AFRICOM Related-News Clips 24 Oct 2011

8/3/2019 AFRICOM Related-News Clips 24 Oct 2011

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22 October 2011The first steps toward the formation of Libya's post-Muammar Qaddafi government havestarted to emerge, with interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril saying he's stepping downeffective Saturday, with indications elections could be held by summer, and with a formaldeclaration of liberation slated for Sunday.

Gaddafi demise offers brief relief (Reuters)

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE79L01V2011102222 October 2011By David BrunnstromMuammar Gaddafi's death should bring a swift conclusion to NATO's mission in Libya,offering a moment of relief and satisfaction after a seven-month campaign that exposedstrains and doubts within the alliance.

Officials: US drone fired in Gadhafi strike; administration looking ahead to Libyas

future (AP)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/gadhafi-death-amounts-to-victory-for-obamas-approach-but-little-impact-likely-on-election/2011/10/21/gIQAxAGi2L_story.html21 October 2011With the end of the Libya mission in sight, U.S. officials were looking ahead to wherethey might shift American aircraft and drones that have played a role there for sevenmonths, right through to the assault on Moammar Gadhafis convoy.

Kenya Says Western Nations Join Fight in Somalia, as U.S. Denies Role (NY Times)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/world/africa/kenya-says-western-nations-have-joined-somalia-fight.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=Kenya&st=cseBy Josh Kron and Jeffrey Gettleman23 October 2011Foreign military forces have joined the offensive against the Shabab militant group inSomalia as Kenyan troops advanced toward the rebel stronghold of Kismayu from twodifferent directions, Kenya said Sunday

French Forces Join Fight Against Somali Militants (AP)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14163277724 October 2011Kenya on Sunday said that France's navy bombed a town in Somalia near a stronghold ofal-Shabab, the first confirmation that a Western military force is involved in the latestpush against the Islamist militia.

3 aid workers kidnapped overnight from camp in Algeria (CNN)

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/23/world/europe/spain-western-sahara-kidnapping/index.html?hpt=hp_t223 October 2011By Al Goodman

U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs Office +49(0)[email protected]
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE79L01V20111022http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/gadhafi-death-amounts-to-victory-for-obamas-approach-but-little-impact-likely-on-election/2011/10/21/gIQAxAGi2L_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/gadhafi-death-amounts-to-victory-for-obamas-approach-but-little-impact-likely-on-election/2011/10/21/gIQAxAGi2L_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/gadhafi-death-amounts-to-victory-for-obamas-approach-but-little-impact-likely-on-election/2011/10/21/gIQAxAGi2L_story.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/world/africa/kenya-says-western-nations-have-joined-somalia-fight.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=Kenya&st=csehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/world/africa/kenya-says-western-nations-have-joined-somalia-fight.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=Kenya&st=csehttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=141632777http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/23/world/europe/spain-western-sahara-kidnapping/index.html?hpt=hp_t2http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/23/world/europe/spain-western-sahara-kidnapping/index.html?hpt=hp_t2http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE79L01V20111022http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/gadhafi-death-amounts-to-victory-for-obamas-approach-but-little-impact-likely-on-election/2011/10/21/gIQAxAGi2L_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/gadhafi-death-amounts-to-victory-for-obamas-approach-but-little-impact-likely-on-election/2011/10/21/gIQAxAGi2L_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/gadhafi-death-amounts-to-victory-for-obamas-approach-but-little-impact-likely-on-election/2011/10/21/gIQAxAGi2L_story.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/world/africa/kenya-says-western-nations-have-joined-somalia-fight.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=Kenya&st=csehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/world/africa/kenya-says-western-nations-have-joined-somalia-fight.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=Kenya&st=csehttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=141632777http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/23/world/europe/spain-western-sahara-kidnapping/index.html?hpt=hp_t2http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/23/world/europe/spain-western-sahara-kidnapping/index.html?hpt=hp_t2


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Two Spaniards and an Italian were kidnapped overnight in Algeria from a Western Saharaencampment where they were providing aid, officials said Sunday.

Kenya: Nation At War (Nairobi Star)

http://allafrica.com/stories/201110230140.html

22 October 2011By Joe AdamaThe kind of war Kenya has entered, against a foreign non-state player, is cross-bordercounter-insurgency and it is the hardest form of warfare known to conventional armedforces, even superpower formation.

Burundi's foray into Somalia increasingly costly (AFP)

http://www.africasia.com/services/news_africa/article.php?ID=CNG.4b9ab6a394ce6ba6ed3334b99497acb0.33121 October 2011Fighting Thursday evening in Somalia left six Burundians dead according to the army

and more than 70 according to Shebab rebels who displayed dozens of bodies towitnesses.

Tunisians vote in first election of Arab Spring (CNN)

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/23/world/africa/tunisia-elections/index.html?hpt=iaf_c223 October 2011By Ivan WatsonBarely hours after polls opened in Tunisia's landmark elections, the line of voters waitingto enter a polling station in the capital's upscale Menzah neighborhood stretched aroundthe block and out of sight.

Cameroonian president wins vote, extending 29-year-rule (CNN)

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/22/world/africa/cameroon-election-outcome/index.html?hpt=iaf_c222 October 2011Cameroon declared the incumbent leader winner of this month's presidential election,extending his nearly three decades in office by seven more years.

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UN News Service Africa Briefs

http://www.un.org/apps/news/region.asp?Region=AFRICA

DR Congo: UN envoy assesses preparations in far east for elections

21 October The head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the DemocraticRepublic of the Congo (DRC) has visited the eastern city of Bukavu, the capital of SouthKivu province, to assess preparations for the forthcoming general elections in the vastAfrican country.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201110230140.htmlhttp://www.africasia.com/services/news_africa/article.php?ID=CNG.4b9ab6a394ce6ba6ed3334b99497acb0.331http://www.africasia.com/services/news_africa/article.php?ID=CNG.4b9ab6a394ce6ba6ed3334b99497acb0.331http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/23/world/africa/tunisia-elections/index.html?hpt=iaf_c2http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/22/world/africa/cameroon-election-outcome/index.html?hpt=iaf_c2http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/22/world/africa/cameroon-election-outcome/index.html?hpt=iaf_c2http://www.un.org/apps/news/region.asp?Region=AFRICAhttp://allafrica.com/stories/201110230140.htmlhttp://www.africasia.com/services/news_africa/article.php?ID=CNG.4b9ab6a394ce6ba6ed3334b99497acb0.331http://www.africasia.com/services/news_africa/article.php?ID=CNG.4b9ab6a394ce6ba6ed3334b99497acb0.331http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/23/world/africa/tunisia-elections/index.html?hpt=iaf_c2http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/22/world/africa/cameroon-election-outcome/index.html?hpt=iaf_c2http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/22/world/africa/cameroon-election-outcome/index.html?hpt=iaf_c2http://www.un.org/apps/news/region.asp?Region=AFRICA


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UN-backed peace talks seek to end violent ethnic clashes in South Sudan

21 October Two ethnic communities that had previously engaged in violent attacks inSouth Sudan took part in a series of United Nations-backed peace talks which seek to putan end to conflict in the countrys Jonglei state that has resulted in more than 600

casualties this year.

