http://news.antiwar.com/2013/01/20/algerian-hostage-takers-arms-came-from-libyan-govt/
According to officials, the arms came from Libya. And by and large not the looted arsenal of the former Gadhafi regime, whose armaments have left the entire region awash in weapons, but rather the modern gearprovided by GCC member nations to the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) and associated rebel groups, who have since been installed by NATO as the government of Libya.
French warplanes continue to pound rebel-held towns in central Mali with an eye toward eventual ground offensives against those areas, while the reports are that rebels have begun to pull back from southern Mali positions captured in the last few weeks to more defensible positions in the nation’s center.
African troops are flocking to southern Mali as contributing nations, but the belief that they will be “taking the lead” any time soon misunderstands how African deployments work and what is being deployed.
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2013/01/us-africom-underway-with-mali-as-predicted-2541396.html
The initial U.S. trainers will “discuss training and equipping and deployment needs of those countries in the interest of getting them ready to go into Mali,” spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
Algerian Hostage Takers’ Arms Came From Libyan Govt
Arms Provided by GCC to Libya Turn Up in Amenas
by Jason Ditz, January 20, 2013
With Algerian authorities still combing through the aftermath of last week’s hostage siege at the Amenas gas plant, which led to the deaths of scores of foreign hostages, a surprising fact about the hostage takers’ armaments has been revealed.
According to officials, the arms came from Libya. And by and large not the looted arsenal of the former Gadhafi regime, whose armaments have left the entire region awash in weapons, but rather the modern gearprovided by GCC member nations to the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) and associated rebel groups, who have since been installed by NATO as the government of Libya.
The attackers fought their way onto the heavily guarded site wielding the same AK104 weapons that were the gun of choice for the Libyan rebels, and even wearing the yellow flak jackets provided to the NTC by the Qatari government.
The Libyan Civil War and the subsequent free-for-all of arms looting has driven many conflicts in the region, and the rebels in Mali are by and large armed with looted Gadhafi regime weapons. This is the first time weapons provided to the NTC have turned up in a foreign conflict however.
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/01/20/french-dm-vows-total-reconquest-of-mali/
French DM Vows ‘Total Reconquest’ of Mali
Rebels Withdraw From Forward Positions to Prepare for Long Defense
by Jason Ditz, January 20, 2013
Speaking to France 5 television today, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian vowed that the invasion of Mali would not stop with any pockets of resistance left at all, saying the goal is nothing short of “the total reconquest of Mali.”
French warplanes continue to pound rebel-held towns in central Mali with an eye toward eventual ground offensives against those areas, while the reports are that rebels have begun to pull back from southern Mali positions captured in the last few weeks to more defensible positions in the nation’s center.
Whether or not the town of Diabaly, the southern-most rebel-held town, has been retaken is still a matter of dispute. Malian military officials have been claiming the town had been captured since Friday, but Le Drian insisted today that this still wasn’t the case, expressing only hopes that they would soon manage to do so.
French officials had originally expressed confidence that they would turn Mali into a flourishing, terror-free democracy with the war, and this was liable to happen in a matter of weeks. Since then they have repeatedly expressed surprise at the strength of rebel fighters, however, and they have not taken meaningful territory since invading last weekend.
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/01/20/african-troops-flock-to-mali-light-on-training-and-gear/
African Troops Flock to Mali, Light on Training and Gear
The African Transition in Mali Could Be Longer Than Anyone Expects
by Jason Ditz, January 20, 2013
Having started what was supposed to be an autumn war only a week ago, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has urged African forces to quickly finish their deployments to Mali and “take the lead,” even as his government’s defense ministrytalks up an open-ended French role in the war.
African troops are flocking to southern Mali as contributing nations, but the belief that they will be “taking the lead” any time soon misunderstands how African deployments work and what is being deployed.
Impoverished nations are eager to contribute troops to foreign-backed wars get out of having to pay for them, and usually send their least trained troops with a bare minimum of equipment to be trained and geared up by Western backers. Some nations, like Burundi, have made such wars a significant part of their economy.
The biggest contribution is from Nigeria, whose 1,200 troops have showed up totally unprepared for war, with officials saying they probably won’t even try to put them into direct combat because they’re so unready. Nigeria’s contribution as a nation fighting (albeit not so successfully) Boko Haram was supposed to be enormous.
