Service downgraded Tunisia's government bond ratingsWednesday, citing "significant uncertainties" surrounding Tunisia's economic andpolitical future.


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Moody's cut the rating by one notch, to "Baa3" from "Baa2," and also downgraded itsoutlook to negative from stable. The new rating is one notch above "junk bond" status.------------------Initial results: SSudan independence vote approved (Associated Press)

JUBA, Sudan -- Officials say preliminary results show more than 98 percent of voters inand near Southern Sudan's capital voted for independence from the north.

The referendum committee for Central Equatoria State on Wednesday posted theirresults of the weeklong poll that ended Saturday. The south was widely expected tovote for secession.

Referendum bureau spokesman Aleu Garang Aleu said "five or six" of the south's 10states have reported final tallies.

Southern president Salva Kiir urged southerners to wait to celebrate until completeresults are announced in mid-February.

The referendum was part of a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades ofcivil war between the largely Christian and animist south and the mostly Muslim north.------------------Gbagbo lauds Mills on rejecting troops to Cote d'Ivoire (Joy Online)

Embattled Ivorian President, Laurent Gbagbo, has lauded President John Evans AttaMills' stance that Ghana cannot contribute to an ECOWAS military intervention force in

Cote d'Ivoire as a wise decision taken in the interest of peace.

"He is a wise man; he has taken a very good decision that his country intervention inCote d'lvoire. This is in the spirit of the creation of the Organisation of African Unity inthe 1960s and the African Union (AU) in 2000," he stated.

He said President Mills had taken a decision that matched common sense and askedwhether those advocating military intervention were prepared to kill their own peoplein a war, as there were a number of ECOWAS citizens in Cote d'lvoire.

President Gbagbo, who was speaking on TV Africa's The Bare Facts, hosted by MrKwesi Pratt Jnr., last night questioned the rationale behind putting up a military force toimpose democracy on Cote d'Ivoire when there were a number of countries in Africawith leaders who had come to power through coups d'etat.

"With the coups around the continent, are they going to send troops to all those places?"he asked.


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President Gbagbo said the military intervention being threatened by ECOWAS wasmisplaced because when, in 2002, his country was attacked by rebel forces, ECOWASfailed to put up an army to help it.

"They would have been credible if they had done that," he said.

"Do they know the implication of such a decision? In Africa, we have many countrieswith post-election crises. There are even countries where people win elections by 80 or90 per cent. If we are to use military force in all those places, then the entire continentwill be on fire," he went on.

Mr Gbagbo, who spoke through an interpreter, said, "I am surprised that the samepeople asking for such an action now could not raise an army to defend me in 2002.They are remote-controlled by external forces."

He said instead of threats of military intervention, ECOWAS should emulate PresidentMills's example and take a wise decision that would save Cote d'Ivoire from the currentcrisis which, in itself, was of little magnitude.

He said he was not afraid of the military threats from France and ECOWAS, adding,"We will discharge our responsibilities."

He said the current crisis was being fuelled by people outside the borders of Africa whowere also interfering with local problems, thereby making things more complicated.

He wondered why the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Mr Ban Ki-Moon,would accept the credentials of an Ambassador to the UN when the person whoappointed him (Ouattara) had not taken any oath before the Constitutional Council.

President Gbagbo said the crisis was a small and ordinary problem that could be seeneverywhere, including the United States which had its share of electoral disputes in2000 and it took two months to declare the winner of a contest between Al Gore andGeorge Bush.

On the way forward to uniting the country, he said he had, in two televised addressesin December 2010, stretched his arms to Messrs Ouattara and Bedie to find a lastingsolution to the crisis.

"I am still stretching out to them. I hope they will stretch their arms and let us talk. Themore we talk among ourselves, the less we give room for external forces to interfere," henoted.


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According to President Gbagbo, the solution to the Ivorian crisis should mean a lot toECOWAS, which should be committed to peace because Cote d'Ivoire is a major playerin West Africa and has the second biggest economy in the sub-region.

On allowing former President Konan Bedie and Ouattara to contest the elections, he

said the two were disqualified per Article 35 of the Ivorian Constitution.

While Mr Bedie was barred because of his age (75) and Ouattara because both parentswere not from Cote d'Ivoire, he (Gbagbo) had to give in to allow them to contest inorder to unite the country and end the armed conflicts.