Libya: UN human rights office calls for probe into Qadhafis death

21 October The United Nations human rights office today called for a probe intoMuammar Qadhafis death to determine whether he was killed during fighting or after hiscapture.

(Full Articles on UN Website)

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Upcoming Events of Interest:

Deployment of U.S. Forces in Central Africa and Implementation of The Lords

Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act

Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2011Time: 10:00 AMLocation: Room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office BuildingWitnesses:The Honorable Donald YamamotoPrincipal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African AffairsU.S. Department of StateThe Honorable Alexander Vershbow (Invited)Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security AffairsU.S. Department of Defense

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New onwww.africom.mil

U.S. Welcomes U.N. Assessment of Maritime Piracy in West Africa

http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7347&lang=0By MacKenzie C. BabbU.S. Department of StateWASHINGTON, D.C. - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling for countries andregional organizations in West Africa's Gulf of Guinea to develop a comprehensivestrategy to combat maritime piracy, which he says threatens to hinder economicdevelopment and undermine security in the region.

http://www.africom.mil/http://www.africom.mil/http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7347&lang=0http://www.africom.mil/http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=7347&lang=0


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Libya's new rulers declare country liberated (BBC)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-1542226223 October 2011

Libya's transitional government has declared national liberation before a jubilant crowdin Benghazi, where the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi began.

Tens of thousands of people packed into Freedom Square to hear National TransitionalCouncil (NTC) leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil speak.

Gaddafi's capture and death on Thursday came as Nato-backed NTC forces pursuedloyalists in his stronghold, Sirte.

The NTC has come under pressure to investigate how he died.

A post-mortem carried out on the former leader's body on Sunday showed he hadreceived a bullet wound to the head, medical sources said.

The body itself, along with that of Gaddafi's son Mutassim, has been put on publicdisplay in a cold storage facility in Misrata.

Thousands of people were killed or injured after the violent repression of protests againstGaddafi's rule in February developed into a full-scale civil war.

His government was driven out of the capital, Tripoli, in August.

However he refused to surrender or leave the country, urging his followers to resist thecountry's new leaders.

'United brothers'

NTC deputy head Abdel Hafiz Ghoga announced from the stage that Libya had beenfreed, declaring: "Declaration of Liberation. Raise your head high. You are a freeLibyan."

Thousands of voices echoed him chanting, "You are a free Libyan."

Mr Abdul Jalil bowed down to thank God for victory before making his speech.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15422262http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15422262


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He thanked all those who had taken part in the revolution - from rebel fighters tobusinessmen and journalists - and said the new Libya would take Islamic law as itsfoundation.

"Today we are one flesh, one national flesh. We have become united brothers as we have

not been in the past," he said.

"I call on everyone for forgiveness, tolerance and reconciliation," he said. "We must getrid of hatred and envy from our souls. This is a necessary matter for the success of therevolution and the success of the future Libya."

The NTC leader also wished anti-government protesters in Syria and Yemen "victory".

Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen welcomed the declaration of liberation, urging a"new inclusive Libya, based on reconciliation, and full respect for human rights and therule of law".

Nato, he added, would retain its "capacity to respond to threats to civilians, if needed".

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague greeted Libya's "historic victory", and also urgedthe country to avoid "retribution and reprisals".

Elections are due to be held by June of next year, Libya's acting Prime Minister,Mahmoud Jibril, said earlier.

The new elected body, he added, would draft a constitution to be put to a referendum andform an interim government pending a presidential election.

Death questionsThere are conflicting reports as to the whereabouts of Saif al-Islam, and Gaddafi'ssecurity chief - who are both at large.

The US, UN, major human rights groups and others have called for a transparentinvestigation into how Gaddafi died.

Video footage showed him being captured alive. Officials said he had been killedsubsequently in a crossfire.

A post-mortem carried out on the former leader's body on Sunday showed he hadreceived a bullet wound to the head, medical sources said.

The commander of the forces that captured Gaddafi has given details of the Libyan ex-leader's last moments to the BBC.

Omran al-Oweib said he had been dragged from a drainage pipe and had taken 10 stepsbefore he collapsed amid gunfire between NTC forces and Gaddafi supporters.



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"I didn't see who killed, which weapon killed Gaddafi," Mr Oweib said.

NTC spokesman Mustapha Goubrani said Gaddafi's body would be handed over topeople from his tribe for burial.

Mr Jibril told the BBC's Hardtalk programme he would have preferred to have Gaddafialive, to face prosecution for his crimes, and added that he would welcome a full inquiryinto his death.

One of Gaddafi's best-known sons, Saif al-Islam, as well as his security chief both remainat large.

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Libya's post-Qaddafi transition beginning (CBS News)

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500188_162-20124134/libyas-post-qaddafi-transition-beginning/22 October 2011

TRIPOLI, Libya -- The first steps toward the formation of Libya's post-MuammarQaddafi government have started to emerge, with interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibrilsaying he's stepping down effective Saturday, with indications elections could be held bysummer, and with a formal declaration of liberation slated for Sunday.

Jibril's announcement isn't "a complete surprise," CBS News correspondent Liz Palmerobserved on "The Early Show on Saturday Morning."

Palmer said, "It is something he's said he'd do once the country was fully liberated."

A military spokesman said Libya's transitional government will declare liberation onSunday, after months of bloodshed that culminated in Thursday's death of longtime leaderQaddafi.

Officials from the governing Transitional National Council had said the announcementwould be made Saturday in the eastern city of Benghazi, the revolution's birthplace.

But spokesman Abdel-Rahman Busin said preparations are underway for a Sundayceremony. He didn't give an explanation for the delay.

The declaration will enable Libya's new rulers to move forward with efforts to transformthe oil-rich nation into a democracy.

