Hace unos días FRIDE publicó mi último policy brief, “Las políticas de la Unión Europea hacia el Norte de África ¿Cuál debe ser el papel de España?” escrito junto a mi compañera Ana Echagüe como parte de un proyecto para la Secretaría de Estado para la Unión Europea del mismo nombre. Para la redacción de este informe hemos hablado con diversos responsables de la política exterior española hacia a la región y argumentamos que:

España debería estar en primera línea de unas políticas europeas globales que respalden las reformas en los países del Norte de África. Debería adoptar una estrategia a largo plazo –aunque ello implique ciertas pérdidas inmediatas-, que identifique los intereses mutuos y fomente la interdependencia entre los socios euromediterráneos.

La publicación puede descargarse en español y en inglés desde la web de FRIDE, pinchando aquí.

Además, para aquellxs interesadxs, Cristina Casabón de la oficina en Madrid del  think-tank ECFR, ha colgado un podcast en el que contesto a unas preguntas sobre el tema, y que está disponible en el blog de ECFR y también pinchando aquí.

An image of the 17th African Union Summit held last year in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea (Photo: Embassy of Equatorial Guinea)

The 19^th African Union Summit starts today, coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the pan-continental body. Despite this symbolism, African leaders will most likely close the summit next Monday with an anti-climatic message that will be met with a collective yawn across Africa. They may even fail – for the second time – to elect a new head the African Union Commission. An underwhelming performance that contrasts with events across the continent: South Sudan, Africa’s newest country, also turns one today amidst important development and security challenges. Egypt and Senegal have overcome domestic turmoil and peacefully elected new Presidents, and Libya just held its first elections in over 60 years. Less positive developments are also visible in Nigeria, increasingly threatened by terrorism; eastern DRC, where conflict has flared up; and Mali, where a coup d’état back in Marchled to the country’s partition.

The AU certainly lacks capabilities but also, more worryingly, appears out of sync with most Africans’ preoccupations. Its focus on continental economic growth is welcome, but it needs an accompanying political narrative. The “United States of Africa” discourse that gave birth to the AU in 2002 belonged to a generation of leaders such as Thabo Mbeki and Olesegun Obasanjo that have now exited the scene. Continental unity has been reduced to a motto of “African solutions to African problems”, which struggles to translate into real actions. The EU supported this new impetus through the 2007 Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) but progress remains limited. Even where greater progress has been recorded, in the peace and security domain, challenges persist with an AU dependent on sub-regional and extra-regional actors. Mali is a case in point: ECOWAS is leading the political dialogue and putting forward a 3,000 strong military contingent. And the recent UN resolution on Mali was drafted by France – a country which supported intervention in Libya and Côte d’Ivoire against the AU’s criteria.

These and other challenges have put the AU on a defensive position that converts the demand for “African solutions” into a flat rejection of external interference. This makes the AU defend regimes that not only are undemocratic, but also face domestic opposition. Sudan is a good example: whilst protesters are taking the streets against al-Bashir’s government, the AU provided him with an inestimable backing in choosing to move the location of the AU summit from Lilongwe to Addis Ababa after the Malawian President refused to host the ICC-indicted Sudanese president. This reflects the inability (or unwillingness) of the AU to recognise the magnitude of the changes taking place across the continent.

External partners also need to clarify their approach vis-à-vis the continent. The EU supports continental integration through the JAES, but carries out substantial negotiations with Africa (e.g. Economic Partnership Agreements ) on a sub-regional basis. And its vocal support for democracy and human rights is often contradicted by moves to strengthen EU ties with African regimes of questionable democratic legitimacy. Global reordering and domestic transformations will make Africa a very different continent ten years from now. The AU, the African leaders that form part of it, and its external partners should all recognise this and act accordingly or risk sinking the institution into irrelevance.

* This post was originally written for The FRIDE blog

Photo: Global Voives / Flickr)

300 bloggers, activists and technologists participating in the Global Voices Summit 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya have just been seated for a two-day meeting of public discussions and workshops about the rise of online citizen media movements worldwide.

Among the highlights in today’s program is the opening panel on the Global Rise of Citizen Media led by Global Voices co-founder Ethan Zuckerman.

We will also be introducing Kenya citizen media, discussing the rise of #Occupy movements around the world, and exploring the influence of diaspora populations on citizen media and national public debates.

Tuesday

Somali Presidential Elections: six ways to win power (African Arguments)

If it all goes according to plan, 135 clan elders who represent a convoluted power-distribution model that arbitrarily compartmentalizes Somalis into four and half clans, will select 225 members to the new parliament sometime in July. The new MPs will in turn elect a speaker and his deputies on August 4, and a president on August 20.

