Africa Watch

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Liberian President Wants International Support for Guinea

Photo: AP

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, right, enters the UN Conference Hall during the closing ceremony, for the 14th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union, in Ethiopia, 02 Feb 2010

Liberia's president says the transitional government in neighboring Guinea needs international support to hold elections in June that are meant to end more than a year of military rule.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says the Economic Community of West African States will help Guinea return to constitutional rule through a transitional government led jointly by the country's acting military leader and its new civilian prime minister.

"Let me say I am very pleased in the progress that we have made in Guinea. I am the current chair of the Manu River Union countries, which comprises Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Cote d'Ivoire. And so I have been able to have active participation in the consultations and mediations that have led to where we are today," she said.

President Sirleaf spoke in Ethiopia at an African Union summit that discussed Guinea.

A joint mission by the African Union, the United Nations, and the Economic Community of West Africa States is in Conakry to see how it can support security reform and new elections.

The mission is led by Senegalese General Lamine Cisse who met with Guinea's new civilian prime minister Jean-Marie Dore to discuss the transition process. State-run television says the men discussed how outside civilian observers can best help reform the Guinean military and when such work will begin.

Prime Minister Dore told the general the interim authority is determined to "see the dream come true" of a return to constitutional rule following the military coup that brought to power Captain Moussa Dadis Camara.

Captain Camara is in Burkina Faso recovering from being shot by the former head of the presidential guard, who says Captain Camara was trying to blame him for the killing of opposition protesters in September.

A U.N. inquiry into that violence says there are sufficient grounds for presuming direct criminal responsibility by Captain Camara and other members of the ruling military council.

The International Contact Group on Guinea is backing the transitional government. But the group says moving forward toward a political solution should not mean impunity for those who organized September's killing and rape of unarmed demonstrators.

Source:Scott Stearns/VOA

UN says LRA Still Killing Civilians in DRC

Mike Sunderland | Nairobi

The United Nations says the Lord's Resistance Army is continuing to attack civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo, despite a recent international offensive against the Ugandan rebel group. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says the LRA killed as many as 100 Congolese in January.

Congolese and Ugandan officials have been saying the Lords Resistance Army is struggling to survive, but the civilian death toll continues to rise in the worst hit areas.

Speaking by telephone from Busia in eastern DRC, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs regional head Jean Charles Dupin told VOA the rebels are still targeting civilians.

"When they attack people they go in their houses, they loot everything. They are terrorizing the population. They are very, very angry right now," he said.

Dupin says the violence has continued, despite renewed international efforts to crush the LRA. Recently the governments of Uganda, Congo and Southern Sudan launched a joint offensive against the rebels, but analysts say the attack failed to capture or kill the group's commander Joseph Kony.

Under Kony's leadership, the LRA has been accused of countless incidents of civilian abuse, including widespread abduction, rape, mutilation and murder.

Experts say that since its inception in the late 1980s the LRA has abducted vast numbers of civilians, particularly children, for training as fighters. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Kony and other high-ranking members.

The LRA is not the only outfit inflicting terror on the Congolese population. The United Nations says separate militia groups, as well as government soldiers, have been accused of preying on civilians too.

A recent report by the Enough Project says the Congolese Army has committed numerous cases of rape and sexual violence. Government soldiers have been accused of stealing from civilians by force and disrupting the flow of aid to internally displaced people.

Analysts say the recent upshot in violence, and the alleged brutality of the LRA assaults, might be Joseph Kony's way of sending a message to those international leaders who said his group was all but finished.

Source:VOA

Chad's Habre Said to Know of Prison Deaths

Former Chadian President Hissene Habre has been under house arrest in Senegal since 2000.

Anne Look | Dakar

Photo: AFP

Former Chadian President Hissène Habré (file)

A new study shows that former Chadian President Hissene Habre knew about hundreds of deaths in prisons operated by his political police.

Mr. Habre has been under house arrest in Senegal since 2000. He fled to Senegal after being deposed in 1990 and has since been accused of thousands of political killings and cases of torture during his eight years in power.

An international coalition of human-rights organizations has announced a new study of abandoned files from the state security force that operated prisons under President Habre shows he was well-informed of its actions.

