The Agonist - Africa

Libyan Leader in Italy Seeks Tall, Leggy and Pious

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:32:03 -0800

Rachel Donadio | Rome | November 16

NYT - The 200 women who answered a Rome modeling agency’s advertisement for tall, attractive party guests thought they would be attending an elegant soirée on Sunday. They were — only the host turned out to be the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, and instead of hors d’oeuvres he offered them copies of the Koran and urged them to convert to Islam, the Italian news media reported Monday.

The women, all between the ages of 18 and 35, assembled in a Rome hotel before being screened by both metal detectors and the fashion police, who turned away anyone in a miniskirt or provocative clothing, according to Paola Lo Mele, a journalist for the ANSA news agency, who answered the modeling agency’s request and went undercover to the event. The women were each paid $75 to attend.

Colonel Qaddafi and other world leaders are in Rome for the World Summit on Food Security of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The women who made the cut were bused to a villa in Rome, ANSA reported, where they waited an hour, unsure of what was to follow, before the famously late Libyan leader arrived.

“All the girls expected a party with a gala dinner,” Ms. Lo Mele reported. Instead, Colonel Qaddafi “made a 45-minute speech on Islam and women’s role in Islam.” He gave the women a copy of the Koran and said that he would pay for them to visit Mecca, the duty of every Muslim, if they converted.

Despite law, corrupt African bigwig gains entry to U.S.

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:04:08 -0800

Ian Urbina | Nov 17

NYT - Several times every year, Teodoro Nguema Obiang arrives at the doorstep of the United States from his home in Equatorial Guinea, on his way to his $35 million estate in Malibu, Calif., his fleet of luxury cars, his speedboats and private jet. And he is always let into the country.

The nation's doors are open to Obiang, the forest and agriculture minister of Equatorial Guinea and the son of its president, even though federal law enforcement officials believe that "most if not all" of his wealth comes from corruption. The graft is related to the extensive oil and gas reserves discovered more than a decade and a half ago off the coast of his tiny West African country, according to internal Justice Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement documents.

And the doors are open despite a federal law and a presidential proclamation that prohibit corrupt foreign officials and their families from receiving U.S. visas. The measures require only credible evidence of corruption, not a conviction for it.

Susan Pittman, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement in the State Department, said she was prohibited from discussing specific visa decisions. But other former and current State Department officials said Equatorial Guinea's close ties to the American oil industry are the reason for the lax enforcement of the law. Production of the country's nearly 400,000 barrels of oil a day is dominated by American companies such as ExxonMobil, Hess and Marathon.

"Of course it's because of oil," said John Bennett, U.S. ambassador to Equatorial Guinea from 1991 to 1994, adding that Washington has turned a blind eye to the Obiangs' corruption and repression because of its dependence on the country for natural resources. He noted that officials of Zimbabwe are barred from the United States.

EU eyes Somalia army training mission by end of the year

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:59:50 -0800

Brussels | Nov 17

DPA - The European Union hopes to launch a training mission aimed at helping Somalia's armed forces fight insurgents by the end of this year, the bloc's top diplomats said Tuesday.

The Somali government has asked for international help to train around 6,000 troops. France, Uganda and Djibouti have already begun their own training missions, which are estimated to be capable of training some 4,000 troops.

Under plans being discussed by EU foreign and defence ministers in Brussels, between 80 and 200 trainers from the armies of the bloc's 27 member states would be sent to Uganda to instruct around 1,000-2,000 Somali troops, who would then defend their country's fragile transitional government against armed insurgents.

Today 'we are taking one step. I would foresee that we have a final decision before the end of the year,' said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who was chairing the talks in Brussels as the current holder of the EU presidency.

'I will only wear pants'

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:56:07 -0800

Defiant 'trouser lady' continues to fight decency laws

Washington Post, By Stephanie McCrummen, November 14

KHARTOUM, SUDAN -- A few months after she was arrested for wearing pants, Lubna Hussein was lounging around her home in a shady, upper-class neighborhood in this capital along the Nile River. It was a hot afternoon, but the 34-year-old Sudanese journalist was wearing thick jeans adorned with sequins and embroidered flowers.