More than 60 men have declared their candidacy for the top job, but fewer than a handful stand a realistic chance to becoming the 8th president of the Somali Republic, since independence in 1960.

And even among the few who are considered front-runners, they’d have to meet most – if not all – of six factors that are the litmus test to becoming the president of Somalia. The factors are listed in the order of their importance. Read more…

Wednesday

Macky Sall’s coalition wins landslide in Senegal poll (Reuters)

Sall’s supporters (Photo: AFP)

A coalition backing newly elected Senegalese President Macky Sall, won a landslide victory with 119 seats in a July 1 legislative election, provisional results announced by the west African nation’s election commission showed on Wednesday.

Sall’s Benno Bokk Yakaar coalition won a controlling majority of the total 150 seats, while the former ruling Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) won 12 seats, Demba Kandji, president of the national electoral commission said.

A breakaway faction of PDS won four seats while other smaller political parties shared the remaining 15 seats, Kandji said.

Voter turnout was 36.67 percent of the more than 5 million registered voters.

Thursday

UN stops short of endorsing intervention in Mali (Reuters)

The U.N. Security Council on Thursday endorsed West African political efforts to end unrest in Mali but stopped short of backing military intervention in the West African state, where al Qaeda-linked militants control significant territory.

Mali’s neighbors have been seeking U.N. backing for armed intervention to stabilize the country. In June, the Security Council asked the African Union and West African group ECOWAS to explain more precisely what kind of resolution they want.

Thursday’s council resolution did not give them the backing they sought, but did not rule it out in the future. It also expressed full support for ECOWAS and AU mediation efforts in Mali.

The French-drafted resolution said the council “expresses its readiness to further examine the request of ECOWAS once additional information has been provided regarding the objectives, means and modalities of the envisaged deployment.”

Friday
Foreign direct investment into Africa to double by 2014: UN (Reuters)

Foreign direct investment inflows into Africa fell in 2011 for the third consecutive year but could more than double by 2014, as stronger economic growth, ongoing reforms and high commodity prices improve investor perceptions, the United Nations said on Thursday.
…
The report, published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, said Africa’s FDI prospects for 2012 were promising and forecast average flows of between $55 billion and $65 billion in 2012. It projected this would grow to $70-$85 billion in 2013 and $75-$100 billion in 2014.

“Inflows to Africa are expected to recover as a result of stronger economic growth, ongoing economic reforms and high commodity prices, as well as improving investor perceptions of the continent, mainly from other emerging markets,” the report said.

For the first time, FDI inflows from developing economies into Africa, outstripped those from developed economies, the report showed.
…
Commodity-rich countries, such as Nigeria, Ghana, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo, attracted the bulk of FDI in their respective regions. Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer and most populous nation, received inflows of $8.92 billion, representing a fifth of all flows to the continent.

Picture of the week

A plantation where an inedible crop called jatropha is grown to produce biofuels. The biofuel company has acquired 19,753 acres of villagers’ land in Kisarawe Photograph: Tom Pietrasik/ActionAid

Tanzania: land rights v biofuel development – in pictures (The Guardian)

“I have today become the president of all Egyptians” – Mohamed Morsi’s speech (The Guardian)

My people of great Egypt, who today celebrate democracy in our country; those of you standing in the public squares, in Tahrir Square, and all the public squares of Egypt; my dear people, big family, brothers and sons, you who are awaiting the future, who want security and safety, goodness and revival, and development and stability for our country, I turn to you praising God for having brought about this historic moment.

This is a shining course written by the hands of Egyptians, by their will, their blood, their tears and their sacrifices. I would never have been able to stand before you today as the first elected president by the will of free Egyptians in the first presidential elections after the revolution of 25 January, nor I would have been able to stand before you now with this overwhelming happiness that extends to the four corners of our beloved country without the support of God almighty and the sacrifices and precious blood of our noble martyrs and the noble, wounded citizens. …

Tuesday

More than 100 missing after Uganda landslide: govt (Reuters)

More than 100 people were missing and about 30 confirmed killed in eastern Uganda on Tuesday after a landslide the previous day buried villages in a coffee-growing area on the slopes of Mount Elgon, the government said.

On Monday, the Uganda Red Cross said at least 18 people had been killed in the disaster , but on Tuesday government officials said the number of fatalities was higher and that 109 people were still missing.

Heavy rain triggered a mudslide on Monday afternoon that cut through trees and bushes, burying two villages in mud, officials said, adding that 178 people had survived.