Demba Cire Bathily, a Dakar-based lawyer for the victims, says these findings could be critical for the case against Mr. Habre.

He says this study looked at 2,700 administrative reports and established a direct link between Hissene Habre and the state security force, responsible for acts of torture. He says the evidence shows Mr. Habre was aware of what was going on and received reports of deaths.

More than 12,000 victims are mentioned in the documents, including 1,208 who died in detention. Analysts also say the study confirms reports of deplorable conditions in the prisons.

Under international law, individuals can be found criminally responsible for human-rights violations, if they knew or should have known that forces under their control were committing crimes and failed to act to prevent them or punish those responsible.

In 2006, the African Union called for Senegal to try Mr. Habre on behalf of Africa. Since then, Senegal has adopted laws that would allow it to do so, but the case is at a standstill.

Senegal has said it wants all $38 million of a trial's proposed three-year budget up front, a demand the international community is reluctant to agree to, especially because Senegal has not offered a clear plan on how it will conduct the trial.

Wednesday marks the 10-year anniversary of the first Habre's indictment in Senegal. In those 10 years, many of the the victims have died. And, human-rights advocates worry that Senegal does not have the political will to try him.

Bathily says Habre's victims have also become victims of time and Senegal's inertia.

He says those victims who have already died will never receive justice. It is a deplorable situation, he says, that is made even worse by the fact that Senegal has all the judicial measures in place to prosecute someone for these serious crimes but still does nothing. He says Chad's former president is charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of torture, but he walks free and Senegal says it will not judge him until it receives the money.

In October 2008, Mr. Habre filed a complaint with the court of the Economic Community of West African States to block his trial for crimes against humanity in Senegal, citing violations of his rights. The ECOWAS court ruled in November 2009 that victims may not take part in those proceedings, but has not yet determined whether it has jurisdiction to hear the Habre case.

European Union and African Union representatives visited Senegal in December, 2009 and are expected to propose a revised budget for bringing Mr. Habre to trial in Senegal.

Human-rights advocates have called on the African Union to take this week's AU summit in Ethiopia as a chance to prod Senegal to move forward.

Source:VOA

Chadian Survivors of Habre’s Rule to Mark 10th Anniversary of his Indictment

Howard Lesser

AU Summit Approves Tougher Anti-Coup Measures

On Wednesday, the victims of politically motivated killings and torture allegedly carried out in the 1980’s by former Chadian president Hissene Habre will mark the 10th aniversary of his indictment by a judge in Senegal. Habre has yet to stand trial, either in Senegal, where he has lived in exile for the past 17 years, or in Belgium, which indicted him in 2005 for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and torture.

Exiled Chadian dictator Hissene Habre has lived in Senegal since 1993. He remains under nominal house arrest, pending trial for overseeing the killings and torture of Chadians in detention during the 1980's.

The African Union, which is meeting through Wednesday in Addis Ababa, is reportedly crafting a progress report on Senegal’s preparations to prosecute Habre. But Dakar attorney Mouhamed Kebe, who represents several of the surviving Chadians, says he’s skeptical about their progress, but hopeful that a demonstration in the Chadian capital Ndjamena on Wednesday can spur the African leaders to take action.

“We have some demonstrations in Ndjamena, a march, some rallies, and we are also trying to see to what extent we can discuss this in a society of religious people here (in Senegal) in order to make them understand that they should be in solidarity with the victims there and to see how they can help them and push in order to make this happen,” he suggested.

Kebe says as the years unfold without any action, the number of victims dwindles, and further delays only lessen the likelihood that Chadian survivors will see justice done.

“Definitely, we want to make this prosecution and this trial happen because the victims are waiting for 10 years, and a few of them have passed away and others are always suffering. So they want to see this prosecution and this trial happen,” he said.

Under a universal jurisdiction law, Belgium sought Senegal’s help in extraditing Habre to trial in Europe after his first indictment was thrown out in Senegal on a technicality. But the African Union stepped in and asked Senegal in July, 2006 to prosecute Habre “on behalf of all Africa,” a move that attorney Kebe says in effect blocked the European initiative and placed the onus back on Senegal.