Libyan authorities are facing questions about how Qaddafi was killed after imagesemerged showing he was found alive and taunted and beaten by his captors.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500188_162-20124134/libyas-post-qaddafi-transition-beginning/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500188_162-20124134/libyas-post-qaddafi-transition-beginning/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500188_162-20124134/libyas-post-qaddafi-transition-beginning/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500188_162-20124134/libyas-post-qaddafi-transition-beginning/


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"As far as we know," Palmer said, "Qaddafi still hasn't been buried. The governmentdoesn't want any grave to become kind of a shrine or a rallying point for a violentinsurgency, so that's a very tricky political decision."

Qaddafi's body was on public display in a morgue freezer in the city of Misrata.

Qaddafi body stashed in shopping center freezer

Reuters quotes Jibril as saying he expects elections wil take place within eight months,with Libyans choosing a national council that would draft a new constitution and form aninterim government.

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Gaddafi demise offers brief relief (Reuters)

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE79L01V20111022

22 October 2011By David Brunnstrom

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi's death should bring a swift conclusion toNATO's mission in Libya, offering a moment of relief and satisfaction after a seven-month campaign that exposed strains and doubts within the alliance.

On Friday, NATO said it had made a preliminary decision to end its air and sea campaignon October 31 and said a formal decision would be made next week, based on thesecurity situation after the transitional authorities declare the formal liberation of Libya,something they plan to do on Sunday.

NATO said its campaign would be wound down in the days leading to the end of themonth and hailed a successful implementation of its U.N.-mandated mission to protectcivilians during the uprising against Gaddafi, who was killed on Thursday.

It can point to some big positives -- not least that it did not suffer a single casualty,despite flying 26,000 air sorties, and kept unintended civilian casualties to a minimumthanks to the use of precision-guided munitions.

However, the campaign exposed divisions. Some leading NATO members includingGermany questioned the intervention's wisdom and only eight of the 28 member statestook part in strike missions. It also drew criticism from countries such as Russia whichaccused NATO of overstepping its United Nations mandate.

Doubts grew as the campaign dragged on longer than expected at a time when defencebudgets were being slashed due to the West's worst financial crisis since the 1930s.European allies drew sharp rebukes from the United States for failing to investsufficiently in essential equipment.

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE79L01V20111022http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE79L01V20111022


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Francois Heisbourg, chairman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies thinktank, said the operation would and could be declared a success for the West -- particularlyby Britain and France, which carried out the bulk of combat missions. But it could nothave succeeded without strong U.S. support, despite an attempt by President BarackObama to make sure the United States took a back seat in the conflict.

While the United States stepped back from a leading role in combat missions after theinitial phase of Western bombing, it provided most of the vital intelligence and logisticalsupport including air-to-air refueling.

"It's obviously a success for the British and the French, without whom none of this wouldhave happened," Heisbourg said. "And it can be counted as a success for the coalitionoperating under the NATO label, largely with American means, so it's obviously a U.S.success as well."

DEFENCE CUTS STRAINED MISSION

However, the mission has also been embarrassing for Britain which was shown to beoverstretched after entering a new war just after announcing punishing defence budgetcuts.

"Because most of the munitions used by the French were French-produced, they had nobasic problems of supply. The Brits had a rougher time for several reasons as they arequite heavily reliant on American-made munitions," Heisbourg said.

"And because it is not the American way to provide stockpiles but to deliver munitions onan as-you-go basis, the British very rapidly ran out of some of the more basic munitionsand had to go like Oliver Twist to the Americans and ask for more -- something theAmericans chose to make public."

Any NATO euphoria from an end to the Libyan operation is likely be short-lived as thiswill throw the focus back onto its troubled mission in Afghanistan.

"Libya for the alliance was a rather welcome moment as it made everybody forget aboutAfghanistan for a few brief months," Heisbourg said.

"Now, once again NATO is going to be exposed to the Afghan dossier and that's not ingreat shape, to put it mildly," he said. "Libya means success and Afghanistan meanstrouble."

Daniel Keohane, of the EU Institute for Security Studies, said the end of the missionwould be particularly welcome for Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron.Both had appeared exposed as what optimists had forecast would be a brief campaigndragged over the summer.



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"I suspect they will at first be quite relieved," he said, adding that both Sarkozy andObama would be glad too not to have Libya hanging over their presidential electioncampaigns next year and to able to point to a successful mission.

Whether NATO leaders would be able to make such claims for long remains unclear,

though. There are concerns about divisions and radicalism in the forces that toppledGaddafi, and Western capitals are alarmed about large numbers of missing portable anti-aircraft missiles which officials fear could be used to threaten civil aviation.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen alluded to future problems onThursday when he called on Libyans to put aside differences and work together, urgingthe transitional administration to avoid reprisals against Gaddafi supporters.

"It's still not clear who the rebels are and while it may be the end of the war, it's only thebeginning of the transition," Keohane said. "So much depends on how the rebels managethe situation on the ground and the question is: do we know who these people are?

"And as to calling it a success, it depends on your starting point. If the question was toget Gaddafi and protect civilians, well yes, but we don't know if Libya will become ademocracy.

"In one sense, this is a big tactical success, but the big strategic question is: Will Libyabecome a democracy? And that's still not clear."

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Officials: US drone fired in Gadhafi strike; administration looking ahead to Libyas

future (AP)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/gadhafi-death-amounts-to-victory-for-obamas-approach-but-little-impact-likely-on-election/2011/10/21/gIQAxAGi2L_story.html21 October 2011

WASHINGTON With the end of the Libya mission in sight, U.S. officials werelooking ahead to where they might shift American aircraft and drones that have played arole there for seven months, right through to the assault on Moammar Gadhafis convoy.

And they were looking toward the formation of a stable Libyan nation, despite worriesabout the difficulties of forming disparate rebel groups into a unified government.

