Somalia: AU Reinforces to go for Al Shabaab; the Continuous Headache of Africa

Somalia could rightly be termed as the United States Vietnam in Africa and can also be compared to Soviet's Afghanistan because the US left amid humiliation after Aideed and his men disgraced American soldiers. An African quote from Nigeria says: 'The rain did not say it will not bring down a house, it is the owner that will strive to prevent such an occurrence.' Another says: 'The owner of the house cannot be around and weed will design his house'.

After the Kenyan Westgate attack, al Shabaab came under the scrutiny of Africa and the leaders have cogently beam continuous searchlight of solutions on Somalia. Al Shabaab now appears to threaten the African continent at large because the hand of terrorism is unseen. If it had threatened the horn centrally; most especially Kenya and Ethiopia long before now, it could go beyond that as it now seems to have real existential disaffection for the AU troops.

The African Union backed a call to boost by about a third the number of troops in an African peacekeeping force in Somalia to reinforce a campaign against the Islamist militants there who attacked the Nairobi shopping mall last month. The union's Peace and Security Council said 6,235 soldiers and police should be added to the AMISOM peacekeeping force to take its total strength to 23,966 uniformed personnel for a limited period of 18 to 24 months.

The decision needs the approval of the UN Security Council. AMISOM is made up of troops mainly from Kenya, Uganda and Burundi. Ethiopia has also sent in soldiers, but they are not under AMISOM command. Sierra Leone is having around 800 soldiers too among the AU forces. The AU council emphasizes on the need for renewed efforts to degrade the capabilities of al Shabaab, in view of the continued threat it poses both within Somalia and in the region.

The United States recently launched an attack to capture the supposed leader of al Shabaab that led the Kenyan Westgate attack but failed. Al Shabaab quickly responded by deploying around 200 fighters to the town of Barawe where the manhunt took place. Another of such was carried out in Libya and was successful.

The only sorrowful part is that African leaders continuously refused to learn by calling on the West for help. Those who turned Libya into what it is today and failed in Somalia, rather caused more division cannot do anything concrete to favour Africa. If they can end insurgencies, with the massive firepower employed in Somalia by the Clinton-led administration in the 90s, al Shabaab should not be breathing today.

It was the combined efforts of Kenya and Ethiopia that brought mild sanity back to Somalia; hence, Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn made an aberration calling on foreign powers to interfere in Somalia again. One wonders when Africans will take their destinies in their hands and stop the moronic act of begging all over the globe.

Road to Ethiopia: International Criminal Court versus Countries in Africa

It is high time Africa and Africans started taking their destinies in their hands. Since the creation of the International Criminal Court, its level of jumping into African affairs have skyrocketed, almost like the speed of light whenever any event is going on in Africa. If the invasion of Afghanistan is for self-defence, how about the 2003 invasion of Iraq? As at then, the Rome statute has been in place. If Britain and the US are not signatories; hence Tony Blair and George Bush can walk freely, Sudan too is not a signatory. So, why the noise on Omar al Bashar?

Going by the confession of Charles Taylor and and the declassified CIA document of him being a CIA agent, one then will be forced to question the kind of brains Africans tend to possess in the age of massive innovative advancements. Even if CIA had used Taylor and now apparently want to discard the monster after helping him out of jail and allowed him commit crimes that can only be equated with those of the colonial eras against his own people, is Taylor a robot without natural reasoning abilities? Why are African leaders so inhumanly destructive because of being stooges to some external elements as well as personal ego and financial aggrandizement?

Those sending weapons down to Africa; both to governments, terrorists, militants and rebels are also those in control of peacekeepers and other 'justice' systems. They determine who is bad or good for Africa and Africans using their stooges and proteges in Africa. Although impunity is really centrally the problem in Africa; the rapaciously destructive capacities of the leaders need to be checked but must be by the people themselves if genuine development is to be achieved not by the external powers who killed those who wanted to fix Africa and put it on track like Steve Bantu Biko, Patrice Lumumba among others.

African leaders are to debate the continent's romance game with the International Criminal Court at a special summit on 11 October amid growing opposition to the tribunal. The African Union consisting of 54 African nations has accused The Hague-based ICC of singling out Africans for prosecution and has previously called for the court to drop crimes against humanity trials of Kenya's leadership. President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto are facing charges on crimes against humanity.

Kenyatta and Ruto, as well as former radio boss Joshua Arap Sang, face crimes against humanity charges for their alleged roles in orchestrating ethnic violence after disputed 2007 elections. The violence left at least 1,100 dead and more than 600 000 homeless. Despite appeals for them to be tried in Kenya, the ICC refused. Last month, Kenyan lawmakers voted on a motion to withdraw recognition of the court's jurisdiction. The ICC has also made it resoundingly clear that any move by the AU to leave will have no effect on the current trials.

