AFRICOM Related News Clips October 29, 2010

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United States Africa CommandPublic Affairs Office29 October 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

Deputy AFRICOM Chief Explains Mission (The Inquirer)(Liberia) The Deputy to the Commander for Civil Military Activities of the UnitedStates Africa Command (AFRICOM), Ambassador J. Anthony Holmes on Tuesdaydisclosed that AFRICOM has a mission to work with African countries in developing

their capacities to deal with African Policy.

US Army Trains Congo Soldiers (Voice of America)(Congo) In the conflict-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo, the country's ownmilitary is one of the biggest causes of instability. The U.S. military has begundeploying trainers to help reform the troubled force, one small step at a time.

Joint Task Force chief visits (New Times)(Rwanda) The visiting Commander of the Combined Joint Task Force ² Horn of Africa(CJTF²HOA), Rear Admiral Brian L. Losey, on Thursday laid a wreath at GisoziGenocide Memorial Centre and remarked that it is ´a powerful Genocide memorial andGenocide is something that should never happen again.µ

Obama Administration Would Not Abandon Africa ² US Official (Peace FM Online)(Ghana) Mr. William J. Burns, US Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs onWednesday said the Barrack Obama Administration in the United States would notabandon aid to Africa.

White House Health Policy Advisor Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel Visits Ethiopia (nazret.com)(Ethiopia) The Special Advisor on Health Policy to the Director of the White HouseOffice of Management and Budget, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, is visiting Ethiopia from

October 25-29 as part of a three-nation trip to Africa to look at U.S.-Governmentsupported health projects and programs as they relate to the U.S. Government·s newGlobal Health Initiative.

Obama urges "peaceful and transparent" polls in Cote d'Ivoire (Xinhua)



(Cote d'Ivoire) U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday urged Cote d'Ivoire to holdthe long-delayed presidential elections in a "peaceful and transparent manner,"describing the Oct. 31 polls as a critical step to rebuilding the West African country.

Why is Obama easing restrictions on child soldiers? (Foreign Policy)

(Pan Africa) On Monday, the Obama administration waived sections of a law meant toprevent the recruitment of child soldiers in Africa, paving the way for new militarycooperation with four countries with poor human rights records -- despite their use ofunderage troops.

Israel: Nigeria weapons heading for Gaza Strip (Associated Press)(Nigeria) Israeli officials said Thursday that the military-grade armaments seized at ashipping terminal in Nigeria came from Iran and were bound for the Hamas-controlledGaza Strip.

Islamists Execute Teenagers in Somalia (New York Times)(Somalia) Somalia·s most powerful Islamist insurgents, the Shabab, executed twoteenage girls on Wednesday after deciding they were spies, setting off fears amongresidents, officials and witnesses said.

S. Africa woos investors for huge solar plant (AFP)(South Africa) South Africa wooed investors Thursday for what could become theworld's largest solar project, built on the edge of the Kalahari Desert to provide aneighth of the country's electricity.

Private Sector Interest Grows in African Farming (Wall Street Journal)(Pan Africa) Mounting concern over security of food supplies is spurring a wave ofprivate-sector investment in Africa that many hope will put it at the center of a greenrevolution.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Websitey Calm political, security climate bodes well for Côte d·Ivoire polls, Ban says

y Soccer striker Drogba kicks off UN-backed fair elections campaign in Africa-------------------------------------------------------------------------UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Tuesday, November 2, 2:30 p.m.; U.S. Institute of PeaceWHAT: Guinea: Challenges and Prospects for a Democratic TransitionWHO: Ambassador Jendayi Frazier, Chair, Distinguished Public Service Professor andformer Asst. Secretary of State of African Affairs, Carnegie Mellon University; Dr.Lansiné Kaba, Speaker, Professor, Carnegie Mellon University; William Fitzgerald,Speaker, Deputy Asst. Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, U.S. State Department;



Dorina Bekoe, Opening Remarks, Senior Research Associate (Africa), U.S. Institute ofPeaceInfo: http://www.usip.org/events/guinea-challenges-and-prospects-democratic-transition