The search and rescue operation was called off on Tuesday after officials said the chances of finding any more survivors were slim.

“It is feared the landslide and floods buried about 29 homes with about 30 people dead,” Stephen Mallinga, the minister of disaster preparedness and refugees, told a news conference.

He said the timing of the landslide – in the early afternoon – had prevented a much higher death toll.

Wednesday

A guard supervises the burning of more than ten thousand pounds of ivory in Libreville, Gabon. Photograph James Morgan, WWF

Gabon to burn ivory stocks as elephant poaching surges (Reuters)

The central African nation of Gabon will burn its government stockpiles of ivory on Wednesday against the backdrop of a surge in the killing of elephants and rhinos across the continent to meet surging Asian demand.

Conservation group WWF and TRAFFIC, which monitors the global wildlife trade, said in a statement the tusks and carvings would be set alight by Gabon’s President Ali Bongo after they had been subjected to an independent audit to ensure none had been pilfered for illegal sale.

Gabon will be the first country in its neighbourhood to publicly destroy its ivory, following a path blazed over two decades ago by the east African nation of Kenya. (…)

“If not managed properly, ivory stockpiles in the hands of government suddenly ‘get legs’ and move into illegal trade. Gabon’s actions effectively keep the ivory out of the way of temptation,” said Tom Milliken, TRAFFIC’s ivory trade expert.

The audited ivory Gabon will put to the torch weighs in at 4,825 kgs (10,600 pounds), including tusks and almost 18,000 worked or carved items.

Thursday

Islamists declare full control of Mali’s north (Reuters)

Al Qaeda-linked Islamists declared on Thursday they had secured full control of Mali’s desert north, a day after pushing their former Tuareg separatist allies out of the town of Gao in a gun battle that killed at least 20 people.

The appropriation by Islamists of a separatist uprising by Tuareg MNLA rebels regarded in the West as having some legitimate political grievances will heighten fears Mali will become a haven for jihadists.

The local Ansar Dine group and allies such as the al Qaeda splinter group MUJWA had already gained the upper hand in the northern town of Kidal and the ancient trading post of Timbuktu after government forces were routed in an April rebel advance.

“Our men control all three of the towns in northern Mali,” Oumar Ould Hamaha, a Timbuktu-based Ansar Dine official said of the mostly desert territory which is larger than France.

“They (the MNLA) all ran away, we decided not to pursue them. … All I can tell you is that they are not even in the outskirts the city,” Hamaha said of the battle in Gao.

The separatist National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad – the northern territory it claims as an independent state – said its forces beat a tactical retreat in Gao on Wednesday and rejected suggestions they had lost the battle.

Friday

Gunmen kidnap foreign aid workers from Kenyan camp (Reuters)

Gunmen kidnapped four foreign refugee workers and a driver at Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp near the border with Somalia on Friday, police said, in the latest attack since Kenya sent troops into Somalia to try to crush Islamist militants.

Kenyan police said the staff were working for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and that they suspected the gunmen to be sympathisers of Somalia’s al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgents.

“So far we have not confirmed the nationalities of the four foreign workers who were kidnapped,” Philip Ndolo, the region’s deputy police chief, told Reuters.

“We suspect this could be the work of al Shabaab sympathisers.”

It was the first kidnapping of foreigners since Kenya sent troops into Somalia in October to fight the militants.

Video of the week

Sudanese police fired tear gas and warning shots to disperse students from the Sudan Banking Academy in Khartoum. Protests against government austerity measures have been going on for the past two weeks. Live updates – despite the Internet blackout – can be followed on #SudanRevolts

Rwandan involvement in the recent fighting, which is still confined to a tiny patch of land of about twenty square kilometers, has fueled much debate in recent weeks. Most foreign diplomats in Kinshasa – as well as some in Kigali I have spoken with – privately agree with the conclusions of Human Rights Watch, that Rwanda is helping M23 recruit soldiers, and is possibly also supplying the rebels with food, weapons and free passage through their territory.

Kigali, however, has vehemently denied the allegations, and aside from expressions of concerns by diplomats – including a letter from Washington a few weeks ago – there have been few concrete demarches by capitals. Meanwhile, after a week of calm, the fighting saw a brief peak again on Thursday, when M23 was almost able to take a large military camp at Rumangabo and cut off the Bunagana road.

Now the diplomatic focus is shifting to New York, where, in response to the allegations of Rwandan involvement, the UN Security Council called yesterday for a “full investigation of credible reports of outside support to the armed groups.”