As international leaders tried to sort out the details of the ousted Libyan leaders death,U.S. officials confirmed on Friday that an American Predator drone took part in theairstrikes that hit Gadhafis convoy. Its still not clear exactly how he got his fatalwounds.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/gadhafi-death-amounts-to-victory-for-obamas-approach-but-little-impact-likely-on-election/2011/10/21/gIQAxAGi2L_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/gadhafi-death-amounts-to-victory-for-obamas-approach-but-little-impact-likely-on-election/2011/10/21/gIQAxAGi2L_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/gadhafi-death-amounts-to-victory-for-obamas-approach-but-little-impact-likely-on-election/2011/10/21/gIQAxAGi2L_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/gadhafi-death-amounts-to-victory-for-obamas-approach-but-little-impact-likely-on-election/2011/10/21/gIQAxAGi2L_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/gadhafi-death-amounts-to-victory-for-obamas-approach-but-little-impact-likely-on-election/2011/10/21/gIQAxAGi2L_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/gadhafi-death-amounts-to-victory-for-obamas-approach-but-little-impact-likely-on-election/2011/10/21/gIQAxAGi2L_story.html


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The officials said the Predator fired on the convoy Thursday as it was fleeing Gadhafishometown of Sirte, and French aircraft launched guided missiles. According to accounts anumber of vehicles in the convoy were damaged or destroyed. The officials spoke oncondition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the operations.

Gadhafi was wounded when revolutionary fighters captured him, and later died. He hadgunshot wounds to his head, chest and stomach.

The day after his death, NATOs top commander said he will recommend ending thealliances mission in Libya.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner declined to go into the details of Gadhafisignominious end and argued that the dictator of four decades got what he deserved.

This is a man who brutalized his people, and hes now gone. Its a cathartic moment forthe country, Toner said. Theyre moving forward. Theyre dealing with the death itself

as well as the aftermath in as transparent a way as I think they can.

He suggested the focus on how Gadhafi died was misplaced.

Gadhafi had set his own fate, Toner said, when he refused to step down and decided toput countless lives at risk and to fight to the bitter end. And so, what happened,happened.

Nevertheless, Toner called on Libyan authorities to provide a transparent account of howGadhafi died. He said the U.S. government had the same information about it as thepublic, and was watching the same online videos.

He said the U.S. has urged Libyan authorities to treat prisoners humanely and abide byinternational standards of justice and human rights, but declined to say whether thevideo evidence of Gadhafis capture suggested American advice was being followed.

Toner said the important things now are how Libyas Transitional National Councilestablishes security and stability throughout the country and moves toward a democracy.

There are currently about 70 U.S. aircraft as well as a number of ships, three unmannedGlobal Hawk surveillance drones and several Predators assigned to the Libya mission. Sofar, none of those aircraft or ships have been moved or taken out of the mission, but manycould move on fairly quickly. U.S. military officials said they anticipate moves to scaleback the U.S. assets there, but its not clear how long it may take to do that.

There is fervent demand particularly for the drones, both at the battlefronts of Iraq andAfghanistan, as well as in other hotspots around the world, including Africa, SouthAmerica and the Asia-Pacific region.



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A senior U.S. military official said Friday that there are a number of Islamic extremists inLibya who will likely play a role in the new government. And military leaders areconcerned about former insurgents in the country who reportedly had renouncedextremism but had strong ties to al-Qaida leadership.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligencematters, said the U.S. military also remains worried about weapons proliferation in Libya,amid ongoing suspicions that thousands of shoulder-launched missiles have gone missingand could end up in the hands of terrorists.

Libya was believed to have about 20,000 of the missiles known as Man-Portable AirDefense Systems, or MANPADS in its arsenals before civil war began in March.

The Obama administration froze some $37 billion in Gadhafi assets earlier this year. Ithas released $700 million so far to the National Transitional Council.

Toner said the Obama administration wants to get more of the money into the NationalTransitional Councils hands. Going forward, were going to look at ways to providemore of that money, unfreeze it, because it belongs to the Libyan people.

NATO warplanes have flown about 26,000 sorties, including over 9,600 strike missions.They destroyed Libyas air defenses and over 1,000 tanks, vehicles and guns, as well asGadhafis command and control networks. The estimated cost of the Libya militaryoperation as of Sept. 30 was about $1.1 billion, which includes military missions,munitions, Defense Department supplies and humanitarian assistance.

In addition, the U.S. sold participating allies about $250 million worth of ammunition,spare parts, fuel and other support.

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Kenya Says Western Nations Join Fight in Somalia, as U.S. Denies Role (NY Times)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/world/africa/kenya-says-western-nations-have-joined-somalia-fight.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=Kenya&st=cse23 October 2011By Josh Kron and Jeffrey Gettleman

NAIROBI, Kenya Foreign military forces have joined the offensive against theShabab militant group in Somalia as Kenyan troops advanced toward the rebel strongholdof Kismayu from two different directions, Kenya said Sunday.

A Kenyan military spokesman, Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir, said that one of the partners,possibly the United States or France, had been behind airstrikes in the past few days,killing a number of Shabab militants. The French Navy has also shelled rebel positionsfrom the sea, the Kenyan military said in a statement.

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Two senior American officials in Washington said Sunday that neither the United Statesmilitary nor the Central Intelligence Agency had carried out airstrikes in Somalia inrecent days. One of the officials, who follows American military operations closely, saidthe Kenyan offensive had forced many Shabab fighters and commanders to disperse,making them easier potential targets, but emphasized that there had been no U.S.

military strikes in Somalia at all recently.

American officials in Kenya declined to comment. A French diplomat in the UnitedStates did not return phone calls.

If Western military powers have indeed joined the conflict, analysts said, it couldrepresent a turning point against the Shabab, a ruthless militant group that has pledgedallegiance to Al Qaeda. The group controls much of southern Somalia, though its youngfighters and battered pickup trucks are deemed no match for a sophisticated army.

Everybody is in theater, Major Chirchir said in a telephone interview on Sunday. We

know about the strikes. They are complementary.

The American military has previously conducted surgical strikes in Somalia, taking theopportunity to kill terrorism suspects and Shabab fighters who were on the run. In 2006and 2007, the American military cooperated closely with a large Ethiopian force thatstormed into Somalia to oust an Islamist movement that had taken control of much of thecountry.

About a week ago, Kenya sent hundreds of its soldiers into Somalia to battle the Shabab,whom the Kenyans blame for recent kidnappings in Kenya; many independent analysts,however, doubt the group had a role in the abductions. Kenyas military says it plans toremain in Somalia until the Shababs capacity is reduced and Somalias weak,American-backed transitional government is able to function.

But Kenyas military especially compared with those of its neighbors, like Ethiopia,Uganda, Sudan and Somalia has scant experience. Several military efforts over thepast 20 years by other external powers, from the United States to the United Nations,have failed to deliver a sustainable government in Somalia.