WHEN/WHERE: Friday, November 5, 9:30 a.m.; U.S. Institute of PeaceWHAT: Women in War Conference: The Trouble with the CongoWHO: Severine Autesserre, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Barnard College,Columbia University; Raymond Gilpin, Associate Vice President, SustainableEconomies, Centers of Innovation, U.S. Institute of Peace; Christine Karumba, Womenfor Women International; Howard Wolpe, Woodrow Wilson International Center forScholars; Diane Orentlicher, Deputy Director, Office of War Crimes, U.S. Department ofStateInfo: http://www.usip.org/events/woman-and-war ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FULL ARTICLE TEXT

Deputy AFRICOM Chief Explains Mission (The Inquirer)

The Deputy to the Commander for Civil Military Activities of the United States AfricaCommand (AFRICOM), Ambassador J. Anthony Holmes on Tuesday disclosed thatAFRICOM has a mission to work with African countries in developing their capacitiesto deal with African Policy. The American Military Official, who addressed the thirdedition of the Ambassadorial Lecture Forum in Monrovia, clarified that AFRICOM isabout the United States Government and citizens, and moreover, following series of

terrorists' attacks on the US Embassy in Kenya and the September 11, 1991 in the US,they realized that they had a key security interest in dealing with these attacks.Ambassador Holmes who spoke on the topic ´AFRICOM and its Mission,µ explainedthat following these attacks, they realized that they had a new enemy and as such, theydecided to respond to security threats in Africa since they also had national securityinterest in Africa.

The AFRICOM Deputy Boss further stated that AFRICOM, which is the tool of the USPolicy, has a mission of building a good relation with 53 nations on the continent, eventhough they don't have sufficient funds and resources of doing so. ´There is virtually nosecurity threat in Africa that is conducive to a unilateral solution. Almost everyone ofthem has a regional solution,µ he added. Ambassador Holmes also clarified thatAFRICOM does not have any plan of relocating its headquarters from Germany, insteadthe discussions at the initial stage of relocating AFRICOM headquarters was a mistake.

He said AFRICOM will also focus on working with US Embassies, Country Teams andDefense Cooperation in Africa to strengthen existing military-to-military relationships.´If our African partners and the US government agree that further cooperation would



benefit from a more robust Africa Command presence, we will consult accordingly anddetermine the best way to proceed.µ

Ambassador Holmes told the well attended Forum that brought together Ambassadors,Diplomats and students from the Foreign Service Institute that AFRICOM's approach is

to work with nations in the region by building their capacity that would enable them todeal with security threats.--------------------US Army Trains Congo Soldiers (Voice of America)

In the conflict-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo, the country's own military is oneof the biggest causes of instability. The 100,000-strong army - a mix of governmentsoldiers and former rebels - has been accused of robbing, enslaving and rapingCongolese civilians. The U.S. military has begun deploying trainers to help reform thetroubled force, one small step at a time.

In Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, there are injuredAmericans on the streets. Their injuries are being staged as part of a two-week trainingexercise for 300 Congolese army medical personnel codenamed "Medflag '10." It is beingoverseen by Africom, the US military command covering Africa.

Lt. Col. Todd Johnston with the U.S. Army said, "For the Congolese, it's a chance tolearn some techniques from the U.S. Army."

The need for the training is clear. A study by the aid group Oxfam found that soldiers

and police commit two-thirds of the rapes in Congo. The Americans hope to beginturning around the army by providing a positive example.

State Department Spokesman Marc Dillard said, "The real objective is to help or sustainand support the government of Congo so they can do things like better protect thecivilian population and better provide security."

It's a tough job. Primitive conditions and a lack of modern equipment are twochallenges. Language is another.

Army Sgt. Stuart Hammer said, "The most difficult portion is the language barrier.When we use an interpreter, they interpret into French, and a lot of Congolese soldiersare speaking Lingala, so it gets interpreted a second time. So the time factor is extendedgreatly due to the interpretation and the second interpretation."

What's more, many Congolese soldiers are former rebels who were invited to join thearmy as part of a peace deal.



Marcel Stoessel is Congo Director for Oxfam International. He said, "It's difficult toreform the Congolese army because it's a collection of armed groups that's beenintegrated, not an army that's been constructed from scratch."