"Since all this happened, I will only wear pants," she said in the calmly defiant manner that led to her fleeting global celebrity as "the trouser lady," and a less-publicized backlash that has included anonymous death threats and newspaper columns calling her a prostitute. "If you have something to fight for, you can lose your life."

In July, Hussein attempted to shame Sudan's Islamist ruling party by inviting reporters to view her public flogging, a punishment under Islamic law that is sometimes applied here -- by leather whip or bamboo cane of the sort used on camels -- to women deemed to have violated decency laws.

As news spread, her court date drew crowds of women and men protesting in solidarity, and she received support from the likes of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Sudanese women started Web sites such as iamlubna.com, and some compared her to Rosa Parks, the American civil rights icon who challenged segregation laws.

Then, the campaign fizzled. Eager to dispense with the negative publicity, a judge sentenced Hussein to jail instead of flogging. She was released days later, and the attention surrounding her case settled into discussions among women about their experiences with Khartoum's vaguely worded decency laws, and the politics of keeping public order.

Previous Agonist Thread: Interesting Saudi op-ed narrative on the bozos in Riyadh trying to pick up girls

Fear and secrecy cloak Eritrea, Africa's hermit nation

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:05:32 -0800

Shashank Bengali | Asmara, Eritrea | Nov 10

McClatchy -

In this lonely corner of the world, the first sign of distress is the luggage. When one of the few international flights that are still operating here touched down one recent afternoon, the returning passengers emerged from baggage claim as if from a big shopping trip. Old metal trolleys squealed under the weight of mundane items: tires, a laptop computer, tubs of detergent and duffel bags crammed so tightly with food that tin cans bulged through the fabric.

The needs are acute in Eritrea, a narrow shard of sand and rock along the Red Sea that's presided over by one of Africa's most secretive regimes. As its quixotic experiment in economic self-reliance falters, the Ohio-sized country of 5 million has slipped into its deepest political isolation in its 16 years of independence.

The United States and others accuse President Isaias Afwerki of funneling arms and money to Islamist insurgents in Somalia and have threatened to slap him with sanctions. Analysts say Isaias is bent on wresting influence from Ethiopia — Eritrea's large southern neighbor and adversary in a 30-year liberation struggle — and is backing several rebel groups across the chaotic Horn of Africa.

In a rare interview, Isaias dismissed the allegations as "fabrications" by Western interests — including his favorite bogeyman, the CIA — that traditionally have sided with Ethiopia. The pariah label has reinforced his belligerent attitude toward a world that long ignored Eritrea's cries for independence, and one in which he now seems to have just one remaining friend, the wealthy Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar. _{(click pic for country profile)}

Drones scour the sea for pirates

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:57:18 -0800

Nov 10

BBC -

The US military has deployed its Reaper unmanned drones to scour the Indian Ocean with their all-seeing, infra-red eye.

Somali pirates are attacking farther and farther from home; previously safe areas are now very much within range.

The farthest attack from shore has just taken place, 1,000 nautical miles (1,850km) off Somalia.

In total, close to 200 crew members are being held hostage for ransom and hardly a day passes without news of another attack.

The drone is controlled remotely and can fly up to 18 hours at a time.

Its camera is capable of zooming in on suspected pirates from heights of up to 15,200m (50,000ft).

"It has multiple zooms and is very good for the mission for scanning very large areas," said Cdr Gregory Hand of the US military, as he watched one of the three grey drones taxi along the runway besides the turquoise waters of the Seychelles.

"These aircraft have the capability of carrying weapons, but there are currently no plans to place weapons on them," he says.

U.N. running out of food aid for Somalia

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:27:36 -0800

Ariel David | Rome | November 8

WaPo - The United Nations says it is running out of food for millions of starving Somalis, in part because the United States is delaying aid amid fears it could be intercepted by militants linked to al-Qaeda.

Last month, the U.N. World Food Program began cutting rations by up to half for some people in the lawless, impoverished East African nation, and it will run out of supplies in December, the Rome-based agency said Saturday.