He said in spite of all the concessions he made, which included allowing the oppositionto take 90 per cent of Electoral Commission positions and using Article 48 of theconstitution to allow his two opponents to contest the elections and ultimately open thenorthern part of the country for unity, the rebels refused to disarm.

Ouattara was declared the winner of the November 28, 2010 run-off by Cote d'Ivoire'sElectoral Commission but the Constitutional Council overturned the results afterinvalidating half a million votes from Ouattara's strongholds.------------------Gbagbo lauds Mills on rejecting troops to Cote d'Ivoire (Joy Online)

Embattled Ivorian President, Laurent Gbagbo, has lauded President John Evans AttaMills' stance that Ghana cannot contribute to an ECOWAS military intervention force inCote d'Ivoire as a wise decision taken in the interest of peace.

"He is a wise man; he has taken a very good decision that his country intervention inCote d'lvoire. This is in the spirit of the creation of the Organisation of African Unity inthe 1960s and the African Union (AU) in 2000," he stated.

He said President Mills had taken a decision that matched common sense and askedwhether those advocating military intervention were prepared to kill their own peoplein a war, as there were a number of ECOWAS citizens in Cote d'lvoire.

President Gbagbo, who was speaking on TV Africa's The Bare Facts, hosted by MrKwesi Pratt Jnr., last night questioned the rationale behind putting up a military force toimpose democracy on Cote d'Ivoire when there were a number of countries in Africawith leaders who had come to power through coups d'etat.

"With the coups around the continent, are they going to send troops to all those places?"he asked.


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President Gbagbo said the military intervention being threatened by ECOWAS wasmisplaced because when, in 2002, his country was attacked by rebel forces, ECOWASfailed to put up an army to help it.

"They would have been credible if they had done that," he said.

"Do they know the implication of such a decision? In Africa, we have many countrieswith post-election crises. There are even countries where people win elections by 80 or90 per cent. If we are to use military force in all those places, then the entire continentwill be on fire," he went on.

Mr Gbagbo, who spoke through an interpreter, said, "I am surprised that the samepeople asking for such an action now could not raise an army to defend me in 2002.They are remote-controlled by external forces."

He said instead of threats of military intervention, ECOWAS should emulate PresidentMills's example and take a wise decision that would save Cote d'Ivoire from the currentcrisis which, in itself, was of little magnitude.

He said he was not afraid of the military threats from France and ECOWAS, adding,"We will discharge our responsibilities."

He said the current crisis was being fuelled by people outside the borders of Africa whowere also interfering with local problems, thereby making things more complicated.

He wondered why the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Mr Ban Ki-Moon,would accept the credentials of an Ambassador to the UN when the person whoappointed him (Ouattara) had not taken any oath before the Constitutional Council.

President Gbagbo said the crisis was a small and ordinary problem that could be seeneverywhere, including the United States which had its share of electoral disputes in2000 and it took two months to declare the winner of a contest between Al Gore andGeorge Bush.

On the way forward to uniting the country, he said he had, in two televised addressesin December 2010, stretched his arms to Messrs Ouattara and Bedie to find a lastingsolution to the crisis.

"I am still stretching out to them. I hope they will stretch their arms and let us talk. Themore we talk among ourselves, the less we give room for external forces to interfere," henoted.


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According to President Gbagbo, the solution to the Ivorian crisis should mean a lot toECOWAS, which should be committed to peace because Cote d'Ivoire is a major playerin West Africa and has the second biggest economy in the sub-region.

On allowing former President Konan Bedie and Ouattara to contest the elections, he

said the two were disqualified per Article 35 of the Ivorian Constitution.

While Mr Bedie was barred because of his age (75) and Ouattara because both parentswere not from Cote d'Ivoire, he (Gbagbo) had to give in to allow them to contest inorder to unite the country and end the armed conflicts.

He said in spite of all the concessions he made, which included allowing the oppositionto take 90 per cent of Electoral Commission positions and using Article 48 of theconstitution to allow his two opponents to contest the elections and ultimately open thenorthern part of the country for unity, the rebels refused to disarm.

Ouattara was declared the winner of the November 28, 2010 run-off by Cote d'Ivoire'sElectoral Commission but the Constitutional Council overturned the results afterinvalidating half a million votes from Ouattara's strongholds.

The dispute has resulted in the death of hundreds of people and also sparked a refugeecrisis in the world's largest cocoa exporting country which is struggling to recover fromthe 2002-2003 civil war that divided the country into two.