The reality is that the African “contributions” to the Mali invasion are going to be the most marginal and unready troops that the nations can spare, with an eye towards soaking up months if not years of free training for them. France and whatever other Western nations it can talk into joining the war will likely be on the hook for the heavy lifting of the war for years, and the AU troops, such as they are, will be more of a burden than a support for quite some time.
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2013/01/us-africom-underway-with-mali-as-predicted-2541396.html
US AFRICOM Underway With Mali (As Predicted)
Sunday, January 20, 2013 10:42
21st Century Wire says… As we predicted this past week, the theatrical upheaval in Mali was merely a nudging exercise to move forward the stated objectives laid down in US AFRICOM policy directives. With no debate or questioning in foreign policy circles, and with Obama’s coronation and ceremonial pop concert in Washington DC keeping American eyes and ears glued to the corporate media punditry, NATO allies, led by the US, are carefully carving out a comprehensive military footprint in Africa in order to further evict Chinese influence from the continent. A convenient excuse in the short-term will be to ‘stop the spread of Islamic extremist, but as history has witnessed, this is merely a superficial justification for a comprehensive military and economic colonization of the region over the next two decades. Ironic that it would be America’s first ‘black’ President who would reside over the takeover of Africa. Expect more US bases to come in the near future, as well as more violent civil wars popping up regularly in the region.
Step One: U.S. sends trainers for Mali-bound force
The United States has dispatched about 100 military trainers to six nations that will contribute troops to a pan-African force being prepared for deployment to Mali, the State Department said Friday.
The initial U.S. trainers will “discuss training and equipping and deployment needs of those countries in the interest of getting them ready to go into Mali,” spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
The training mission in Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Togo and Ghana is the largest U.S. involvement to date in preparations for the African force, which is being assembled by the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS.
The United States also has promised to help fly equipment and troops for the force into Mali. That effort may involve U.S. aircraft but could also be done with Nigerian, South African or outside commercial aircraft paid for by the United States.
and......
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-20/us-was-operating-mali-months-prior-french-incursion-meet-intelligence-and-security-c
The US Was Operating In Mali Months Prior To French Incursion: Meet The "Intelligence and Security Command"
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/20/2013 12:55 -0500
Last week we reported that in the aftermath of the so far disastrous French campaign to eradicate "rebels" in the north of Mali, because of their implied threat fo Europe, that "US Drones, Boots Arrive In Mali." Turns out we were wrong, and as the case virtually always is, for some reason there was already a US presence of at least three US commandos in Mali in the summer of 2012. What they were doing there remains a mystery, as it is a mystery if the ever co-present flip flops on the ground were there inciting the perpetual scapegoat Al Qaeda to do this, or that. Or maybe it was not the CIA. Maybe it was the Army's "little-known and secretive" branch known as the Intelligence and Security Command. Regardless, what becomes obvious is that while the US was on the ground and engaged in secret missions, it needed an alibi to avoid "destabilizing" the local situation once its presence became conventional wisdom. It got just that, thank to one Francois Hollande just over a week ago.
From the WaPo, as of July 8, 2012:
In pre-dawn darkness, a Toyota Land Cruiser skidded off a bridge in North Africa in the spring, plunging into the Niger River. When rescuers arrived, they found the bodies of three U.S. Army commandos — alongside three dead women.What the men were doing in the impoverished country of Mali, and why they were still there a month after the United States suspended military relations with its government, is at the crux of a mystery that officials have not fully explained even 10 weeks later.At the very least, the April 20 accident exposed a team of Special Operations forces that had been working for months in Mali, a Saharan country racked by civil war and a rising Islamist insurgency. More broadly, the crash has provided a rare glimpse of elite U.S. commando units in North Africa, where they have been secretly engaged in counterterrorism actions against al-Qaeda affiliates.
The Obama administration has not publicly acknowledged the existence of the missions, although it has spoken in general about plans to rely on Special Operations forces as a cornerstone of its global counterterrorism strategy. In recent years, the Pentagon has swelled the ranks and resources of the Special Operations Command, which includes such units as the Navy SEALs and the Army’s Delta Force, even as the overall number of U.S. troops is shrinking.