Kenyan military officials say their plan is to squeeze the port of Kismayu, one ofSomalias biggest towns and a major money-earner for the Shabab, from two sides in apincer movement with troops massing to the west near Afmadow and to the south in RaasKaambooni. Heavy rains, though, have literally bogged them down, and after an initialburst of activity, the Kenyan advance seems to have slowed.

Major Chirchir said the Kenyan Navy had also positioned ships along the coastline fromthe Kenyan border toward Kismayu.

Any vessel that is there with a militia we will take it down, he warned.



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On Sunday, Kenyan officials said that a French naval ship had shelled the city of Koday,south of Kismayu, and that casualty figures were not yet available. The French militaryhas also launched small, covert strikes in Somalia in the past, aimed at terrorism suspectsand pirates.

A possible motivation for French involvement could be the death announced last week ofa 66-year-old French woman who was kidnapped on Oct. 1 from a beachside bungalow inKenya and taken to Somalia. The woman, Marie Dedieu, was quadriplegic and had hadcancer, but her abductors refused to allow her to receive medicine, which friends saidhastened her death.

Many Kenyans believe that the United States is helping in Somalia. A two-inch-tall front-page headline in The Sunday Nation, a leading Kenyan newspaper, blared: US planesjoin assault.

Kenya is one of the United States closest allies in Africa, but last week, American

officials said they were caught off guard by the Kenyan offensive and that no Americanground troops or military advisers were involved.

American officials here are concerned about the prospect of Shabab militants attackingKenyas capital, Nairobi, in revenge, and possibly targeting Westerners. Last week, theShabab threatened to bring the flames of war to Kenya; its members have slaughteredhundreds of Somali civilians with suicide bombs.

The Shabab have also shown their ability to strike abroad. The group claimedresponsibility for bombings in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, last year that killed morethan 70 people. The Shabab said the attacks were payback for Ugandas participation inthe African Union peacekeeping force that has been protecting Somalias transitionalgovernment.

On Saturday, the American Embassy sent a text message to Americans in Kenya saying, the U.S. Embassy in Kenya has received credible information of an imminent threat ofterrorist attacks directed at prominent Kenyan facilities and areas where foreigners areknown to congregate, such as malls and nightclubs. Please exercise caution.

Kenya has been struck before by terrorists, with Al Qaeda blowing up the AmericanEmbassy in Nairobi in 1998, killing more than 200 people, and again in 2002 when abeachfront hotel was bombed, killing more than 10.

Early Monday, a grenade attack wounded 14 people in a bar in central Nairobi, theKenyan police said, according to Reuters. No one was killed in the blast and no oneclaimed responsibility.

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French Forces Join Fight Against Somali Militants (AP)



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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14163277724 October 2011

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) Kenya on Sunday said that France's navy bombed atown in Somalia near a stronghold of al-Shabab, the first confirmation that a Western

military force is involved in the latest push against the Islamist militia.Thousands of people, meanwhile, fled a camp for the displaced near Somalia's capital onSunday, fearing an imminent clash between African Union peacekeepers and the al-Qaida-linked militants who are trying to demonstrate their strength amid an assault ontwo fronts.

In the country's south, others braced for fierce battles as Kenyan soldiers closed in on amilitant-held town in their weeklong effort to defeat the al-Shabab group blamed forsuicide bombings, kidnapping foreigners and killing famine victims.

Kenyan forces last week moved into Somalia to fight al-Shabab, and on Sunday

confirmation emerged that the East African country is receiving help in the fight from aWestern power.

Kenyan military spokesman Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir said the French navy bombed thetown of Kuday near the southern al-Shabab stronghold of Kismayo on Saturday night. ANairobi-based diplomat told The Associated Press last week that France was carrying outmilitary attacks in Somalia; French officials in Paris denied French forces were carryingout any attacks.

U.S. officials told AP last week that the United States had been pressuring Kenya to "dosomething" in response to a string of security incidents along the Kenya-Somalia border,but that Kenya's invasion of Somalia took the U.S. by surprise.

The U.S. has carried out precision strikes against militants in Somalia in recent years, buthas not been involved in any wider military action since pulling out forces shortly afterthe 1993 military battle in Mogadishu known as "Black Hawk Down."

Chirchir said fighting was a likely to occur in the town of Afmadow "very soon."Afmadow lies near Kismayo.

"Most likely man-to-man battles will occur in Afmadow," he told The Associated Press."That is one of the areas we really want to inflict trauma and damage on the al-Shababbasically to reduce their effectiveness completely so that they do not exist as a force."

Hundreds of residents were fleeing Afmadow Sunday in anticipation of fighting. Chirchirsaid al-Shabab were regrouping in the town of Bula Haji to face the Kenyan troops.

Somalia has been a failed state for more than 20 years, and the lawless country is a havenfor pirates and international terrorists. Al-Shabab fighters have been waging a war against

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the weak Somali government for more than five years, but now face attacks on twofronts.

A force of 9,000 African Union peacekeepers from Burundi and Uganda have been aidingthe Somali forces. Al-Shabab retreated from Mogadishu amid a devastating famine a few

months back, but re-emerged by staging their deadliest single bombing that killed morethan 100 people.

African Union forces already have pushed the militants from their last base in the capitalof Mogadishu, and those staying on the outskirts said they worried the battles wereapproaching. The African Union Mission to Somalia force, also known as AMISOM, saidin a statement Sunday they had advanced to Mogadishu's outskirts.

"We want to pass here before the fighting closes the escape routes," said SaladoAbdullahi, a mother of six, who was at a checkpoint in Mogadishu on Sunday.

On Sunday, a suicide bomber killed himself and wounded two AU troops when he ranafter the AU convoy.

The Kenyan military sent troops into neighboring Somalia one week ago to pursue themilitants following a string of kidnappings on Kenyan soil that were blamed on Somaligunmen. Al-Shabab has threatened to launch suicide bombings inside Kenya inretaliation, and the U.S. Embassy warned late Saturday than an imminent terrorist attackis possible.

Somali gunmen have kidnapped four Europeans in the last six weeks two fromKenya's Lamu coastal resort region and two from the Dadaab refugee camp near theSomali border. One of the hostages, a quadriplegic French woman, died on Wednesday.

The kidnappings have threatened Kenya's tourism industry, which had only recentlybounced back from a near collapse after postelection violence left more than 1,000 deadseveral years ago.

Kenya's troops are untested and it isn't clear if they are prepared for a long-termoccupation requiring counterinsurgency skills a scenario that ended U.S. andEthiopian interventions during Somalia's 20-year-old civil war. The Somalia operation isKenya's biggest foreign military commitment since independence in 1963.