"WFP's food assistance supply line to Somalia is effectively broken," said Peter Smerdon, a spokesman for the agency in Nairobi. "The pipeline break is partly because [the U.S. government] has delayed U.S. assistance to Somalia."

The U.S. State Department confirmed it had concerns that militants could get their hands on humanitarian assistance and had suspended food shipments.

Foreign Office warns Mann to 'keep quiet'

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:36:30 -0800

Brian Brady and David Randall | Nov 8

The Independent - Plenty of powerful people have an interest in the mercenary behind the 'Wonga Coup' keeping his own counsel

Simon Mann has been urged by Foreign Office officials to remain silent about the coup attempt that left him languishing in an African prison, and settle for a "quiet life" with his wife and family in the UK, The Independent on Sunday has learnt.

The veteran mercenary returned to Britain last week after he was pardoned by oil-rich Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema – the man he had planned to overthrow five years ago. Mann, with the gratitude of a man sprung 34 years before his sentence was due to run out, apologised for the plot that ended with his incarceration in the notorious Black Beach jail. He swiftly made it clear he wanted revenge on those he believes made him the "fall guy" – notably the Lebanese millionaire, Ely Calil, and Sir Mark Thatcher, son of the former British prime minister.

Mann's friends confirmed yesterday that he wanted "justice" for both men – not only for allegedly leaving him to carry the can for the disastrous coup attempt, but also for failing to look after his wife and children while he was in captivity thousands of miles away.

Yet they also revealed that Mann has already been subjected to government pressure to keep his mouth shut. "The Foreign Office didn't do anything to help get him out of that place, but they have been very quick to try to get him to play ball now he is back," one close friend said. "Simon has been told it would be in everyone's best interests if he could just draw a line under this whole thing. We know the Foreign Office wants to get on-side with EG [Equatorial Guinea] as quickly as possible but, frankly, it is also in their own interests for people to stop asking questions about this whole affair."

ttempted coup, initially denied that the Government knew about it in advance, but was later forced to admit that he did know. Whether any attempt was made to stop it, or encourage it, is not known. Mann has claimed that the UK, US, and Spanish governments all had prior knowledge.

It is clear that, despite the blissful photographs with his wife, Amanda, in the New Forest, Mann's return home is no neat and happy ending to the sorry saga. For many individuals, organisations and foreign governments, it could initiate an uncomfortable fresh chapter as questions are asked about the circumstances behind the audacious attempt to depose a hardline ruler and take control of his nation's oil supplies.

This weekend, as Mann ponders going public with his story – via a newspaper buy-up or, eventually, a book deal – the first significant questions over the credibility of the "coup plot" are beginning to emerge. Not least among them is whether the operation was ever a real "goer", as one critic described it: how an experienced former SAS man seriously expected to capture an entire state with just 60 men, and why stopping in Zimbabwe en route was deemed a sensible part of the strategy. Their plane, a Boeing 727, was reportedly on the military side of the airfield, and beside it were 50 heavy machine guns, 20 light machine guns, 100 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, 61 assault rifles and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition. Inconspicuous is not a word that leaps to mind, which, in turn, suggests possible explanations. It was either a bafflingly naive diversion for a team so steeped in the ways of Africa to make. Or the conspirators thought the necessary people in Zimbabwe had been squared.

Deadly Saudi-Yemen border clashes

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:47:41 -0800

Al Jazeera and agencies | November 07

Al Jazeera -
Seven Saudis and an unknown number of Houthi fighters have been killed as Saudi forces battle Yemen rebels for the fifth straight day, medics have said.

Saudi commanders said troops were shelling suspected Houthi positions on Saturday and plumes of smoke could be seen rising above the Jebel al-Dukhan peak that marks the frontier near the border town of Al-Khubah.

A medical official said seven Saudis, four of them women civilians, had been killed and 126 people wounded since the fighting erupted.

The Houthis claimed that they captured a number of Saudi soldiers on Friday.

International Prosecutor to Seek Inquiry Into Kenya Violence

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:48:56 -0800

Jeffrey Gettleman | Nairobi | November 5

NYT - Members of the political elite in Kenya, a nation where top leaders have long escaped prosecution for corruption and other crimes, could now face an international investigation into the violence that shook the country after disputed elections last year.