At the same time, the crash in Mali has revealed some details of the commandos’ clandestine activities that apparently had little to do with counterterrorism. The women killed in the wreck were identified as Moroccan prostitutes who had been riding with the soldiers, according to a senior Army official and a U.S. counterterrorism consultant briefed on the incident, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The Army’s Criminal Investigation Command, which is conducting a probe of the fatal plunge off the Martyrs Bridge in Bamako, the capital of Mali, said it does not suspect foul play but has “not completely ruled it out.” Other Army officials cited poor road conditions and excessive speed as the likely cause of the 5 a.m. crash.
U.S. officials have revealed few details about the soldiers’ mission or their backgrounds, beyond a brief news releaseannouncing their deaths hours after the accident.
In many countries, including most in Africa, Special Operations forces work openly to distribute humanitarian aid and train local militaries. At times, the civil-affairs assignments can provide credible cover for clandestine counterterrorism units.
But in Mali, U.S. military personnel had ceased all training and civil-affairs work by the end of March, about a week after the country’s democratically elected president was overthrown in a military coup.
The military’s Africa Command, which oversees operations on the continent, said the three service members killed were among “a small number of personnel” who had been aiding the Malian military before the coup and had remained in the country to “provide assistance to the U.S. Embassy” and “maintain situational awareness on the unfolding events.”
Megan Larson-Kone, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Embassy in Mali, said the soldiers had stayed in Bamako becausethey were “winding down” civil-affairs programs in the aftermath of the coup while holding out hope “that things would turn around quickly” so they could resume their work.
Two of the soldiers, Capt. Daniel H. Utley, 33, and Sgt. 1st Class Marciano E. Myrthil, 39, were members of the 91st Civil Affairs Battalion, 95th Civil Affairs Brigade, which is based at Fort Bragg, N.C.For two months after the crash, the U.S. military withheld the identity of the third soldier killed. In response to inquiries from The Washington Post, the Army named him as Master Sgt. Trevor J. Bast, 39, a communications technician with the Intelligence and Security Command at Fort Belvoir.
Enter the Intelligence And Security Command
The Intelligence and Security Command is a little-known and secretive branch of the Army that specializes in communications intercepts. Its personnel often work closely with the military’s Joint Special Operations Command, which oversees missions to capture or kill terrorism suspects overseas.
During his two decades of service, Bast revealed little about the nature of his work to his family. “He did not tell us a lot about his life, and we respected that for security purposes,” his mother, Thelma Bast of Gaylord, Mich., said in a brief interview. “We never asked questions, and that’s the honest truth.”
Why Mali?
U.S. counterterrorism officials have long worried about Mali, a weakly governed country of 14.5 million people that has served as a refuge for Islamist militants allied with al-Qaeda.With only 6,000 poorly equipped troops, the Malian armed forces have always struggled to maintain control of their territory, about twice the size of Texas. Repeated famines and rebellions by Tuareg nomads only exacerbated the instability.
About six years ago, the Pentagon began bolstering its overt aid and training programs in Mali, as well as its clandestine operations.
Under a classified program code-named Creek Sand, dozens of U.S. personnel and contractors were deployed to West Africa to conduct surveillance missions over the country with single-engine aircraft designed to look like civilian passenger planes.
In addition, the military flew spy flights over Mali and other countries in the region with longer-range P-3 Orion aircraftbased in the Mediterranean, according to classified U.S. diplomatic cables obtained by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.
In what would have represented a significant escalation of U.S. military involvement in Mali, the Pentagon also considered a secret plan in 2009 to embed American commandos with Malian ground troops, diplomatic cables show.
Under that program, code-named Oasis Enabler, U.S. military advisers would conduct anti-terrorism operations alongside elite, American-trained Malian units. But the idea was rejected by Gillian A. Milovanovic, the ambassador to Mali at the time.
The stumbling block:
In an October 2009 meeting in Bamako with Vice Adm. Robert T. Moeller, deputy chief of the Africa Command, the ambassador called the plan “extremely problematic,” adding that it could create a popular backlash and “risk infuriating” neighbors such as Algeria.Furthermore, Milovanovic warned that the U.S. advisers “would likely serve as lightning rods, exposing themselves and the Malian contingents to specific risk,” according to a State Department cable summarizing the meeting.