If the AU decides to leave, pulling out will be a lengthy process that must be done by nations on an individual basis and this will likely jettison the move because some countries like Nigeria are comfortable. Nigeria has always been an headache to any African solidarity ab initio. It was used to spearhead the Monrovia cravings that killed any radical move to end imperialism in the 60s. This delayed the must needed and desired unity in Africa; hence, the OAU was formed rather than an AU backed by an African High Command which could have prevented most of the destructive wars Africa experienced after the colonialists left, leaving their brainwashed Africans with occidental minds to continue the tales of woes, bloodshed and throes.

The AU member states collectively accused the ICC in May of going after as well as hunting Africans. The trial of Ruto and Sang is already under way, and Kenyatta's trial is set to begin in November. The three pledged their co-operation with the court and maintain their innocence. The ICC maintains that it is not targeting Africa as a continent, pointing out that many of the cases under investigation in Africa were referred to the court by the countries themselves.

The court was founded primarily to try genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The African diplomats are expected to discuss a possible united pullout from the ICC. African countries account for 34 of the 122 parties to have ratified the Rome Statute, the court's founding treaty, which took effect on July 1, 2002. Mwencha, a Kenyan said the cases of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto were not specifically earmarked for discussion, saying only that the "agenda is very broad".

African countries with the pan-African bloc act appallingly when it comes to being parties and signatories to treaties in the world. They hardly put forward the national interests of their countries, that is if many of the leaders understand what national interest is and its valued functions in world affairs anyway. The Nyerere formula ought to be followed strictly in which African nations will separate the grain from the chaff in treaties especially multilateral ones; pick the ones that are best and opt out or discard the imperialist and colonial-inclined ones. African leaders are the real albatross of the continent by failing to set and observe people-oriented priorities as well as implement policies towards the advancement of the continent.

Amnesty International Calls for the Trial of Gaddafi's Son by ICC; AU to Debate Member States Pull-out

Again the cry is on Africa. After the deposition of Maummar Gaddafi and the turning of Libya into a 'beggar nation' those who never believed anything good can come out of Africa are calling again for the transfer of erstwhile figures of the Gaddafi regime to the Hague for trial. The Kenyan deputy President, William Ruto is currently facing trial at the Hague over the post-election violence of 2007. He is the first serving official to stand trial at the Hague. Uhuru Kenyatta, the Kenyan President is to begin his own trial in October.

Kenya's spokesman for the presidency Manoah Esipisu said the country had not canvassed for the coming AU summit on October 13, but "welcomed the opportunity by African leaders to discuss what is obviously an important matter for the continent". Kenya's Parliament has passed the resolution endorsing the withdrawal of the country as a signatory to the Rome Statute.

"The Kenyans have been criss-crossing Africa in search of support for their cause, even before their parliament voted to withdraw from the ICC," an AU official told Reuters. "An extraordinary summit will now take place to discuss the issue. A complete walk-out of signatories (to the Rome Statute) is certainly a possibility, but other requests maybe made." The summit would be preceded by a meeting of African foreign ministers a day earlier, he said.

Questions continuously have been asked on the real target and mission of the ICC owing to the fact that George Bush and Tony Blair were never even called into question over their involvement in the Iraqi massacre not to talk being indicted by the body. It is always easy pointing to Africa by ICC than to Syria, Britain and the United States because the powers are present there.

Amnesty International called on Libyan authorities to hand over Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, second son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and former intelligence chief Abdallah Senussi to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Both are wanted for crimes against humanity. Amnesty met with both detainees last week ahead of the referral of their cases to the Indictment Chamber in Tripoli on September 19.

However, Libya insists they be put on trial inside the country. “The referral of these cases to the Indictment Chamber brings us one step closer to the start of national trial proceedings for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, in violation of Libya’s legal obligation to surrender him to the ICC,” Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Hassiba Hadj Sahrahoui, said. In 2012, the ICC charged Saif al-Islam with crimes against humanity during the revolution that toppled his father the year prior. The court also ruled that he be extradited to The Hague.

The perceived selective justice of the ICC is making it lose all credibility if it ever has any in the face of many reasonable African nations. The next AU summit will discuss the revocation of the acceptance of the statute by African states in solidarity with Kenya. No one doubts the fact that impunity of African leaders and their gluttonous acts for bloodshed and wanton desire for destruction all because of greed and avaricious tendencies must be checkmated but it is about time Africans take their destiny in their hands than rely on those who brought the continent to this state since 1443.

Central African Republic: Another Somalia Brewing on the African Continent

To passionate Africans or any keen observer whatsoever, the question of why always Africa will be an hourly one going by all sort of obnoxious events and queasy news coming out of the continent in consequential fashions. Africa has the African Union which at best is saddled with the responsibility of making the continent a safe haven for all. This body is somehow always showing greater signs of ineptitude during crises. Dangerous situations that usually should have been tackled from the root and headlong before they degenerate into cataclysmic events are mostly left to fester on till they almost and most times become insurmountable.