“We cannot say that something very concrete has been done. We have to keep in mind that Belgium requested from Senegal to extradite him (Habre) to Belgium to try him, and that the African Union asked Senegal not to extradite Habre to Belgium in order to prosecute and to try him on behalf of Africa. So since they are jeopardizing the mission of another country to make this happen, they (the AU) should do so (help Senegal) because it’s their obligation to make it happen,” he said.

Although European countries continue to facilitate the Dakar government’s ability to host a trial with offers of funding, Kebe says the ball is in Senegal’s court to overcome delays in finding a facility to house the trial and what he says is a reluctance by Senegalese officials to come up with a credible budget for their European allies, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland to help fund.

“The European Union has always expressed its commitment to help Senegal and to give funds. In my understanding, Senegal has not given the European Union a concrete document which can explain exactly what are the steps to go ahead. In my opinion, it is Senegal’s obligation to give something very, very clear in terms of proposals which can allow the EU to fund and to give assistance,” he said.

In Addis Ababa at the AU summit, African leaders are debating how to give the organization greater influence to act against power grabs, unconstitutional changes of power, and a growing number of presidents who have extended their rule and refused to relinquish power. Speaking for his Chadian clients, attorney Kebe says he hopes that the African Union summit will not squander another chance to encourage Senegal to bring Hissene Habre to justice.

“African states are not very willing to see this trial happening. The reason is that Habre is one among many past dictators who should be tried. And the prospect of seeing Habre prosecuted and tried is not a very good sign for them because they may be thinking still that tomorrow, it can be (done to) them. This is why many presidents or many ex-presidents who are in the situation like that of Habre don’t want to see this happen. That’s maybe why they don’t push,” he explains.

In December, a joint team from the European Union and the African Union travelled to Senegal with the intention of drafting a budget that would ultimately permit Senegal to put the Chadian dictator on trial.

To coincide with the 10th anniversary of Habre’s indictment, human rights groups have released a new study that demonstrates Habre’s full involvement in tracking and ordering the deaths and torture of hundreds of prisoners operated by his political police, the feared Chadian Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS).

Chadian lawyers for the victims claim that Habre kept in direct communications with his security chiefs about the status of hundreds of detainees during the 1980’s, that thousands of victims are mentioned in the documents, and that 1,208 prisoners are detailed as having died in detention.

Source: VOA

Violence Marks Somali Government's Year Anniversary

Somalia's U.N.-supported Transitional Federal Government marked its one-year anniversary under former Islamist opposition leader Sharif Sheik Ahmed last week amid one of the most intense insurgent attacks in the capital in months. There are dwindling expectations that the government can bring peace to its citizens, and Somalis are increasingly blaming the international community for the country's worsening problems.

Alisha Ryu | Mogadishu

Photo: AFP

An African Union peacekeeping forces tank takes up a position near Mogadishu's State House as Pres. Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's Somali government commemorates the 1st anniversary under his rule (File)

January 29 was supposed to have been a day of celebration. In the sprawling presidential compound known as Villa Somalia, preparations had been made to mark the one-year anniversary of the new transitional government with poetry readings and a military parade.

But the country's most powerful Islamist insurgent group, al-Shabab, and an allied rebel group, Hizbul Islam, had something different in mind to mark the occasion.

The attack on government troops and African Union peacekeepers began around two o'clock in the morning with a crash of mortars and automatic machine gun fire, which could be heard from the south end of Mogadishu to the north.

The peacekeepers, who have a mandate to hit back if attacked, launched a counter-barrage, firing a combination of heavy artillery, Katyusha rockets and tank rounds into the inky blackness that gave cover to insurgents but left residents inside homes helpless to avoid the rockets and shells raining down around them.

When the fighting ended hours later, local hospitals reported that more than a dozen civilians had been killed and another 35 wounded. The government canceled the day's festivities.

It is a situation that has become all too familiar for residents in this embattled city. A U.N.-mediated deal in 2008, which added hundreds of moderate Islamists into the ranks of the government and ended Ethiopia's two-year occupation of Somalia, has yet to translate into safety and security for civilians.