Ouattara draws much of his support from the country's rebel-held north, while

Gbagbo's power base is in the south.------------------Switzerland Freezes Assets of Ivory Coast's Gbagbo, Tunisia's Ben Ali (Voice ofAmerica)

Switzerland says it has frozen the assets of Ivory Coast's incumbent president, LaurentGbagbo, and Tunisia's former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said Wednesday the move is aimed atensuring the Swiss financial system does not become a refuge for funds "illegally"obtained from the people of Ivory Coast and Tunisia.

Ms. Calmy-Rey, who holds the Swiss rotating presidency, said the freeze on assets ofMr. Gbagbo, Ben Ali and their entourages would take effect "immediately."

The European Union froze Mr. Gbagbo's assets earlier this week in response to hisrefusal to hand power to his rival, Alassane Ouattara. Most countries have recognizedMr. Ouattara as the winner of Ivory Coast's November presidential election.


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The Swiss foreign minister said her government wanted to act quickly to prevent Mr.Gbagbo from shifting funds to Switzerland to get around the EU sanctions.

She said the freeze on Mr. Gbagbo will remain in effect for three years. His assets also

have been frozen in the United States.

Ms. Calmy-Rey said Switzerland hopes the new sanctions against Mr. Gbagbo and BenAli will encourage Ivorian and Tunisian authorities to seek help in filing criminal casesagainst the two men.

Ben Ali fled Tunisia last Friday following mass protests against his 23-year longauthoritarian rule. Tunisian prosecutors opened an investigation Wednesday intoallegations that the former president and his relatives stole state funds.

The investigation will examine overseas bank accounts, properties and other assets heldby Ben Ali and his extended family.------------------UN adds 2,000 troops to Ivory Coast force (Associated Press)

UNITED NATIONS The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday voted unanimously todeploy 2,000 additional peacekeepers to Ivory Coast, where the incumbent presidenthas refused to relinquish his post to the man internationally recognized as the WestAfrican country's legitimate leader.

Ivory Coast has seen violence and increased tension since the disputed presidentialelection in November. The new U.N. troops, to be deployed through June, wouldbolster the world body's peacekeeping force to nearly 12,000.

African Union envoy Raila Odinga, Kenya's prime minister, said Wednesday thatdespite two days of meetings he has failed to persuade incumbent Laurent Gbagbo torelinquish the presidency to Alassane Ouattara.

Ouattara, declared the winner of the elections, has been unable to assume thepresidency because Gbagbo refuses to leave office despite sanctions, multiple visits byAfrican leaders and now the threat of a military ouster.

"I regret to announce that the breakthrough that was needed did not materialize,"Odinga said in a statement issued Wednesday morning.

Odinga said Gbagbo had broken several promises that he had made to lift a blockadeput in place around the Abidjan hotel where Ouattara is confined.


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"Mr. Gbagbo gave me an assurance that this blockade would be lifted yesterday, but hebroke that promise for the second time in two weeks," Odinga said.

Swiss authorities, meanwhile, were moving to immediately freeze any assets belongingto Gbagbo, Swiss President and Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said

Wednesday. It was not immediately known how much money Gbagbo may have inSwiss bank accounts.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said peacekeepers face an "openly hostile securityenvironment" with threats from forces loyal to Gbagbo. Attacks against thepeacekeepers have been mounting. Last week six of their cars were destroyed by pro-Gbagbo mobs, who accuse the U.N. of bias, and of being part of "a foreign plot" toremove the leader.

The Security Council on Wednesday also extended the temporary deployment of 400

troops and 100 police officers from March 31 until June 30. It said three infantrycompanies and two utility helicopters from Liberia should remain in Ivory Coast forfour more weeks, and authorized the transfer of three armed helicopters from Liberia toIvory Coast for four weeks.

Pro-Gbagbo forces have been accused of targeting Ouattara's supporters in thecommercial hub of Abidjan, and supporters of both candidates have taken to the streetsin protest. The United Nations has reported more than 200 deaths in postelectionviolence.

A West African bloc has threatened military intervention if Gbagbo does not step down.

"Time is running out for an amicably negotiated settlement," Odinga said. "In addition,the window of any opportunity for any amnesty will continue to close if Mr. Gbagbo'ssupporters continue to commit crimes against civilians and peacekeepers."

Once a prosperous state, Ivory Coast has become a nation perpetually in crisisfollowing the disputed 2000 election that brought Gbagbo to power. The country wasplunged into civil war in 2002, and a presidential election initially scheduled for 2005has been delayed every year since.