However, al-Shabab has been weakened by a severe famine in its strongholds. Al-Shababalso is beset by internal divisions and public discontent over the group's strictpunishments, recruitment of child soldiers and indiscriminate bombings.

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3 aid workers kidnapped overnight from camp in Algeria (CNN)



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http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/23/world/europe/spain-western-sahara-kidnapping/index.html?hpt=hp_t223 October 2011By Al Goodman

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Two Spaniards and an Italian were kidnapped overnight inAlgeria from a Western Sahara encampment where they were providing aid, officials saidSunday.

Spain's Foreign Ministry said it has contacted the families of its two nationals, a man anda woman, but declined to provide details about them or the circumstances of thekidnapping.

The Italian Foreign Ministry also confirmed the kidnapping of its national, a woman.The abductions occurred in the Raguni refugee encampment in the Algerian province ofTinduf, across the border from Western Sahara, a territory in dispute between Morocco

and the Polisario Front.

Spanish news reports -- citing Spanish aid organization colleagues of the two Spaniardskidnapped -- said there apparently were shots fired during the kidnapping and that at leastone of the three captives may have been injured.Numerous Spanish nongovernmental organizations provide assistance to Western Sahara,and Spanish aid workers travel regularly to the encampments.There was no immediate confirmation about the kidnappers, but some Spanish medianoted that al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has been active in the area.

Spain formally withdrew as the decades-long colonial power in Western Sahara in 1976,shortly after the Moroccan king led a "green march" with 350,000 Moroccan civiliansinto the territory to lay claim to it.

A guerrilla war with the Polisario Front -- a group made up of mostly Saharawis, whichfavors Western Sahara independence -- ensued and was finally halted, after more than adecade, in 1991, through a United Nations-brokered cease-fire, according to the CIAWorld Factbook.

A U.N.-organized referendum on the territory's final status has been repeatedlypostponed.

Morocco has presented an autonomy plan to the United Nations, but the Polisariocountered with an independence plan for the territory's 405,000 people, who are Muslimsof Arab or Berber descent.

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Kenya: Nation At War (Nairobi Star)

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22 October 2011By Joe Adama

The kind of war Kenya has entered, against a foreign non-state player, is cross-bordercounter-insurgency and it is the hardest form of warfare known to conventional armed

forces, even superpower formation.

The implications of this sudden state of affairs are so far-reaching that most Kenyanshave not started pondering them in earnest. The Armed Forces are not merely walking thewalk of superbly choreographed and practiced parades, they are now in the crouching trotof warfare in all its unscripted, unscheduled, cruel, bloody and messy aspects.

Already, the casualty figures are cause for concern, five soldiers died on Monday whentheir helicopter crashed, reportedly in a non-combat zone and for non-combat reasons.Seventy-five Somalis killed on Tuesday by the Kenyan military and identified as AlShaabab, all this within the first few hours of the hot-pursuit, cross-border Operation

Linda Nchi (Defend the Country).

Even if these figures become the weekly toll, they are still too many dead on both sides.And they will get worse, much worse, on both sides, before closure is brought to the AlShabaab terror phenomenon and its impacts on Kenya, something which could takemonths or, like the piracy in the Indian Ocean, also a Somali problem and phenomenon,years.

Kenya is at war, not with either the Somali Government or people but with the AlShabaab militia, a terror group that is as adept as any other, including its role model AlQaeda, in seemingly melting into or emerging from thin air.

The region's biggest economy and most exemplary democracy has embarked on amilitary venture on the eve of its most significant General Election year and at a momentof national vulnerability, with the shilling being the world's worst-performing currency of2011.

Wartime is a time of jingoism, of beating both the drums of war and of patriotism soloudly that they drown out all other noises and voices, including voices of caution and ofreason. There will almost certainly be objections and protests, particularly from the civilsociety sector and then from within the political sector, about how swiftly and easily wehave drifted towards war and all its far-reaching, mostly dreadful, implications. Therewas not even a vote in Parliament and the Executive has dispatched the troops as easily aswould have been the case under the old, disreputable Constitution.

The war on Al Shabaab will be Kenya's first televised war, with dispatches from the frontsometimes being broadcast live. What the Government needs to do from the outset is setup an official, reliable and interactive communications centre where the progress, or lackof it, of the war is reported reliably, truthfully and on as broad a need-to-know basis aspossible at least once a day.



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The Financial Times East Africa Correspondent, Ms. Katrina Manson, who called theincursion unprecedented and noted that analysts fear it may backfire, quoted thefollowing chilling message from al-Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage, addressinga news conference in Somalia on Monday: "Your attack [on] us means your skyscrapers

will be destroyed, your tourism will disappear. We shall inflict on you the same damageyou inflicted on us. We say to Kenya: did you consider the consequences of the invasion?We know fighting more than you and defeated other invaders before."

There was indeed near-unanimity that Al Shabaab should not continue to undermineKenya violently and with impunity, but, as the crisis escalates, there will be much hand-wringing and soul-searching.

To begin with, the kind of war Kenya has entered, against a foreign non-state player, iscross-border counterinsurgency and it is the hardest form of warfare known toconventional armed forces, even superpower formations. Kenya's four-star General Julius

Karangi, an airman, becomes the country's first Chief of the General Staff since GeneralJoseph Ndolo soon after Independence to command Kenyan soldiers in wartime, duringthe State of Emergency that accompanied the Government's war on the Shiftasecessionists.

According to one-time Central Bank of Kenya Governor Duncan Ndegwa, in hismemoirs Walking in Kenyatta Struggles, the Shifta insurgency became a war onDecember 25, Christmas Day, when Kenyatta was still Prime Minister. Kenyatta declareda State of Emergency in the NFD and the police and military moved in.

Ndegwa, who was Head of the Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet at the time,reports this was a move opposed by an expatriate Government legal adviser, a Briton, andAttorney General Charles Njonjo since the Constitution explicitly barred the authoritiesfrom declaring an emergency in one part of the country and not all others. According tofirsthand eyewitness Ndegwa, this was Kenyatta's first (and last) State of Emergencydecree and first (but not last) bending of the Independence Constitution.

The Shifta war and a simultaneous mutiny in the three East African militaries of Kenya,Uganda and Tanzania on the night of January 24/25 1964, exactly a month after the Shiftawar started, were among the first and severest tests for Kenyatta Cabinet, a superblyunited and well-chosen council of ministers. The Shifta rebels wanted secession fromKenya to join a "Greater Somalia" that also had designs on the Ogaden, inside Ethiopianterritory.