AP

A Islamic fighter is seen through a hole caused by shrapnel in a wall, in Mogadishu, Somalia (File)

The Transitional Federal Government, or the TFG, continues to be violently opposed by Islamist insurgents, most notably al-Shabab, which has proclaimed allegiance to al-Qaida. Al-Shabab militants, who control most districts in the capital and key towns throughout southern Somalia, have imposed their austere version of Islam in areas they have seized, shocking Somalis into submission with such punishments as public beheadings and amputations of limbs.

The only military force capable of keeping the government from being toppled is the 5,300 troops from Uganda and Burundi making up the African Union peacekeeping mission known as AMISOM. But since their arrival in Somalia in 2007, AMISOM troops, particularly from Uganda, have been severely criticized for retaliatory attacks, which have caused untold number of civilian casualties in Mogadishu.

Fartun Abdisalam Aden, who heads the Mogadishu-based human rights organization Elman Peace Center, says Somalis are no longer seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

"People in the beginning of this government had hope. They were thinking, 'Things might get better," Aden said. "It will change.' Now, it is getting worse and nothing is working. I think the international community made a mistake. People are dying and people do not have hope anymore. Whomever you talk to, they think, 'Every year it is getting worse. What are we waiting [for] now?' We do not know," he said.

Government officials insist it could improve security and public services immediately if they had direct access to more than $200 million the international donor community pledged last year to support the TFG and the African Union mission.

First Deputy Prime Minister Abdurahman Aden Ibrahim "Ibbi" tells VOA most of the money that has been promised to the Somali government has been given to U.N. and U.S. government agencies for release to the government at their discretion. Ibbi says only a fraction of the pledged amount has been released so far.

"We are weak because the international community is not supporting this government the way it is supposed to," he said. "All the money that was supposed to be given to the Somali people has been given to international organizations. We have been defending ourselves for one year with no money. Today, they are saying, 'We are training.' Still they are not giving us money! We do not have any friends now, to be honest with you. If they are our friends, let them give us something concrete," said Aden.

A respected civil society leader Abdullahi Mohamed Shirwa agrees that there has been inadequate support for the TFG from the international community. He says that is because the international community - which has tried 14 times in the past two decades to create a central government for Somalia without the participation of Somalis at the grassroots level - is itself divided over how best to guide and work with the new transitional government.

"They cannot create a consensus among themselves to support the Somali government or the Somali peace process. Someone says, 'Go ahead.' Others are saying, 'No, no.' And they are fighting among us - Ethiopia-Eritrea, African Union-Arab League, European-American, whatever. They do not have a common policy toward Somalia," he said.

In 2008, when the United Nations spearheaded efforts to create a new transitional government composed of both TFG officials and members of a former Islamist opposition faction, the aim was to establish a government that had the political and religious legitimacy to bring about a national reconciliation and end nearly two decades of civil war.

AP

Personnel Armored Vehicles stand in front of Villa Somalia in Mogadishu (2006 file photo)

Abdullahi Mohamed Shirwa says what the United Nations actually created was a government of bickering factions that could barely manage issues inside Villa Somalia, let alone the rest of the country.

"We talk many times to the international community. We told them Somalis cannot maintain 40 ministers and 550 parliament members. It is very huge. It cannot work," he stressed. "They are a lot of different groups. They are fighting amongst themselves day and night. The problem is the international community always engage in peace process and establish Somali governments, which have no legitimacy in the local communities. And after they establish it, they sit in Nairobi and say, 'Let us see how they do.' And they are not supporting it. They are saying, 'They [the government] are not transparent. They are not accountable to anybody.' Why didn't they think before the establishment [of the government]?" asked Shirwa.

The increasing threat of an al-Shabab takeover, continuing violence, and the inability of the Transitional Federal Government to act decisively are driving Somalis out of Mogadishu and the rest of the country at an alarming rate. In parts of central and southern Somalia, the crisis is also fueling movements among groups aligned with the TFG to create autonomous administrations that can provide public services and offer some degree of stability and protection from al-Shabab.