As a final exam, the Americans required the newly-trained Congolese troops to interact

with civilians at a free health clinic in Kinshasa. American and Congolese doctors,dentists and medics worked side by side treating around 2,000 patients over severaldays.

U.S. Army Maj. Curt Kroh said, "The biggest thing we help with is medicines. They'reshort on medicines. We bring a lot of that to the table, as well as the education piece. Wetrade treatment methods and ideas to help fine-tune their care."

At the same time, another U.S. Army team is wrapping up a year of training anotherCongolese unit in the nearby city of Kisangani.

Lt. Col. Johnston said, "The U.S. has determined it wants to be more involved in Africa.This is simply the military part of that increased engagement at all levels."

The two training efforts are just the beginning of America's growing involvement inCongo's army reform.-------------------- Joint Task Force chief visits (New Times)

The visiting Commander of the Combined Joint Task Force ² Horn of Africa (CJTF²

HOA), Rear Admiral Brian L. Losey, on Thursday laid a wreath at Gisozi GenocideMemorial Centre and remarked that it is ´a powerful Genocide memorial and Genocideis something that should never happen again.µ

He arrived in the country on Wednesday for a three-day visit. ´I am honoured to behere to exchange some discussions with my Rwandan defence counterparts on ways towork towards greater stability in the region so that something like this never happensagain,µ he said.

Later in the afternoon, Adm. Losey held discussions with the RDF Chief of DefenceStaff, Lt. Gen. Charles Kayonga.Losey is expected to tour the Rwanda Military Academy in Gako and the AfricaContingency Operations Training and Assistance [ACOTA] Camp.

CJTF-HOA conducts operations in the East African region to build capacity in order topromote regional security and stability, prevent conflict, and protect US and coalitioninterests. It became part of U.S. Africa Command in October 2008.



CJTF²HOA also provides personnel to the African Contingency Operations Trainingand Assistance (ACOTA) program as mentors. The Headquarters of CJTF ² HOA is atCamp Lemonnier, in Djibouti.-------------------- Obama Administration Would Not Abandon Africa ² US Official (Peace FM Online)

Mr. William J. Burns, US Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs on Wednesdaysaid the Barrack Obama Administration in the United States would not abandon aid toAfrica.

He said, "Rather the US under the Obama Presidency would continue to extend thenecessary support for the continent·s development."He said Africa·s future was veryimportant to the United States and that it would work harder than before to ensure thatthe Continent·s problems of poverty, disease and hunger were solved.

Mr Burns gave the assurance on Wednesday in Washington DC, when he addressed 150participants of the International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP) for Journalists inWashington DC, USA.The three-week Edward R. Murrow programme for Journalistsbrought together emerging leaders in the field of journalism from around the world toexamine Journalistic practices in the United States.

Mr Burns was responding to a question posed by the media personnel who claimed thatthe Bush Administration had performed better in terms of aid to Africa than the currentObama Administration. He said the United States had voted $63 Billion to fight diseaseglobally and that Africa was benefiting from the fund, indicating that Obama·s

Administration would continue with all good policies of the former government.´WhenObama visited Ghana in West Africa, he pledged US support for Africa·s developmentand called for the building of stronger institutions and I believe Africa would continueto receive the necessary US support for development,µ he assured.

He said the World needed Africa to help address global warming, economicdevelopment and sustained economic growth for conflict resolution as well as fightinghunger and disease.Mr Burns appealed to participants to take advantage of the US mid-term elections slated for Tuesday November 2, 2010 to learn more about Americanpolitics.He said the election was very important to the Obama·s Administration becauseit was a referendum of the President·s two years in office and expressed the hope that atthe end of the day Democrats would triumph.

He said the United States would continue to work with civil society groups globally toensure free, fair and open elections across Africa for a sustained peace anddevelopment.Dr Anne-Marie Slaughter, Director of policy planning in the USDepartment of State, said inequality in wealth creation and secret governance could nothelp in nation building and called on leaders to run open administrations.