In a televised debate on the eve of the vote, Gbagbo vowed to respect the results issuedby the country's independent electoral commission. He changed his mind several dayslater when the commission announced that he had lost, and the U.N. certifiedOuattara's victory.

Odinga ran as the opposition candidate in Kenya's disputed 2007 presidential vote,which led to violence that left more than 1,000 people dead. He was later appointed


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prime minister as part of a power-sharing deal. On Wednesday, he said Ivory Coastcould set a dangerous precedent for Africa.

"If the continent's people came to believe that their votes were not what brought topower the leaders they wanted, elections would become meaningless and pave the way

for unrest and instability throughout the continent," he said.------------------Country Assesses Reasons for Accounts Closing in U.S. (Angola Press)

Luanda The Angolan executive will make an assessment of the reasons behind theclosing of the accounts of the Embassy in the United States of America, for the secondtime, ANGOP has learnt.

"We have the information that another financial institution has cancelled the accounts ofthe Embassy, the most important thing is to make an assessment of the relationship

with the US financial system", said the minister of State and Head of the Civil Office ofthe President of the Republic, Carlos Feij.

During the press conference, the official said Angola will do its homework to assesswhat has been happening, since it has made legislative efforts, and also at the level ofmoney laundering, it has taken significant steps, because of that the country has beenwithdrawn from the non-co-operating countries list.

Thus, the country started to be considered interested in the fight against moneylaundering, a position reinforced with the approval, in May, 2010, of the law against

money laundering and financing of terrorism.

According to Carlos Feij, an international meeting analysed recently, in a positive way,Angola's behaviour, the accomplishment of the main guidelines of the internationalfinancial system.

Meanwhile, at the internal level, minister Carlos Feij guaranteed the payment of debtsto the firms, until the first quarter of this year, having also informed that this year's statebudget comprises funds for this.------------------Oil Hearing to Cast Spotlight on West Africa (Wall Street Journal)

WARRI, NigeriaOlubunmi Akindele mans the shaky front line of West Africa's losingbattle with its oil spills.

Sitting in his small office here on a recent day, Mr. Akindele, a regional head ofNigeria's National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, fielded two calls in 45minutes from villagers reporting different spills nearby in the oil-rich delta. Finishing


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one call, he telephoned a Western oil company's local office to pass word of a leak at itsfacility, asking them to follow up themselves.

With a small budget and access to a single oil-dispersement plane based in anothercountry, his agency has almost no means to respond to near-daily spill reports. "You

can't just go out to the creeks every time someone calls," Mr. Akindele said.

International environmentalists and lawmakers are looking nervously to West Africanoil-patch countries including Nigeria and Angola, where watchdog groups say a nearepidemic of unaddressed spills is the result of either lax regulation, pipelinevandalization by groups seeking to divert oil for their own profits or an underpreparedspill-response effort.

Some of these people fear the situation could worsen as oil exploration moves from theswamps and shallows of places like Nigeria's Niger Delta. In deeper water, security

concerns are lower, replaced by the risks that come with the more complex techniquesrequired for these larger, deeper reservoirs.

On Jan. 26, lawmakers in the Dutch Parliament are preparing to question Royal DutchShell PLC about years of spills in the Niger Delta. The exchange is expected to highlightWest Africa's lack of preparedness for almost any kind of spill, much less a hugeaccident like the one at a BP PLC deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico in April.

"BP has shown a giant spill in the Gulf of Mexico is possible in deep water," said JosephCroft, executive director of Nigeria civic rights organization Stakeholder Democracy

Network. In West Africa, he said, where "health, safety and the environment are not atthe forefront [of government priorities], it is not only possible, but more likely."

West African countries have some of the world's least rigorous regulatory schemes,watchdog groups say. In Angola, which has large deep-water reserves, local fishermencomplain that companies are left to handle spill oversight. The country, which has hadan offshore oil industry since the 1960s, adopted a national response plan two years agoand critics say it hasn't adapted its regulations in the aftermath of the U.S. Gulf disaster.

Ghana, which just started oil output from its massive offshore Jubilee field, is a relativenewcomer with unclear offshore oil and gas regulation, said Alex Vines, head of AfricaProgram at U.K. research institute Chatham House. "I don't see that Ghana is ready forproduction," he told a recent oil conference.

Angola says it is considering increasing inspections and fines on foreign oil companies.An official with Ghana's Environmental Protection agency says the country has thecapacity to respond to an emergency.