This statement was more than puzzling. At the same time at the Chinese president of the council signed the statement, the UN Group of Experts was in the process of submitting its interim report, which reportedly includes investigations into these very allegations. According to diplomats working for Security Council members, one of their colleagues is threatening to obstruct the publication of the report in the coming week. The justification given for this would be that the submission of the report flouted procedural rules, but the diplomats I spoke to pointed to larger, political disagreements linked to the allegations of Rwandan involvement in the eastern Congo.

Meanwhile, Congolese diplomats have upped their campaign against Rwanda, with their foreign minister traveling to Dar es Salaam and Bujumbura, while security officials visited Kampala during this past week. Ambassador Ileka Atoki, who is currently posted to Paris but used to be the Congo’s permanent representative to the United Nations, is headed to New York this week to make the case to the Security Council, and specifically asking for the UN report to be made public.

Tuesday

US military expands covert intelligence operations in Africa (Washington Post / The Guardian)

The US military is expanding its secret intelligence operations across Africa, establishing a network of small air bases to spy on terrorist hideouts from the fringes of the Sahara to jungle terrain along the equator, according to documents and people involved in the project.

At the heart of the surveillance operations are small, unarmed turboprop aircraft disguised as private planes. Equipped with hidden sensors that can record full-motion video, track infrared heat patterns, and vacuum up radio and cellphone signals, the planes refuel on isolated airstrips favoured by African bush pilots, extending their flight range by thousands of kilometres.

About a dozen air bases have been established in Africa since 2007, according to a former senior US commander involved in setting up the network. Most are small operations run out of secluded hangars at African military bases or civilian airports.

The extent of the missions have not been previously reported but are partially documented in public US defence department contracts. The operations have intensified in recent months, part of a growing shadow war against al-Qaida affiliates and other militant groups. The surveillance is overseen by US Special Operations forces but relies heavily on private military contractors and support from African troops.

Wednesday

Police, protesters clash again in Sudanese capital (Reuters)

Sudanese riot police armed with batons and tear gas fought with student protesters in Khartoum on Wednesday, said witnesses, in a fourth day of anti-government demonstrations.

Student groups, who have led the Khartoum rallies against planned government spending cuts, have sought to leverage anger over rising prices into a wider protest movement, but previous demonstrations have failed to gain broader momentum.

The Arab-African nation has faced soaring food prices and a weakening currency since South Sudan seceded a year ago, taking with it about three quarters of the country’s economically-vital oil output.

On Wednesday, riot police carrying batons blocked off a major road and chased scores of students in the streets around the University of Khartoum, activists and two witnesses said.

Thursday

Waking up to the maths of malaria (Reuters)

The number of malaria deaths has fallen dramatically in the last decade due to increased aid spending on basic items such as insecticide-treated bed nets and drugs, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

More excitingly, the holy grail of a vaccine against a notoriously adaptable parasite no longer appears unobtainable after an experimental vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline was shown last year to halve the risk of African children getting the disease.

Even before the prospect of a vaccine, companies across Africa were waking up to the commercial sense of investing in a malaria-free workforce – and the results are encouraging governments to get in on the act.

Faced with endemic malaria in the 240,000 population town around its Obuasi gold mine in Ghana, AngloGold Ashanti, the world’s third largest bullion producer, launched a multi-pronged campaign of bed-nets, indoor insecticide spraying and drugs that cut infections from 79,237 in 2005 to fewer than 16,000 in 2008.

The programme cost the Johannesburg-based firm $1.3 million a year, but over that time the malaria drug bill at the mine’s hospital dropped from $55,000 to $9,800 a month, while work days lost each month fell from 6,983 to just 282.

“It really made economic sense because of the absenteeism and the cost of medication,” said Steve Knowles, the head of AngloGold’s anti-malaria operations.

The Ghana model is now being extended to commmunities around its mines in Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Mali and

Friday

90 days of disaster (Bridges from Bamako)

It’s been exactly three months since the coup d’état that ousted President Amadou Toumani Touré (ATT), Mali’s democratically elected president, just a few weeks from the end of his second and final term of office. Now seems like an appropriate time to take stock of the coup’s impact on Mali.
(…)

Looking back, it’s hard to see how the situation in Mali could possibly have gotten any worse than it is now if the coup had never taken place. An ATT-led government, left to its own devices, might eventually have lost the north; elections might never have happened; the economic hardships might have come about anyway. But all these things definitely did happen since Captain Sanogo and his colleagues came to power. Not to mention the added insult of the attack on Dioncounda Traoré, the country’s transitional president, who a month later is still recuperating in Paris, and undoubtedly afraid for his security should he return to Mali.