' Wooers and doers'Decades later, towards the end of 2011, Kenyans have entered another Somali-relateduneven military contest, this time across a national border and against a much moreversatile and cunning foe than the Shifta, an enemy with international terroristconnections. Cross-border counter-insurgency warfare is a literal landmine and nightmare



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scenario that has often frustrated and ultimately humbled even superpowers. History islittered with examples of economically and democratically far superior societiesmilitarily engaging far inferior entities, both state and non-state, and coming out muchthe worse for wear.

In his classic 1965 analysis of guerrilla warfare titled The War of the Flea, author RobertTaber described the vulnerability of modern democratic states to insurgent warfare in thefollowing unforgettable terms, which now apply to Kenya too: "The modern industrialsociety cannot function, and its government cannot govern, except with popularparticipation and by popular consent.... They must make great concessions to popularnotions of what is democratic and just, or be replaced by regimes that will do so.... Theymust use the liberal rhetoric and also pay something in the way of social compromise...ifthey are to retain power and keep the people to their accustomed, profit-producingtasks...They cannot openly crush the opposition that embarrasses and harasses them. Theymust be wooers as well as doers".

It was also Taber, in the same book, who pithily defined the guerrilla fighter's means andmethods against the modern conventional military of all nations by noting, "The guerrillafights the war of the flea, and his military enemy suffers the dog's disadvantages: toomuch to defend; too small, ubiquitous, and agile an enemy to come to grips with."

Compared to the completely failed state of Somalia, Kenya is indeed an industrialiseddemocracy, waging war by the book of the Geneva Conventions against a foe, AlShabaab, which lies even beyond the criminal lunatic fringe, an exponent and proponentof terrorism. Al Shabaab will not think twice about sending young Kenyan soldiers backhome in body bags by the dozen, or of kidnapping senior officers, holding them toransom and perhaps even executing some on video to capture sensationalist world mediaheadlines. Kenya cannot respond in kind. The coming months and perhaps even yearswill be fraught with national trauma at precisely the point when the country can least illafford to have its attentions, priorities and energies diverted by the madness andinstability of cross-border warfare.

Military tradition

If the conflict escalates, it will almost certainly involve Al Shabaab's extended family, AlQaeda and other international jihadists, terror elites that have struck inside Kenya before,with unnerving ease and devastating effect. They fight dirty and they could end uptargeting Kenyans and Kenyan interests not only here in the region but around the world.Kenya's national security state is about to be put to its most severe test of the post-Independence era, its battle preparedness being put to the test of becoming battle-hardened.

The Armed Forces have been exemplary detachments for almost 50 years, underwritingthe constitutional order by putting down the August 1982 attempted coup, undertakinginternational peacekeeping operations under UN auspices, training other African forcesand offering the high point of National Day parades in impressive march-, drive- and fly-



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pasts to the accompaniment of martial music by brass bands. The time to test all thoseyears of training and discipline and all that expensive equipment is now. How well canwe expect the Armed Forces to acquit themselves in battle against such a shadowy foe asAl Shabaab?

Much more will be on trial than individual officers' and men's courage and bravery andproficiency in the heat of war. Military procurement, the quality and integrity of theweapons and communications and transportation systems at their disposal, will also besorely tested, with life-and-death dynamics at play. Soon we will find out the truth aboutall those reports of dodgy procurement and even more flawed equipment.

Other forces have been in the badlands and no-man's-land of Somalia, notably elite unitsof the greatest military in history, the US Armed Forces, almost 20 years ago. The USforay into Somalia in 1993 illustrated the pitfalls of the war of the flea even for themightiest military, ending in disaster amid media images of murdered and mutilatedtroops being dragged in the streets. Kenya's forces will be the first boots-on-the-ground

deployment inside Somalia since the Ethiopian invasion that put paid to the IslamicCourts Councils regime and the Ugandan and other African Union peacekeepers, all ofwhom have sustained cruel casualties. Kenyans need to be prepared for the fact that therewill be deaths and other casualties, that some of their sons and daughters, perhaps even inlarge numbers, will come back home in body bags, mutilated or crippled. War is that way,even when it ends in comprehensive wins and victory parades and medals.

What the long term brings only time will tell. The best result should be Kenyaspearheading a restoration of sustainable peace throughout Somalia, an undertaking inwhich we will need all the help the international community can give. Kenya must seekthat help early, particularly from Ethiopia, a nation we used to have military pacts with.

The worst-case scenarios are appalling and not to be wished on Kenyans, whose recoilfrom their own internal episode of madness and disorder almost four years ago signaledjust how much we abhor chaos. Having taken anarchy by the horns, we have no optionbut to prevail.

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Burundi's foray into Somalia increasingly costly (AFP)

http://www.africasia.com/services/news_africa/article.php?ID=CNG.4b9ab6a394ce6ba6ed3334b99497acb0.33121 October 2011

Fighting Thursday evening in Somalia left six Burundians dead according to the armyand more than 70 according to Shebab rebels who displayed dozens of bodies towitnesses.

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Burundi, a tiny central African country struggling to emerge from more than a decade ofcivil war, is paying the price for its military intervention in Somalia as part of the AfricanUnion force.

After heavy fighting Thursday between Shebab Islamists and Somali government troops

backed by troops from the AU's AMISOM force, the Shebab showed journalists severaldozen dead bodies in Burundian military uniform.

On Friday the rebels showed arms, boots and even food rations they said had been seizedfrom the troops.

It is four years since the African Union force in Somalia deployed to support the fragiletransitional government the Shebab have been trying to topple.

The Burundian army dismissed the Shebab claims as "propaganda" but did not denyhaving suffered losses, admitting six men had been killed and 18 wounded, four of them

seriously.

Asked whether Burundian soldiers had also been declared missing, army spokesmanColonel Gaspard Baratuza said it was too early to say.

A Burundian officer explained that losses on the scale of Thursday's could only beaccounted for either by "faulty intelligence or by poor planning."

This is not the first major blow dealt to the Burundian contingent since it went intoSomalia as part of the AMISOM force in 2008.

At least 43 Burundian soldiers were killed and around 100 others wounded in Mogadishuin an offensive against the Shebab.

Another ten died in an attack by Shebab in September 2010 while 17, includingAMISOM's second-in-command at the time the Burundian general Juvenal Niyonguruza,died in a double suicide attack in 2009.