After months of stonewalling by Kenyan politicians, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced Thursday that crimes against humanity had been committed during the postelection period and that he would seek a formal investigation into them.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor, flew into Kenya on Thursday and met with President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, whose intense rivalry set the stage for a wave of neighbor-on-neighbor killings that left more than 1,000 dead.

“I explained to them that I consider the crimes committed in Kenya were crimes against humanity, therefore the gravity is there,” Mr. Moreno-Ocampo said at a news conference. “Therefore, I should proceed.”

Zimbabwe Proposes Ownership of Foreign Firms

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:24:38 -0800

Harare | Nov 6

Reuters - Zimbabwe's government has proposed that Zimbabweans take 51 percent ownership of all foreign companies in the country, including mines and banks, according to a draft law seen by Reuters on Friday.

An official at the Chamber of Mines expressed surprise and concern at the proposed legislation, prepared by the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment.

"We haven't seen the regulations but if what we've heard is true, then that's a step back. It goes against what we've been discussing with the Ministry of Mines and other ministries," the official, who declined to be named, said.

The draft regulations said "indigenous Zimbabweans" should hold a controlling interest in each foreign-owned business with an asset value above $500,000. They could further unsettle those investors with an interest in the ruined economy.

Zimbabwe passed an Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment law in 2007, which seeks to transfer control of all firms -- including mines and banks -- to black Zimbabweans.

Seeing how well giving all the farms to indigenous Zimbabweans went, this ought to send the country into a whole new level of hell.

Seafloor dynamics at work splitting continent

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:06:16 -0800

Jonathan Sherwood | Rochester, NY | November 3

Futurity - In 2005, a gigantic, 35-mile-long rift broke open the desert ground in Ethiopia. At the time, some geologists believed the rift was the beginning of a new ocean as two parts of the African continent pulled apart, but the claim was controversial.

Now, scientists from several countries have confirmed that the volcanic processes at work beneath the Ethiopian rift are nearly identical to those at the bottom of the world’s oceans, and the rift is indeed likely the beginning of a new sea.

The new study, published in the latest issue of Geophysical Research Letters, suggests that the highly active volcanic boundaries along the edges of tectonic ocean plates may suddenly break apart in large sections, instead of little by little as has been predominantly believed. In addition, such sudden large-scale events on land pose a much more serious hazard to populations living near the rift than would several smaller events, says Cindy Ebinger, professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Rochester and coauthor of the study.

“This work is a breakthrough in our understanding of continental rifting leading to the creation of new ocean basins,” says Ken Macdonald, professor emeritus in the Department of Earth Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “For the first time they demonstrate that activity on one rift segment can trigger a major episode of magma injection and associated deformation on a neighboring segment. Careful study of the 2005 mega-dike intrusion and its aftermath will continue to provide extraordinary opportunities for learning about continental rifts and mid-ocean ridges.”

Global protocol could limit Sub-Saharan land grab

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:06:06 -0800

Nick Mathiason | Nov 3

The Guardian - New code of conduct could limit aggressive moves by China, South Korea and Gulf states who have been buying vast tracts of agricultural land

Aggressive moves by China, South Korea and Gulf states to buy vast tracts of agricultural land in sub-Saharan Africa could soon be limited by a new global international protocol.

A scramble for African farmland has in recent years seen the equivalent of Italy's entire arable land hoovered up by businesses from emerging economies.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Bank are now discussing a new code of conduct for land buyers in Africa. Amid increasing concerns over food security, it could include ensuring consent is given prior to selling land from local people as well as ensuring smallholders do not lose out. A first draft is expected to be released next spring.

Alex Wijeratna, Action Aid's food rights campaign officer, said: "There's a new scramble for land in Africa. It's growing at an incredible rate. There's massive secrecy, poor communities can't get information and they're not being consulted. There's an argument for a moratorium on sales until there's a proper framework to assess them. We are concerned that an agreement will not come fast enough."