Yes, Mali was badly governed before the current crisis. Yes, its leaders were corrupt. Yes, there was a lack of political will to confront the problem in the north. As I said, maybe Captain Sanogo had a point about all these grievances. Yet the last 90 days suggest that whatever problems Mali was facing on March 21, a putsch was not the answer to them. “Sanogo’s only merit is getting two-thirds of his country occupied,” Niger’s foreign minister recently told VOA.

Picture of the week

Ugandan police leave after raiding a gay rights workshop organised by the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project outside Kampala on Monday. Photograph: Michele Sibiloni/AFP/Getty Images

This was followed by the news of a ban on 38 non-governmental organisations accussed by Simon Lokodo, ethics and integrity minister, of undermining the national culture by promoting homosexuality (The Guardian)

Lesotho After May 2012 General Elections: Making the coalition work (ISS News)

On Friday 8 June, Thomas Thabane succeeded Pakalitha Mosisili as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Lesotho, not by winning elections but by building a coalition government with the support of the opposition. The outcome of Lesotho’s 2012 general elections was historic for three main reasons.

Firstly, the country moved from a single party majority government under the Lesotho Congress Party (LCD), led by former Prime Minister Mosisili since 1997, to a coalition government. Mosisili, who led the newly created LCD splinter party, the Democratic Congress (DC), to a significant win of 48 parliamentary seats (218 366 votes out of a total of 551 726) fell short of winning an outright parliamentary majority, leading to his defeat.
…
The second reason for the significance of these elections is that the coalition, which unseated and relegated the ruling DC to opposition status, was itself produced by opposition parties in the minority.
…
The third point to highlight is that the parliamentary opposition numbers are now far more significant than during the previous parliament, which was characterised by a fragmented and weakened opposition.

Tuesday

AU moves summit to Ethiopia after Malawi snubs Bashir (Reuters)

The African Union has moved its July summit to the Ethiopian capital after Malawi blocked the attendance of Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the bloc said.

Malawi last month asked the African Union to prevent Bashir from taking part in the event, saying his visit would have “implications” for its aid-dependent economy.

“Following the withdrawal of … Malawi to host the 19th AU summit meetings … and after consultations among member states, it has been decided that the 19th summit will be held at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the same dates,” the AU said in a statement late on Monday.

Wednesday

African Union seeks mandate to send troops to Mali (Reuters)

The African Union has asked the U.N. Security Council for a resolution that would allow military intervention in Mali, where Islamist militants have become an international security threat, the union’s commission chief said on Tuesday.

Jean Ping said union officials would meet Security Council representatives in New York to discuss the issue further, but he did not give any date for the meeting or details of proposed military aims in the West African state.

Thursday

Sudan agrees to resume talks with South Sudan next week (Reuters)

Sudan said it had agreed to resume talks next week with South Sudan to end hostilities between the arch-foes, state news agency SUNA said on Thursday. (…)

Talks over border security will resume in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, Sudan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman El-Obeid Morawah told SUNA late on Thursday. South Sudan had already said it was ready to resume talks next week. (…)

They also have to agree on how much the landlocked South should pay to export its oil through the north. Juba halted oil production in January to stop Khartoum from seizing southern oil for what the latter calls unpaid export fees.

Friday

Fatou Bensouda sworn in as ICC prosecutor (Al Jazeera)

Gambia’s Fatou Bensouda has been sworn as the International Criminal Court’s new chief prosecutor, saying she is ready to lead the fight against the world’s worst war criminals.

“I Fatou Bensouda, solemnly undertake that I will perform my duties and exercise my powers as prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, honourably, faithfully impartially and conscientiously,” she said on Friday at a ceremony in The Hague.

The 51-year-old Bensouda, the first woman and African to head the team of prosecutors at the tribunal, had served as outgoing prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s number two since 2004.

Map of the week

Map showing the results of the Global Peace Index 2012 – The world has become more peaceful for the first time since 2009. More and an interactive map on The Guardian website

Ayer echaron una mano de 100.000 millones de euros a España (esperemos que no al cuello).

Las especulaciones sobre lo que se nos viene encima sin embargo, no deberían impedirnos disfrutar de un día soleado como este. Y qué mejor manera de hacerlo que con esta banda sonora: Afrofunk in Abidjan 1976-1981.

¡Feliz domingo!