Burundi and Uganda, who have together deployed the 9,000 men who make up theAMISOM force, "have been keeping their losses secret since 2007 and they must havelost several hundred men by now," said a regional analyst based in Nairobi.

"Morale is still good despite these setbacks ... the proof is that soldiers are stillvolunteering by the thousand for Somalia missions," a senior Burundian officer told AFP.

But the soldiers are drawn largely by the opportunity for financial gain, with a soldier inthe AMISOM force earning in one month what he would take a year-and-a-half to earnback home.



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Moreover the family of a dead soldier receives a payment of $50,000, according toofficers in Mogadishu.

Several Burundian soldiers questioned by AFP in the past few months have said they feelthey are fighting "for nothing" in Burundi and prefer to die for "something worthwhile."

For the Burundian political scientist and university professor Salathiel Muntunutwiwe therun of bad luck can be explained by weaknesses in his country's army.

"The current army was created in 2004 out of the former army and seven former rebelmovements ... and it still has not become a professional integrated force," he told AFP."The result is our soldiers go into Somalia for their own personal interests and that canlead them to commit fatal errors."

He also questioned whether Burundi, one of the poorest countries in the world, wasadequately equipped, adding that the contingent has no helicopters and few tanks.

The army spokesman rejected all those arguments saying his men go into Somalia toserve a cause.

"Our soldiers are very well trained," Baratuza said. "They are motivated by the prospectof helping restore peace in a country that is suffering the way Burundi suffered not solong ago."

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Tunisians vote in first election of Arab Spring (CNN)

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/23/world/africa/tunisia-elections/index.html?hpt=iaf_c223 October 2011By Ivan Watson

TUNIS, Tunisia (CNN) -- Barely hours after polls opened in Tunisia's landmarkelections, the line of voters waiting to enter a polling station in the capital's upscaleMenzah neighborhood stretched around the block and out of sight.

"It's a wonderful day. It's the first time we can choose our own representatives," saidWalid Marrakchi, a civil engineer who waited more than two hours to vote.He brought along his 3-year-old son, Ahmed, so he could "get used to freedom anddemocracy."

Tunisia's election is the first since a popular uprising in January overthrew long-timedictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and triggered a wave of revolutions -- referred to as theArab Spring -- across the region.

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More than 60 political parties and thousands of independent candidates are competing for218 seats in a new Constitutional Assembly, which will be charged with writing a newconstitution and laying the framework for a government system.

Voters appeared jubilant on Sunday, taking photos of each other outside polling stations,

some holding Tunisian flags.

"It's a holiday," said housewife Maha Haubi, who had just taken her position at the end ofthe long line of more than 1,000 voters waiting outside an elementary school in Menzah."Before we never even had the right to say 'yes' or 'no.'"

Nearby, banker Aid Naghmaichi said she didn't mind the long wait to vote."We have waited years for this," Naghmaichi said.

Ali Bergaoui burst out of a classroom waving a Tunisian flag and smiling broadlymoments after he voted.

He said he and his wife, Miriam, had a sleepless night in anticipation of the vote. Theyshowed up at 7 a.m. when polls officially opened and waited for three hours.

"We waited 50 years for this," a triumphant Bergaoui said. Miriam Bergaoui's eyes filledwith tears as she tried to express the emotion of the moment. But partisan politics werealready on display here.

The Bergaouis both said they came in part to vote against Ennahada, the once-bannedmoderate Islamist party that consistently scored highest in public opinion polls in theweeks leading up to the election.

The campaign period marked an escalation in tension between secular and religiousTunisians.

Religious groups staged angry protests that sometimes turned violent at universities and aprivate TV channel, to show opposition to the broadcast of the animated film"Persepolis," which included a depiction of god.

Meanwhile, prominent secular politicians, like the Progressive Democratic Party's AhmedNejib Chebbi campaigned on anti-Ennahada platforms, warning voters that a victory forthe party would mark a setback for Tunisia's development as a secular state.

Angry bystanders confronted Ennahada leader Rachid Ghanouchi after he cast his ballotat another polling station in the Menzah neighborhood.

As Ghanouchi waved his ink-stained finger to cameras, the crowd could be heard yelling"assassin" and "get out" in French, a prominent rallying cry used in January's protestsagainst Ben Ali.



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"If democracy is some kind of school, then Tunisia is in year one," said Moadh Kheriji,Ghanouchi's chief of staff, when asked by CNN about the incident. "Hopefully we willlearn to accept each other and work together for the country."

In the afternoon, voters trudged down a dusty street into a polling station of Cite al

Tadhaman, a working class neighborhood of Tunis. Men and women there had mixedreviews of Ennahada.

"They respect everyone, whether you're big or little," said school teacher AbdullahOthman. "That is because they are good politicians and because they are close to Islam."Nasri Najette, disagreed, saying, "Ennahada has some good things and some things wedon't like," said Najette.

"Like the hijab," added another woman, Rim Mousletti, who mimed the shape of anIslamic headscarf around her face.

Ennahada party officials have denied accusations that they would restrict women's rightsif voted into office. Najette and Mousletti said they voted for different secular parties.Candidates are competing for 218 seats in the Assembly, which will be charged withwriting a new constitution and deciding the structure of Tunisia's future government.Scores of political parties and independent candidates are competing in the contest.Voting began a couple of days ago in the Tunisian diaspora.

The winners will confront domestic problems after the December self-immolation of afruit vendor whose cart was seized by police.

The vendor's suicide touched off a firestorm among Tunisians fed up with corruption,high unemployment and escalating food prices.

The Tunisian ferment sparked uprisings in North Africa, where Egyptian President HosniMubarak and the Moammar Gadhafi-led Libyan regime were ousted.

Rallies against regimes rage on in the Middle East, where anti-government protestershave taken to the streets in Syria, Yemen and Bahrain.

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Cameroonian president wins vote, extending 29-year-rule (CNN)

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/22/world/africa/cameroon-election-outcome/index.html?hpt=iaf_c222 October 2011

Yaounde, Cameroon (CNN) -- Cameroon declared the incumbent leader winner of thismonth's presidential election, extending his nearly three decades in office by seven moreyears.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/22/world/africa/cameroon-election-outcome/index.html?hpt=iaf_c2http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/22/world/africa/cameroon-election-outcome/index.html?hpt=iaf_c2http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/22/world/africa/cameroon-election-outcome/index.html?hpt=iaf_c2http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/22/world/africa/cameroon-election-outcome/index.html?hpt=iaf_c2


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