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The acting director of Nigeria's National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agencydidn't respond to requests for comment. The Minister of Environment in Nigeria, JohnOdey, didn't respond to requests for comment.

West Africa's oil production has historically been from onshore or shallow-water fields

that call for exploration methods that have been tested since the oil industry's earlydays.

For decades, swamps in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta have been beset by thousands ofspills. Last year, the spill-response agency said it had recorded about 2,405 oil spillsinvolving all the major international oil companies operating in Nigeria between 2006and June 2010.Nigeria doesn't disclose the overall amount of oil spilled.

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell says the vast majority of the pollution in its Nigeriaoperations in recent years has been caused by oil theft and militant attacks. For its

Nigeria operations, it says an equivalent of 102,000 barrels of oil were spilled into theNiger Delta in 2009 as a direct result of sabotage or theft. That is close to half theequivalent of 257,000 barrels spilled in Alaska's 1989 Exxon Valdez spill.

West Africa's appeal has grown since BP's troubles with the Deepwater Horizon, assome rigs idled by last year's temporary U.S. drilling freeze departed the Gulf of Mexicofor Africa.Transocean Ltd.'s Marianas rigwhich preceded the ill-fated DeepwaterHorizon on BP's Macondo well in the Gulfrecently moved to offshore Nigeria.

Big regional producers Nigeria and Angola together held 50.7 billion barrels of proven

oil reserves as of end 2009, nearly twice as much as the U.S. and its 28.4 billion barrels.A large share of those reserves are deep offshore.

While BP says it and the U.S. government marshaled an armada of 6,000 ships and 100aircraft to battle the Gulf spill, West Africa's standing response team consists of a singlesmall plane, based in Ghana, and a few boats, according to the Global Initiative for Westand Central Africa, an international partnership of oil companies and watch groups.

The plane is positioned to immediately disperse the equivalent of 280 barrels to 560barrels on each flight, said Archie Smith, chief executive of Oil Spill Response Ltd., anindustry body financed by the industry to respond to spills. Mr. Smith added that hisown company could mobilize four larger aircraft coming from outside Africa.

In Mr. Akindele's office in Warri, the oil hub of the Western part of the Niger Delta, oneof the calls fielded on a recent day by the official was from a citizen reporting oilpollution from a nearby Chevron Corp. facility. Mr. Akindele replied that thegovernment would send a team "as soon as Chevron does a flyover and confirms it."


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Chevron later said it did reconnaissance flyovers but that spills were issuing fromanother company's pipeline.

Fines and penalties for spills in West Africa are relatively modest. In the U.S., anycompany failing to notify authorities of an oil discharge is given a one-time fine of

$500,000, and other penalties may accrue. Egypt levies a one-time fine of at least $52,000if a spill isn't disclosed "promptly." The fine in Nigeria is about 500,000 Nairas ($3,200)per day of delayed disclosure.

Regulators in West Africa are often badly paid, unskilled and unmotivated. The budgetfor Nigeria's National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, which is in charge ofpollution inspections, was $3.39 million in 2007, the latest year available for approvedexpenditures. That's roughly 3% of the amount budgeted for audits and inspections atthe agency's U.S. counterpart.

The agency is a "watchdog without teeth," said Ben Amunwa, a researcher at U.K.environmental group Platform.

"People in Nigeria are outraged that in the U.S. there is such [a comprehensive]response to oil spills," said Geert Ritsema, the international coordinator at Friends of theEarth Netherlands. "Show me where are an oil spill has been properly cleaned. There isno such place in Nigeria."------------------UN News Service Africa BriefsFull Articles on UN Website

Security Council reinforces UN mission in Cote dIvoire with more peacekeepers,helicopters19 January The UN Security Council today authorized the immediate reinforcement ofits nearly 9,000-strong peacekeeping mission in Cte dIvoire with an additional 2,000peacekeepers and three armed helicopters to help protect civilians in the post-electoraldeadlock gripping the country.

UN chief praises Comoros peaceful elections and welcomes acceptance of results19 January Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has commended the people of theComoros for the peaceful atmosphere in which recent presidential and gubernatorial

elections were held, and welcomed the acceptance of the final results by all candidates,according to his spokesperson.

United Nations to send human rights team to assesses situation in Tunisia19 January The UNs human rights chief will send a team to Tunisia next week toassess the countrys human rights situation amidst recent political unrest, which heroffice says has so far led to more than 100 deaths.


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AFRICOM Related Newsclips January 20, 2011