She said the United States stood for National Security, prosperity for all, respect foruniversal values and international order and would always call for partnership in allendeavours.--------------------

White House Health Policy Advisor Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel Visits Ethiopia (nazret.com)

Addis Ababa ² The Special Advisor on Health Policy to the Director of the White HouseOffice of Management and Budget, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, is visiting Ethiopia fromOctober 25-29 as part of a three-nation trip to Africa to look at U.S.-Governmentsupported health projects and programs as they relate to the U.S. Government·s newGlobal Health Initiative. During his time in Ethiopia, Dr. Emanuel had the opportunityto meet with the Ethiopian Minister of Health, Dr. Tedros Adhanom, as well as manyother Ministry of Health, private sector and civil society stakeholders in Ethiopia·shealthcare systems and institutions.

In Wolisso, Dr. Emanuel was able to observe Ethiopia·s health service delivery system,including Ethiopia·s flagship Health Extension program, at the district, community andhousehold levels. Dr. Emanuel visited the Mojo Health Center, one of 550 healthcenters in Ethiopia supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development(USAID) for provision of comprehensive HIV/AIDS services. He also visited theTransACTION project, an HIV prevention program targeting at risk populationsthrough peer education, community mobilization and mass media.

Dr. Emanuel had the chance to tour the Bishoftu district hospital which has a well-

established HIV-AIDS and Tuberculosis clinic supported by the U.S. Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention (CDC). He also observed the implementation of the health carefinancing reform program, supported by USAID, at Bishoftu hospital. In Addis Ababa,he visited St. Peter·s Specialized TB Hospital and the Urban Gardens Project, a programthat supports orphans and low-income HIV-affected women and their households. Hehad the opportunity to interact with children who are involved in a school gardenprogram that teaches them agricultural and income generating skills.

Dr. Emanuel commented that he was very pleased to have the chance to meet with awide variety of stakeholders in Ethiopia·s healthcare systems and to learn more aboutEthiopia·s health challenges and successes.--------------------Obama urges "peaceful and transparent" polls in Cote d'Ivoire (Xinhua)

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday urged Cote d'Ivoire tohold the long-delayed presidential elections in a "peaceful and transparent manner,"describing the Oct. 31 polls as a critical step to rebuilding the West African country.



"The people of Cote d'Ivoire deserve a secure environment for elections, and for theirchoice to be accepted by all candidates," Obama said in a statement.

Cote d'Ivoire was plunged into a civil war in 2002 following a failed coup d'etat attemptagainst President Laurent Gbagbo. The nation remains divided with the ex-rebel New

Forces holding the north and the loyalists controlling the south.

The presidential elections, which have been postponed six times, are rescheduled forOct. 31 to decide a successor to Gbagbo, whose term expired in 2005.

"The Ivoirian government, the candidates, their supporters, and all political actors havean obligation to ensure that the long-delayed presidential elections are held in apeaceful and transparent manner," Obama said. "These elections are a critical step torebuilding Cote d'Ivoire."

He added that "the United States stands with the Ivoirian people as they prepare forlong-awaited democratic elections, and move closer to lasting peace and prosperity inCote d'Ivoire."-------------------- Why is Obama easing restrictions on child soldiers? (Foreign Policy)

On Monday, the Obama administration waived sections of a law meant to prevent therecruitment of child soldiers in Africa, paving the way for new military cooperationwith four countries with poor human rights records -- despite their use of underagetroops.

"I hereby determine that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive theapplication to Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Yemen of theprohibition in section 404(a) of the [Child Service Prevention Act]," President Obamawrote in a memorandum to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In 2008, President George W. Bush signed the law, which prohibits U.S. militaryeducation and training, foreign military financing, and other defense-related assistanceto countries that actively recruit troops under the age of 18. Countries are designated asviolators if the State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons report identifies themas recruiting child soldiers.

The original bill was actually sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) before being addedto a larger bill led by then Senator, now Vice President Joseph Biden. The only countrieswhere the restrictions under this law are still in place are now Burma and Somalia.

The only reason provided in the memorandum was that Obama determined it was inthe "national interest" to waive the law for those four countries.



State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told The Cable that the Obamaadministration has decided that working with militaries that recruit child soldiersactually helps solve the problem more than ignoring those militaries would.