Nigerians search wreckage after plane crash kills 153 (Reuters)

Nigerian emergency services recovered more bodies on Monday from the smouldering, ash-covered wreckage of a plane that crashed in the commercial hub Lagos, killing all 153 people on board.
President Goodluck Jonathan declared three days of national mourning and ordered an investigation into the cause of Sunday’s accident, in which a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 flown by privately owned domestic carrier Dana Air crashed into the iron roof of an apartment block in the Lagos residential suburb of Agege.
His office said he was scheduled to visit the crash site on Monday afternoon.
“This is really a horrific moment for us here and we sympathise and give condolences to all the victims and families. (There are no) words to express our pain and grief,” Lagos state governor Babatunde Fashola said at the crash site.
“It is saddening, it is simply too much.”
The airline said on Sunday 147 people had perished, but in a list published overnight, there were also six crew members on board, taking the total to 153 killed. An unknown number of people may have been killed on the ground.

Photo: AP

Tuesday

UN Security Council’s June Programme of Work (What’s in Blue) (emphasis mine)

A number of African issues are on the June programme of work as well. Sudan continues to be a focus this month starting with tomorrow’s biannual public briefing by the Prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, on the work of the ICC relative to the situation in Darfur. Council members will also have several opportunities over the month to discuss issues relating to Sudan and South Sudan. Consultations are scheduled (in accordance with resolution 2046 asking the Secretary-General to inform the Council at two-week intervals) in mid and late June. In addition, there will be consultations on 18 June on the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) to discuss the Secretary-General’s report. There will also be a troop-contributing countries (TCC) meeting on the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) ahead of the expected renewal of the mission’s mandate in July.

Another issue that occupied the Council’s attention last month and is on the June programme of work is Guinea-Bissau. Tomorrow (5 June), Council members are scheduled to have consultations on Guinea-Bissau with a briefing by Tayé-Brook Zerihoun, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, on the steps taken to restore constitutional order in Guinea-Bissau. It appears that Council members have agreed to have an interactive dialogue on Guinea-Bissau tomorrow with key stakeholders including the former Prime Minister, Carlos Gomes Júnio.

Over the month there will also be briefings by the UN Office on Central Africa (UNOCA) on the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The situation in the CAR will come up again during a briefing next week by Margaret Vogt, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in CAR (BINUCA).

The DRC will also feature this month. The mandate of the UN Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), is likely to be renewed towards the end of the month and the Council will hear from Roger Meece, the head of MONUSCO. The DRC Sanctions Committee report will also be discussed this month.

Consultations on both the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and the Liberia Sanctions Committee are scheduled for late June. During these consultations, Council members are expected to be briefed by DPKO on the Secretary-General’s special report on UNMIL and to consider the mid-term report of the Panel of Experts monitoring the Liberia sanctions regime.

Wednesday

Zimbabwe: “Local EU statement on political violence (05/06/2012)” (EEAS Delegation – Harare)

-The European Union Delegation issues the following statement in agreement with the EU Heads of Mission in Zimbabwe.

The European Union Delegation deplores that politically motivated violence flared once again in Zimbabwe soon after the visit of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and after repeated appeals from the Inclusive Government Principals to put an end to such acts.

Seven MDC-T supporters were severely beaten and required medical attention and a local political leader was killed at a MDC-T rally in Chimukoko, Mudzi, on 26 May. Reports indicate that the rally was properly authorised but was disrupted violently by a parallel demonstration by ZANU-PF militants, without the Zimbabwe Republican Police being able or willing to stop them. It is worrying to note reports indicating that ZANU-PF local politicians and the MP for the area were present at the events.

The EU Delegation presents its condolences to the family of the deceased and strongly condemns these acts and any complacency with political violence and intimidation as a political tool.

It is encouraging to note the condemnation for these criminal acts that came from across the political spectrum. We welcome the mobilisation of the JOMIC Provincial committee and the arrest of six accused perpetrators. The EU Delegation looks forward to urgent action by the police authorities and the Attorney General’s office to bring the alleged perpetrators and their instigators to justice, in order to give a clear and unequivocal message that political violence is totally unacceptable in Zimbabwe.

The EU Delegation encourages the Government of National Unity to continue their calls for peace and reconciliation, and to redouble their efforts to prevent any further incidents of political violence. In this regard, we welcome the recent SACD Summit Communiqué on Zimbabwe, urging the parties to implement the Global Political Agreement and the roadmap to peaceful and credible elections.

The Embassies of Norway, Canada and Australia associate themselves with this statement.