Moeller replied that he “regretted” that the ambassador had not been kept better informed and said Oasis Enabler was “a work in progress.” It is unclear whether the plan was carried out.
Moeller was right, and neighbors such as Algeria eventually did promptly respond in "popular backlash" that led to the deaths of atleast one US hostage.
But back to the US Commandos, and, lo and behold, prostitutes:
The soldiers died of “blunt force trauma” when the vehicle landed upside down in the shallow river, crushing the roof, the Army said.The Special Operations Command said it could not answer questions about where the soldiers were going, nor why they were traveling with the unidentified Moroccan women, saying the matter is under investigation.
Larson-Kone, the embassy spokeswoman, said the soldiers were on “personal, not business-related travel” at the time, but she declined to provide details. Officials from the Africa Command also said that they did not know who the women were, but they added in a statement: “From what we know now, we have no reason to believe these women were engaged in acts of prostitution.”
Hookers or not, what is obvious is that the US did have a largely secretive presence in Mali, which may or may not have led to ongoing social destabilization, which ultimately provided none other than the US with the ultimate cover to engage in whatever "anti-terrorist" operations it so chose. The name of the cover?
France.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21103322
The emir is revered in Nigeria - he met President Goodluck Jonathan after bombs in Kano a year ago
and.....
Nigeria: Gunmen attack Kano emir's convoy
The emir is revered in Nigeria - he met President Goodluck Jonathan after bombs in Kano a year ago
Nigeria gunmen have attacked the convoy of the prominent religious leader, the Emir of Kano.
The emir survived, but his driver and two guards were killed.
No-one has admitted the attack, but suspicion is bound to fall on the militant group Boko Haram, which has previously killed Muslim clerics.
The emir is highly revered by Muslims and the attacks have caused shock in northern Nigeria, says the BBC's Lagos correspondent, Will Ross.
Men on motorbikes and in a car opened fire on the emir's convoy as he was returning from a ceremony at a mosque.
"There was an unfortunate incident today. The emir's convoy was attacked by unknown gunmen as he was returning from Koranic graduation ceremony in Kano city, Kano state governor Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso told AFP news agency.
"Three people in his convoy were killed but the Emir is unhurt," he said.
Boko Haram gunmen have killed Muslim clerics before, including those who have spoken out against the group's campaign of violence, says our correspondent.
Emir al-Haji Ado Bayero - who is in his 80s - has been on the throne for almost 50 years and has been careful not to openly denounce the activities of the Islamist militants, he says.
Over the past two years, violence in northern Nigeria has escalated.
Boko Haram is fighting to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.
The group has admitted being behind a number of attacks against churches and other establishments since 2009.
More than 600 people were killed last year in attacks blamed on it.
Human rights groups say that more than 3,000 people have been killed by Boko Haram since 2010.
and.....
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2013/01/201315183340335487.html
Nigeria: On the brink of a food crisis? | |||||||||
Still reeling from the recent massive floods Nigeria faces the threat of a severe food shortage.
Inside Story Last Modified: 05 Jan 2013 20:02
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| Three months after floods swept through northern Nigeria, reality is now setting in for the millions affected. The floods ravaged more than 20 states across the country. Aid Agencies there are warning of an impending food shortage. They say the needs of the people are immense and only a few organisations are helping. Although government officials agree the situation is bad they say no one will starve. "We are getting assistance from the federal government apart from what the state government has also put in place. This is all aimed at mitigating food insecurity," says Abdurahman Wuya, the state commissioner for environment.Many however doubt that handouts from the government will be enough and say it is only sending farmers back to the fields that will make sure the looming food crisis does not last much longer. How did Nigeria get to this point? Are floods alone to blame? And what will it mean for Africa's most populated country? Inside Story, with presenter Hazem Sika, is joined by guests: Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, Nigeria country director for Transparency International - an organisation that tracks and measures global corruption; Ayo Johnson, the director of Viewpoint Africa, a news website; and Hussaini Abdu, the director for Action Aid Nigeria.
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