"In each of these countries, we are working with the governments to stop therecruitment of child soldiers or demobilize those who may already be in the ranks,"Crowley explained. "These countries have put the right policies in place, but arestruggling to effectively implement them. These waivers allow the United States tocontinue to conduct valuable training programs and by working with these militarieshelp them meet international norms."

So the Obama administration has determined that deepening military relationshipswith brutal dictatorships and unsavory regimes is the best way to reform them? Thatseems like a pretty big shift in policy. It still remains unclear what military assistance

the United States actually plans to give to countries like Sudan, Chad, and Yemen, aswell as how it will use its engagement to protect child soldiers.

"We will continue to work with these governments to reduce the recruitment or use ofchild soldiers within the ranks of their armed forces," White House spokesman TommyVietor said in an e-mailed statement. "We will also generally endeavor to preventforeign security forces that recruit and use child soldiers from benefitting from any U.S.foreign assistance."--------------------Israel: Nigeria weapons heading for Gaza Strip (Associated Press)

LAGOS, Nigeria ² Israeli officials said Thursday that the military-grade armamentsseized at a shipping terminal in Nigeria came from Iran and were bound for the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

The military officials would not provide evidence to support their claims, citing"security concerns." However, the information initially appeared to conflict with claimsby Nigerian customs officials that the weaponry, which included 107 mm artilleryrockets, were to be brought into the oil-rich West African nation.

The Israeli officials spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity as they were notallowed to speak with journalists.

Iran remains a bitter enemy of Israel and supports Islamic militant groups in Lebanonand Gaza that are in a state of war with the Jewish state. In the winter of 2008, Israellaunched a military campaign against Iran-backed militants in Gaza in an attempt tostop years of almost daily rocket attacks on southern Israel.



Ismail Radwan, a Hamas leader in Gaza, denied the weapons were headed to Gaza.

Agents with Nigeria's secretive State Security Service discovered the weapons Tuesdayhidden inside of 13 shipping containers dropped off at Lagos' busy Apapa Port. Journalists allowed to see the weapons Wednesday saw 107 mm rockets, rifle rounds

and other items labeled in English. Authorities said the shipment also containedgrenades, explosives and possibly rocket launchers, but journalists did not see them.

Wale Adeniyi, a spokesman for Nigeria's Customs Service, said Thursday that the MVCMA-CGM Everest dropped the weapons off in July. Adeniyi said the ship last stoppedat Mumbai's Jawaharlal Nehru Port before coming to Nigeria.

The spokesman said security officials became suspicious of the containers as theshipment did not have proper documentation. However, it initially appeared that thecargo was to have remained in Nigeria, he said.

The containers have "been on ground since July. There have been some attempts to clearthem" for importation into Nigeria, Adeniyi said. "We understand later that there wasan application to re-export them."

The Everest, a cargo ship registered in the Marshall Islands, is chartered by CMA-CGM,a shipping company based in France. In a statement released Thursday, CMA-CGMsaid the containers holding the weapons were owned by the firm that shipped them.The shipping company said the manifest for the weapons described the shipment as"packages of glasswool and pallets of stone."

The containers "were supplied, loaded and sealed by the shipper, delivered to the portof loading for transportation and remained sealed during the whole transportationprocess," CMA-CGM's statement read. "The seals were fully intact upon discharge inNigeria."

The company declined to comment further, other than to say it has cooperated withNigerian security services.

In the hands of highly trained troops, the 107 mm artillery rockets can accurately hittargets as far as eight and a half kilometers away, killing everything within about 40feet. Fighters in Afghanistan and Iraq have used similar rockets against U.S. troops.

China, the United States, and Russia manufacture versions of the rocket, as does Iran ³which calls the weapon a Katyusha rocket. In 2006, the Islamic militant groupHezbollah fired nearly 4,000 Katyusha rockets across Israel's northern border, some ofwhich fell as far as 55 miles (90 kilometers) inside Israel.