Central African Republic began gradually and the AU was almost nowhere to be found except when it suspended the country which has now become its tradition. Recently in Central African Republic, Red Cross medical workers' lives were endangered with the villagers bolting in panic upon sighting rebels brandishing machetes and AK47 assault rifles who came out from the bush like traditional masquerades. The landlocked former French colony is one of the poorest places on earth and has been plunged into chaos since the Seleka rebels seized power from President Francois Bozize about four months ago, triggering a humanitarian crisis. Just like Rwanda with no oil, it is ignored by the West.

The African Union decided to boost a small regional peacekeeping mission (CEMAC) into a 3,600-strong force in the third week of July after the country had long been degenerating. The decision came after Seleka gunmen killed 15 people in Bangui on July 13 when their truck was found to contain T-shirts supporting Bozize. The bodies of seven victims were found floating in the Ubangi river.

Since independence from France in 1960, Central African Republic like most African countries has been trapped in a cycle of coup after coup. France's military has intervened in the country than anywhere else in Africa, supporting successive military strongmen including self-proclaimed Emperor Jean-Bedel Bokassa from 1966 to 1979. Though France hid under the guise of President Francois Hollande's keenness to end France's meddling in its former colonies, hence, French soldiers did not act to stop Seleka toppling Bozize but CAR just like in cases where no oil or uranium or any other vital resources exist, has nothing to offer France unlike Mali and Niger. The only interest France has is to secure Bangui airport. It will serve the purpose of express evacuation if need be.

With the country outside the capital Bangui in the grip of rebel warlords, many aid groups and UN agencies have pulled out, leaving its 4.5 million inhabitants to fend for themselves. Rebel Colonel Issene Yaya, who confronted the Red Cross workers in the remote northern village of Ouata-Nata, had come to collect protection money from local chiefs and to lay down the law. Yaya was furious the Red Cross had not recently visited Ouandago, 10 km (6 miles) from Ouata-Nana, where the rebels had made their base according to Reuters.

"You, Red Cross people...I could make you pay a dear price at the end of my gun barrel for your behaviour," Yaya told the aid workers in the local language Sango. Behind him, his camouflage-clad fighters, wearing protective magical charms, chatted in Arabic, the tongue of neighbouring Sudan and eastern Chad. After delivering an ultimatum to Ouata-Nana's mayor for four local chiefs to bring 800,000 CFA francs ($1,600) to them the next day, the rebels disappeared, leaving the village deserted.

Central African Republic has porous borders which give Arabic-speaking marauding raiders, poachers and soldiers of fortune from neighbouring Chad and Sudan to prey on the countryside over the years. Seleka means 'alliance' in Sango and it is a coalition of five rebel groups. It launched its uprising after Bozize failed to honour the terms of a previous power sharing deal. Many northerners resented Bozize, who seized power in a 2003 coup, for surrounding himself with his own Gbaya tribesmen.

"What sin, what wickedness did we do for God to reserve this fate for us?" asked Marie Loana, a 72-year-old woman outside her hut in Ouata-Nana, empty after her family fled into the bush. After the March 24 rebel takeover, Seleka's leader Michel Djotodia was named interim president of Central African Republic in a deal brokered by regional powers intended to lead to elections in 18 months. But he has failed to prevent his troops, many of whom are Muslims from Chad and Sudan, from committing atrocities against the Christian population.

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) says rebels have killed at least 400 people and carried out dozens of rapes since seizing power. It qualifies this as war crimes. With health services across the country close to collapse, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres has accused the international community of turning its back on the country. The fighting has displaced 206,000 people inside Central African Republic and pushed 55,000 refugees across its borders.

"We have to appeal to the conscience of the world to help these people living in some of the worst conditions on earth," EU Commissioner for international cooperation Kristalina Georgieva said during a visit this month to the country. "Unless the state returns, this risks turning into a new Somalia, where local warlords control the country," Reuters report. "All seven bodies showed signs of torture. Some of the men had their genitals cut off, their eyes gouged out ... It was really an atrocity," said Joselin Likomba, a Red Cross worker. Security has improved somewhat inside the chaotic capital this month, following months of looting and killings, after Seleka fighters were ordered off the streets unless patrolling jointly with the CEMAC regional force.

"Seleka fighters are committing crimes with total impunity," FIDH said in a report, estimating the group's ranks had swollen from 5,000 at the time of the coup to some 20,000 fighters. "In the provinces, where Seleka holds power and the state does not exist, there is no justice." The European Union, the country's largest humanitarian donor, has so far pledged 20 million euros ($26.5 million) to stabilize the country, hoping this will bring aid groups back. "The very presence of humanitarian organizations can be a deterrent to looting, killings and rape," said Georgieva, who held long talks with Djotodia in Bangui. "It is not clear he understands how to get a grip on security in his country."