Source:VOA News

Threats, Violence Compound Nigeria's Leadership Crisis

Nico Colombant | Washington01 February 2010

Photo: N. Colombant - VOA

Since his election, Umaru Yar'Adua's presidency has been marked by his long absences due to poor health

Pressure is mounting on ailing Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua to hand over power or quickly return to Nigeria from Saudi Arabia, where he has been getting medical care for more than two months. The uncertainty about Nigeria's leadership comes as violence has reignited in the oil-rich south, and as the leader of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb offered training and weapons to Nigerian Muslims.

J. Peter Pham, the director of the Africa project at the U.S. based National Committee on American Foreign Policy, recently wrote an online article called "The Sick Man of Africa."

Writing in the "National Interest," Pham says Nigeria's leadership vacuum comes at the wrong time, especially in the wake of the failed December 25th U.S. airline bombing for which a young Nigerian was charged.

"If Nigeria is going to be a partner with the United States and other countries in fighting extremism and these types of things, it needs leadership at the top and whenever there is not firm direction all sorts of interests creep out," said Pham.

Monday, compounding these concerns, the leader of al-Qaida's North Africa branch posted a statement on the Internet saying he was ready to help Muslims in central Nigeria. The statement comes amid renewed sectarian and religious violence which has left hundreds of people dead in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, in the oil-rich south, there was a sabotage attack Saturday against oil pipelines. The attack follows months of relative calm. Militants recently called off a unilateral ceasefire with government forces, saying Mr. Yar'Adua's administration is not honoring promises to help local communities.

President Yar'Adua went to a hospital in Saudi Arabia in late November, with reported heart and kidney problems, and has not been seen in public since. In mid-January, the 58-year-old Yar'Adua, who was previously a discreet governor from the northern Katsina state, said he was doing better.

The ruling party said in late January he had been released from a hospital in Saudi Arabia, but he has yet to return to Nigeria.

J. Peter Pham says he is very concerned about the potential for more instability in the oil-rich south during his continued absence.

"Certainly, renewed violence in the Niger Delta would cut Nigeria's oil production which affects the global economy at a time when we do not need any further shocks in the global economy.," he said. "[Nigeria's] production has been cut by as much as a third during periods of peak violence."

Pham also says with Mr. Yar'Adua failing to delegate power to someone else while outside Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation has been missed as a regional heavyweight.

"We have increasing piracy underreported in the Gulf of Guinea that requires serious committed action, but Nigeria which is the regional power is not able to act because there is no political leadership at the top," said Pham.

Pham also says Nigeria has not been able to help much with the instability in Guinea, following an attack on the military ruler there.

There have been several attempts through Nigeria's judicial system to make Mr. Yar'Adua give up power, but Nigerian courts have repeatedly ruled he does not need to formally transfer power to his Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan. More appeals are being considered.

There have also been protests for Mr. Yar'Adua to step down, as well as a letter from a group calling itself the Eminent Elders which asked the vice president to be named acting president.

Political science professor at the City University of New York, Nigerian-American Mojubaolu Olufunke Okome, has been encouraged by attempts to make the leadership issue more transparent, and in line with Nigeria's constitution.

"I do not think Nigeria is leaderless," said Mojubaolu Olufunke Okome. "I think there is a constitutional issue and I am glad that people are trying to pursue this in the constitutional manner. In terms of the practice of democracy, I think it will be advised for Nigerian politicians to be more attentive to the provisions of the constitution and to also demonstrate through their actions that they are committed to democracy and the proper practice of it."

One concern has been the assumed traditional rotation between northerners and southerners in Nigeria's highest office since the return to civilian rule in the 1990s. The vice-president is a southerner, but Pham does not see this an obstacle. He says he could appoint a northerner as vice president until general elections are held, scheduled for 2011, which he says are also of concern.

"We need to be supportive and reaffirm Nigeria's need to get on with its business and the fact that it is missed on the international stage and that Nigeria needs to seriously work, beginning now on the election,' he said. "Last time, I think everyone acknowledges that President Yar'Adua was elected in elections which fraudulent probably does not begin to describe the level of voter intimidation, corruption and other things that occurred during that election."

Goodluck Jonathan who was the ruling party's surprise selection as Mr. Yar'Adua's running mate in the 2007 vote, said last week his boss would soon return to Nigeria. But he did not give a date.

Source:VOA News