The weapons seizure comes as Nigeria, an OPEC-member nation that is one of the topcrude oil suppliers to the U.S., approaches what could be a highly contestedpresidential election next year. Security remains a concern in Nigeria as it continues tosee targeted killings allegedly committed by a radical Islamic sect in the north and thethreat of new violence in its oil-rich southern delta.

--------------------Islamists Execute Teenagers in Somalia (New York Times)

MOGADISHU, Somalia ³ Somalia·s most powerful Islamist insurgents, the Shabab,executed two teenage girls on Wednesday after deciding they were spies, setting offfears among residents, officials and witnesses said.

The two teenagers ³ one 18, the other 14 ³ were shot by firing squad in the center ofthe town of Beletwein, near the border with Ethiopia, witnesses said.

Pickup trucks with big amplifiers drove into the town, ordering the residents to go andwatch the execution. Residents were also told to switch off their cell phones and warnednot to take pictures, a prohibition that has been enforced at some Islamist executions inthe past.

´The teenage girls were executed in the regional headquarters at the center of the town;some of the women who were watching fainted at the scene.µ said Abukar Elmi, awitness. ´This is a shocking event.µ

The Shabab official in the town, Sheik Yusuf Ali Ugas, told local journalists that ´the

two girls were found guilty of spying for the Ethiopian government.µ

Ethiopia invaded Somalia in 2006 to oust an Islamist movement that had taken controlof much of the country, including the capital, Mogadishu. Thousands of Ethiopiansoldiers remained in Somalia for the next three years before withdrawing, and some ofthe Somali government forces fighting the Shabab in the Beletwein area are supportedby the Ethiopian government.

Mr. Ugas said the teenagers were not the only ones in Shabab custody, adding ´thereare many people now in Shabab prisons in Beletwein.µ

He also sent a warning to Ethiopia, saying that the Shabab knew ´all the informantsserving for the Ethiopian government.µ

Residents in the town argued that the two teenage girls were innocent. The girls, theysaid, were traveling away from their families when they were caught in the middle of across fire just outside Beletwein, where both government forces and the Shabab are



positioned. Many Somalis try to reach Yemen and Saudi Arabia to find betteropportunities there and escape from the violence in this country.

´When the fighting started between the Shabab and the government forces just outsideBeletwein, the girls had to flee to the bush, where they were finally caught,µ said a

resident whose name was withheld for his safety. ´I think they were executed becausethey were caught at the frontline.µ

The Somali transitional federal government strongly condemned the public execution,arguing that the two girls had not been given the right to a legal defense, nor had theirparents even been informed.

´This execution is yet another human rights abuse committed by the criminals,µ theSomali government said. ´This act of killing innocent children does not have Islamicand humanitarian justifications.µ

The Shabab have been responsible for many human rights violations in the areas theycontrol. In 2008, for instance, they stoned to death a rape victim in the port town ofKismayo.

The Shabab, who control most of south and central Somalia, have imposed a strictinterpretation of Islam that includes stoning adulterers, amputating the extremities ofthieves, and banning things like television, school bells and even bras.--------------------S. Africa woos investors for huge solar plant (AFP)

UPINGTON, South Africa ² South Africa wooed investors Thursday for what couldbecome the world's largest solar project, built on the edge of the Kalahari Desert toprovide an eighth of the country's electricity.

More than 400 investors and solar industry insiders from as far away as India, SouthKorea, Spain and the United States descended on the tiny town of Upington in SouthAfrica's arid Northern Cape province for a conference aimed at laying the groundworkfor a 5,000-Megawatt solar park.

Energy Minister Dipuo Peters said the park, whose estimated price tag is 150 billionrands (21.3 billion dollars, 15.4 billion euros), would be funded mainly by privatedevelopers who would finance and build individual projects and sell power to thenational grid.

She called the park a "win-win" project that would move South Africa toward a greeneconomy and help break its long-time dependence on coal -- currently about 90 percent



of the country's energy mix -- while giving investors a share in one of the world's bestlocations for solar power.

"I know you are here to make money. We are also here to say we want you to generatepower," Peters said.

"But we also want to be able to create jobs for our people," she added.

"We are here creating a win-win situation."

The area around Upington has some of the best conditions in the world for solar power,according to a study by the non-profit Clinton Climate Initiative, a clean energyprogramme sponsored by former US president Bill Clinton's charitable foundation.