Thursday

South Africa: Zuma builds a firewall of secrecy (The Guardian – editorial)

The parliament in South Africa is currently reviewing a secrecy bill that will make whistleblowers or journalists who possess, leak or publish state secrets liable to 25 years in prison. JM Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer, Desmond Tutu, even Nelson Mandela’s lawyer George Bizos, have lined up to condemn the bill as an insult, something worthy of the apartheid-era laws on state secrecy that the ANC fought so hard to dismantle. Mr Mandela’s views are not known, but his foundation has said the law could be yet struck down by the constitutional court. The Congress of South African Trade Unions stands ready for the challenge.

Faced with a reaction on this scale, the ANC has backed off, a bit. It has improved protection for whistleblowers in one clause, but has not budged on its opposition to a public-interest defence for the meat of the bill – espionage, or more loosely “hostile activities”, which would “directly or indirectly” benefit a foreign state. Mere possession of such information remains a crime, and even if the information is already in the public domain, five years in prison awaits those who do not hand it in to the police. Had this bill been law when the ANC’s greatest scandal – the receipt of £100m of bribes in an arms deal – was uncovered by former ANC MP Andrew Feinstein, he might never have found a publisher to print his book.

South Africa is still a vibrant democracy with the freest press in the continent. Even the bill’s most ardent opponent, the civil society alliance Right2Know, acknowledges the revisions to which the law has been subject. The sword may well be sheathed in its final form, but the real question is still how Jacob Zuma will wield it.

Friday

Central African Republic at ‘crucial’ juncture, UN envoy tells Security Council (UN News Centre)

Special Representative Margaret Vogt briefs the Security Council on the situation in the Central African Republic. UN Photo/JC McIlwaine

The top United Nations envoy to the Central African Republic (CAR) today stressed the need for the country to continue building on the momentum recently created on the political, security and disarmament fronts.

“The CAR is at a critical juncture,” the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and the head of the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in the CAR (BINUCA), Margaret Vogt, told the Security Council.

Briefing the 15-member body on the latest report by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the CAR, she added that the “dynamic of peace” between the Government and the politico-military groups and the dialogue called by the President offer a real chance for the stabilization of the country.

Despite the gains made in recent years, the country still faces a number of challenges, including extreme poverty, weak national institutions, corruption, a high rate of violent crime perpetrated by armed movements, and human rights violations.

Video of the week

Sudan expert Alex de Waal looks at the recent background of the strife between the Sudans – from Africa at LSE blog

Word on the street: is an independent project started by Amil Shivji that puts the spotlight on Tanzanian citizens and their opinions on everyday issues. It is a weekly series that offers us an insight into what the common Tanzanian citizen has to say.

On this (the second) episode, Demere Kitunga, a publisher at Soma Book Cafe talks about what 50 years of independence means to her and where Tanzania is now.

You can suscribe to the series here.

Amil Shivji is a Film Production graduate from York University, Toronto, who, as part of his final year there co-wrote and directed the short film “Who Killed Me” about “life of a lower class Congolese immigrant in Toronto before, during and after he is shot and murdered outside his workplace”.
The complete film can be watched entirely on Buni.tv – here.

Mali Tuaregs, Islamist rebels agree to merge, create new state (Reuters)

Mali’s Tuareg rebel National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and Ansar Dine Islamist militants have agreed to merge and create an independent Islamic state in the north of the country, a rebel spokesman said on Saturday.

The deal between MNLA, which has said it wants an independent secular state in the north, and the al Qaeda-linked Salafist Ansar Dine, which had wanted to impose Sharia across Mali, may complicate international efforts to stabilise Mali after a March coup that plunged the country into chaos.

“The agreement reached this evening will see the merging of the two movements – the MNLA and Ansar Dine – to create an independent Islamic state,” MNLA spokesman Mohamed Ag Attaher told Reuters by phone from Gao, in the north of Mali where the deal was signed.

UPDATE – Mali rebels split over sharia in new state

An agreement between northern Mali’s MNLA Tuareg rebels and the al Qaeda-linked Islamist group Ansar Dine to create an Islamic state in the Azawad desert has hit trouble over how strictly to impose sharia, Islamic law, MNLA sources said on Tuesday.

The separatist MNLA wants a moderate form of sharia, while Ansar Dine would like to impose a more hardline version, using punishments such as the amputation of hands and heads for certain crimes, the sources said. (…)

“We want sharia similar to that in Mauritania or even Egypt. This point must be clarified,” Ibrahim Ag Assaleh, an MNLA official in the northern city of Gao, told Reuters by telephone. (…)

A second MNLA source confirmed that a disagreement had emerged, centred on what form of sharia to impose. “The strict application of sharia, for example by cutting off hands, we don’t agree with,” the second source said.