Earlier this year, legendary hedge fund speculator George Soros highlighted a new farmland buying frenzy caused by growing population, scarce water supplies and climate change. South Korea bought huge areas of Madagasca recently while Chinese interests bought up large swathes of Senegal to supply it with sesame.

Simon Mann pardoned over role in Equatorial Guinea coup plot

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:59:42 -0800

Haroon Siddique & Giles Tremlett | Nov 3

The Guardian - The British mercenary Simon Mann, who was sentenced to 34 years in prison in Equatorial Guinea last year for plotting to overthrow the oil-rich country's government, has been granted a presidential pardon.

Equatorial Guinea's information ministry said tonight that Teodoro Obiang, the president, had already signed the waiver, which was "a complete pardon on humanitarian grounds".

Mann, an Eton-educated former SAS officer, was arrested in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 2004 with dozens of mercenaries when their private plane landed. He spent three years in prison in Zimbabwe and was then extradited to Equatorial Guinea.

During his trial, the court in Equatorial Guinea heard that Mark Thatcher, the son of the former British prime minister, was a member of the group. Mann acknowledged knowingly taking part in the attempt to topple Equatorial Guinea's government, but his lawyer argued he was a secondary player. He has been held at the notorious Black Beach prison in Malabo, the capital.

Mann was also ordered to pay a fine and compensation of about £14.6m.

The presidential pardon said Mann had been released, taking into account his health and given his need "to receive regular medical treatment and to be with his family". It stated that the pardon came on the eve of an official visit to Equatorial Guinea by Jacob Zuma, the South African president.

The decree also said that Mann's "attitude during the investigation … and his behaviour during the trial and while being held in prison … showed sufficient and credible signs of repentance".

When Mann was sentenced in July last year the presiding judge, Carlos Mangue, said Mann had failed to show "an attitude of regret" despite his apology before the court. But there was speculation at the time that he would be pardoned by Obiang.

Diplomatic sources said he had told the court what the regime wanted to hear, implicating individuals and foreign governments blamed by Equatorial Guinea for the plot. Mann claimed Spain and South Africa, with the endorsement of the former South African president, Thabo Mbeki, had supported the plot. "It was like an official operation. The governments of Spain and South Africa were giving the green light: 'You've got to do it'," he told the court. Tacit approval for regime change came from the Pentagon, CIA and the big US oil companies according to Mann. Mann had accepted he was doing the job for money – said to be $15m – but he claimed he was sympathetic to the story he was told: that Equatorial Guinea's oil money was not reaching the people. He told the court that in retrospect he was relieved the coup had not succeeded, because he now realised Equatorial Guinea was not such a bad place.

The trial took place under heavy security with a tank outside and the court ringed by soldiers.

Climate change will melt snows of Kilimanjaro 'within 20 years'

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:20:50 -0800

Steve Connor | Nov 3

The Independent -

The snows of Mount Kilimanjaro – the highest mountain in Africa – may soon be falling on bare ground following a study showing that its ice cap is destined to disappear entirely within 20 years, due largely to climate change.

The vast ice fields of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania are melting at a faster pace than at any time over the past 100 years and at this rate they will be gone completely within two decades or even earlier according to one of the world's leading glaciologists.

A team led by Professor Lonnie Thompson of Ohio State University said that the latest assessment of Kilimanjaro's famous ice cap has confirmed that 85 per cent of the ice that covered the mountain in 1912 has been lost, and 26 per cent of the ice that was there in 2000 is now gone.

A series of cores drilled through the ice fields at different points on Kilimanjaro has revealed that the melting observed over the past few decades is unprecedented in nearly 12,000 years. The research also shows that that the current thinning of the ice cap is faster than when a devastating 300-year drought occurred 4,200 years ago, a period when very little snow fell on the mountain.

"The dramatic loss of Kilimanjaro's ice cover has attracted global attention. The three remaining ice fields on the plateau and the slopes are both shrinking laterally and rapidly thinning," the scientists write in a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

If conditions persist, and warmer temperatures continue to melt more ice than falls in the form of snow, then there is a "strong likelihood that the ice field will disappear within a decade or two", the authors conclude.