The arid Northern Cape, which sits at the edge of the Kalahari Desert, has some of the

strongest sunshine in the world, relatively developed infrastructure and seeminglyendless expanses of flat, empty land.

"When you drive around here with a solar developer's hat on, it's magic," said DickBerlijn, director of project development firm Subsolar.

"We would be silly as a country not to take advantage of the sun opportunity," saidOmpi Aphane of the Department of Energy.

"The sun is such an obvious choice."

Peters said the government hopes the solar park will have a capacity of 5,000Megawatts -- about the amount produced by the very biggest coal-fired power stations -- by 2020. The country currently generates almost 40,000 Megawatts nationally.

That capacity would make the park five times bigger than the Blythe solar power plant,which won approval Monday to begin construction in southern California and iscurrently on track to become the world's largest solar project.

Gideon Joubert, an engineer at South African firm Windmeul, said the solar park hadthe potential to create large numbers of jobs at local companies.

His firm, which specialises in steel construction, already has experience building framesfor solar generation stations used by oil companies in places like Angola, Nigeria andSaudi Arabia.



"We will be able to manufacture the stuff in South Africa," Joubert told AFP. "We justhave to get the right people here to get the (solar panels) from overseas so we can do themanufacturing here."

Peters said the project was part of government plans to create 300,000 "green economy"

jobs by 2020 and make South Africa a global leader in solar energy.

"We are not creating a platform ... for our people to just be those who mix concrete anddig holes," she said.

"We want them to contribute even at the technical levels."--------------------Private Sector Interest Grows in African Farming (Wall Street Journal)

Mounting concern over security of food supplies is spurring a wave of private-sector

investment in Africa that many hope will put it at the center of a green revolution.

"People are realizing the potential of agriculture," says Lucy Muchoki, head of Africanbusiness coalition PanAAC, which encourages investment in the continent's agriculturalsector.

To meet growing global food demand the United Nation's Food and AgricultureOrganization estimates an extra six million hectares need to be brought undercultivation every year for the next 30 years. With sub-Saharan Africa estimated to holdup to 60% of the world's remaining uncultivated land suitable for farming, the region's

agriculture is starting to look an interesting investment.

"Africa has come of age," says David Mirrin, co-founder of U.K.-based Emergent AssetManagement, which has investments in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

To be sure, hopes for Africa's agriculture sector have been dashed before. Weak rule oflaw, political instability and prohibitive trade policies have teamed up to keepproductivity low and chase away investment. Today, yields in sub-Saharan Africa areabout a third of the world average at 1 ton per hectare, highlighting the potentialchallenges³and opportunities³for investors.

Already investors are waking up to Africa's potential. Forty-five private equity firmsplan to invest $2 billion in the region's agriculture in the next three to five years,according to figures from Informa Agra, and consultancy McKinsey estimates thecontinent's agricultural output could treble from $280 billion a year today to $880 billionby 2030.



Mr. Mirrin says Emergent's African Agricultural Land Fund has seen a surge of interestfrom institutional investors. Founded almost four years ago, the fund claims to be oneof the first to invest in the potential of Africa's farmland and targets risk-adjustedreturns of 25% per year from production and land price appreciation.

Diversified across crops, biofuels, livestock, game farming and timber, the fund aims toprofit by increasing yields through using modern farming techniques, investing intechnology³only 2% of African farmland has any irrigation system in place³andgenerating economies of scale by aggregating smaller farms.

Foreign buyers have turned their eyes to Africa's farmland before. After the commoditycrisis of 2008, when record food prices caused widespread rioting around thedeveloping world, many importing countries bought up vast tracts of land in poorercountries as a means of securing future supplies.

But while the so called "land grab" of previous years proved to be politically divisive³in Madagascar contributing to the downfall of the government after it leased an area thesize of Connecticut to Korea's Daewoo³very little has been grown.

Although investors expressed interest in 30 million hectares of farmland in sub-SaharanAfrica during 2009 alone, compared to an average of four million hectares a yearworldwide in the previous decade, only one fifth of these projects have startedproduction, according to a World Bank study and in the countries where projects havebegun, including Mozambique, Zambia, Sudan and Madagascar, yields have been onlya quarter what was expected, the study found.