An Ansar Dine official was not available, but the group has said it wants to impose a strict version of sharia in Mali and would be willing to cut off hands and heads if the Koran required it.

Tuesday

Photo: AFP

Ruling party wins Lesotho vote but has to share (Mail & Guardian)

The Democratic Congress of Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili took 41 of 80 directly elected constituencies in the 120-seat Parliament but now has to woe opposition parties to form a government.

The remaining 40 parliamentary seats are awarded proportionally to parties according to the number of votes they won nationally in the tiny mountain kingdom surrounded entirely by South Africa.

A party needs 61 or more seats to govern alone but the DC is unlikely to muster 20 more.

The main opposition All Basotho Convention (ABC) took 26 constituencies while the former ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) took 12 and the Popular Front for Democracy managed only one.

Mosisili formed the DC in February after leaving the LCD, which brought him to power in the 1998 elections violently disputed by the opposition.

The ABC performed strongly in the cities, reflecting dissatisfaction amongst urban voters with the LCD and DC, but Mosisili regained his dominance through strong rural support, which made up two-thirds of his party’s constituencies.

But an analyst said the results showed the DC had failed in the most contested election in the constitutional monarchy in 14 years.

“This win means very little for the DC as they have basically lost,” said professor Kopano Makoa of the National University of Lesotho

Wednesday

Photo: AP

Judges at an international war crimes court have sentenced Liberia’s former president Charles Taylor to 50 years in prison for war crimes during the long-running civil war in Sierra Leone.

Taylor was found guilty last month of 11 counts of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity by supporting rebels between 1996 and 2002 in return for conflict diamonds. He was convicted of offences including murder, rape, sexual slavery, recruiting child soldiers, enforced amputations and pillage.

Delivering the sentence on Wednesday, Judge Richard Lussick said Taylor’s crimes were of the “utmost gravity in terms of scale and brutality”.

“The lives of many more innocent civilians in Sierra Leone were lost or destroyed as a direct result of his actions,” Lussick said.

Taylor showed no emotion as Lussick handed down what will effectively be a life sentence.

Thursday

Turkey hosts meeting on Somalia (Al Jazeera)

Commentary from Abdirashid Hashi, from the International Crisis Group,
Somalia at crossroads, should not squander great opportunity

Somalia stands at a new crossroad. The term of the current Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs) ends in less than two months. Everyone is wondering what will come next. Elections are not possible, so Somali politicians and their UN-led international backers have agreed that traditional tribal elders will lead the next phase. But questions remain over who exactly represents Somali clans; any mistake in naming them has the potential to unravel the significant political and security progress that has been made so far.

The elders are tasked with selecting an 825-member Constituent Assembly, which in turn, will debate and adopt the new constitution and appoint incoming parliamentarians. Parliament, in turn, will elect Somalia’s next president. But there is a caveat; these leaders must be uncontested and recognized elders. The selection process could usher in a new dawn or send Somalia sliding back into chaos. The problem is if politicians with personal agendas corrupt the process and empower phony clan elders, these impostors could sell seats in parliament to the highest bidder.

The whole enterprise of ending Somalia’s dysfunctional transition and ushering in a more progressive political era would then be futile. Any resulting institution would lack legitimacy, and the strife-torn country could enter a new era of uncertainty, if not full scale disorder.

Friday

Rwanda accuses UN of fomenting regional tensions (Reuters)

Rwanda accused the United Nations of stirring tensions in the Great Lakes region on Thursday after the world body said that men recruited in Rwanda had been tricked into fighting for a rebel group in neighbouring Congo.

Rwanda has in the past backed rebels in Congo, citing a need to stamp out fighters who operate there and who are linked to its 1994 genocide. The two neighbours have enjoyed warmer ties since 2009 when the Rwandan-backed CNDP rebel group signed a peace deal and integrated into the Congolese armed forces.

However the eastern Congolese provinces of North and South Kivu have experienced new fighting in recent weeks after former CNDP elements launched a fresh rebellion, rallying behind the renegade Congolese general, Bosco Ntaganda.

Speculation of Rwandan involvement in the mineral-rich zone grew as the U.N. mission said this week 11 rebel fighters had given themselves up in Congo, saying they had been recruited in Rwanda and tricked into crossing the border to fight for the rebels.

Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikwabo rejected the assertions as untrue.

Picture of the week

Kazungula, a border post between Zambia and Botswana, is a chokepoint for trade, with lorries taken across the Zambezi one by one. (Photo: The Guardian)

Picture gallery here.
Fulle story: “Zambia and Zimbabwe’s single-stop solution to boosting intra-African trade“