Sindiso Ngwenya, chairperson of the Common Market for East and Southern Africa, anAfrican trade bloc, says many projects failed because they were based exploitation of acheap labor force without addressing many of the structural issues that hindered thedevelopment of the sector.

"You end up with an enclave economy, prosperous on cheap labor in the countrysidewithout integrating the locals, and this can lead to future conflicts," he says.

But now private sector investors seek to change this. Instead of treating Africa's landand people as a resource to be exploited, entrepreneurs from the developed world arelooking to work with the continent's 80 million smallholder farmers to build mutuallyprofitable partnerships.

Hugh Scott, director of the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund, which receives moneyfrom a number of development-oriented sources to use to encourage private sectorenterprise in Africa, says that, while governments play a key role in providing a fertileinvestment climate³including transparent justice systems, simpler bureaucracy and



reliable infrastructure³only the private sector can empower local farmers to boostoutput and ensure sustainable markets.

"Business is for business²small farmers in Africa are small businessmen," says Mr. Scott

Created with money from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda GatesFoundation, as well as governments and the World Bank, the fund provides for-profitprivate sector companies looking to work in Africa with kick-start grants of between$150,000 and $2.5 million, which they must match with their own money. So far, it hascommitted $32 million to 40 business deals, leveraging about $150 million from theprivate sector, and it expects to commit funding to a further 10 projects by the end ofNovember.

"We're looking to create projects others will copy, that will change the way marketsystems work," says Mr. Scott. "By doing this with for-profit companies, hopefully they

will be there in 10 years."

He points to one AECF-sponsored project with SAB Miller in southern Sudan as anexample of how business investment can create structural change. Although theinternational drinks producer already had a brewery in the country, it had relied solelyon barley imports for its brewing. Working with $842,000 from AECF and $2.1 millionof its own money, the company has now built up a network of 5,500 smallholderfarmers that will supply it with cassava³an African root³as an alternative ingredientfor making beer for years to come.

Mima Nedelcovych, a former US Executive Director of the African Development Bankand board director of the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa, said ifgovernments want to encourage a sea-change in investment, they need to foster aproductive environment themselves. "The agro-industrial side can always be financedbecause it can handle shorter-term loans," he said. "But developing infrastructure andputting in irrigation requires longer term soft money."

As a partner in U.S.-based professional services firm Schaffer Global Group, Dr.Nedelcovych has developed one of the largest public-private agricultural investmentsin Africa, the Markala Sugar Project-a 20,000 hectare public-private partnershipbetween Mali's government and Africa's largest sugar producer Illovo, a subsidiary ofAssociated British Foods.

Located on the Niger River, the project was jointly funded by Illovo Sugar, Schaffer,Malian private investors and the government and will be managed and operated byIllovo. The mill and sugar estates will produce around 200,000 tons of sugar a year,create 8,000 permanent jobs, thousands of temporary seasonal jobs and will producearound 10% of oil-dependent Mali's energy needs.



Key to the success of the project is the strength of Mali's sugar market, which consumesaround 160,000 tons of sugar a year, leaving 40,000 tons to be exported into the WestAfrican regional market, said Dr. Nedelcovych. He argues that for African agricultureto prosper, local markets need to be strengthened to provide a home-grown impetus for

development and support more profitable processing industries.--------------------UN News Service Africa Briefs Full Articles on UN Website

Calm political, security climate bodes well for Côte d·Ivoire polls, Ban says

28 October ² The current security and political calm bodes well for this weekend·s long-awaited presidential election in Côte d·Ivoire, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in anew report, underlining the need for the polls to take place as scheduled.

Soccer striker Drogba kicks off UN-backed fair elections campaign in Africa28 October ² Football superstar Didier Drogba today kicked off a United Nations-sponsored campaign to highlight the capacity of democratic and transparent electionsto lift people in some of the world·s poorest countries out of poverty throughaccountable and transparent governance.

AFRICOM Related News Clips October 29, 2010

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