The humanitarian situation may be about to worsen as terrified villagers flee deep into the forests, scavenging for food, meaning they are missing the planting season. Malnutrition rates, already double those of last year, are poised to leap. In Ouata-Nana, only one of the village chiefs appeared to pay Yaya 50,000 CFA. Two others fled to Chad while the fourth headed south with his family to Bangui. "They will kill us if we don't pay," said one of the chiefs, Paul Idamba. "Our life here is torture. It is hell."

Al Shabaab Attacks African Union Peacekeepers in Somalia

Suicide bombers struck again in Mogadishu, ramming a vehicle packed with explosives into an African Union peacekeeping convoy killing eight civilians but no soldier died. 

The blast was claimed by Islamist al Shabaab rebels. Al Shabaad had carried out a deadly assault on United Nations base last month and another bombing in a Mogadishu market this week.

Al Shabaab was pushed out of bases in Mogadishu by Somali and African forces about two years ago, raising hopes of a return to relative security in a city hit by years of war since 1991. The militants on the contrary have kept up guerrilla-style attacks and continue to control large rural areas, challenging the authority of a government less than one year old. This latest 'show of strength' is to prove the fragility in the security gains and for Somalia to know that the last of the group has never been heard.

"I have confirmed the bomber and seven civilians died on the spot, and in the hospital, another civilian died of the blast wounds," Mohamed Osman, a senior police official, told Reuters. 

"Most of the casualties were caused by shrapnel and splinters of blown-off iron sheet pieces." Al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, told Reuters the convoy was carrying a number of American officials, but the claim could not be confirmed independently.

"We are behind the martyrdom explosion ... The Americans were our main target," he said. The blast flattened makeshift shops on Maka Al Mukarama road in central Mogadishu and ripped the wheels off one vehicle belonging to the African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in Somalia.

No peacekeepers died but a number of people were wounded, said an official from the Mogadishu mayor's office, although al Shabaab said at least eight AU troops had been killed. "We shall not bury the remains of the bomber. 

We shall throw them into the rubbish pit," the mayor's secretary, Abdikafi Hilowle, told reporters at the scene."If al Shabaab are Muslims, they would not kill Muslims during Ramadan," he said, referring to the holy Islamic month which began this week.

Ambulance sirens wailed through the congested streets and a plume of black smoke billowed into the sky above the city near the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) base where 22 people were killed in an al Shabaab assault last month. "We have carried eight injured civilians including two women," the director of Mogadishu's ambulance service, Abdikadir Abdirahman, said.

The fragile government is being backed by international aid aimed at preventing it from becoming a haven for al Qaeda-style militants in east Africa.

Zimbabwe should postpone its election; Southern African leaders urge Mugabe, discuss Madagascar

The summit of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) in the Mozambican capital, Maputo, came two days after Mugabe declared the election day, a date immediately rejected by Tsvangirai, his partner in coalition and main political rival.

The bloc leaders told Zimbabwe to ask its courts to extend a July 31 deadline to hold elections, amid high tension between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai over the timing of the vote.

The argument of Mugabe was that he was following an order from the Constitutional Court to hold the election by the end of July which sounds more like an excuse of convenience. Tsvangirai said it was too soon to allow the reforms of the media and security forces required for a free and fair vote.

"The summit acknowledged the ruling of the constitutional court on the election date and it will be respected," Tomaz Salomao, Secretary General of SADC, said after the one-day meeting.

"What the summit recommended was, in recognising that there was a need for more time, that the government of Zimbabwe engage the constitutional court to ask for more time beyond the deadline of July 31." SADC leaders had earlier feared that hurrying the elections would increase the chances of a disputed result and violence.

In 2008 hundreds of Zimbabweans, mostly Tsvangirai's supporters, were beaten and killed, creating a flood of refugees into neighboring countries. Finance Minister Tendai Biti, who is also secretary general of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party, said SADC had "ordered a return to constitutionalism".

"We Zimbabweans want an election yesterday. However, it must be legitimate and credible," Biti said. The SADC summit, postponed by a week at Mugabe's request, had also been expected to discuss finance for the elections, expected to cost the cash-strapped country $132 million. The funding was not debated during the summit.

Madagascar was also discussed as wife of the former President, Marc Ravalomanana, ousted by Disc Jockey-turned-politician - Andriy Rajolina - said she will not step down. Rajolina rejoined the race when she decided to contest. Calls have also been made for Rajolina to step down by the African Union.

Foreign donors froze budget support and the Indian Ocean island was suspended from the African Union. Succumbing to regional pressure, both men agreed in January not to run in a presidential election in August.

Rajolina was assisted by the military to oust Ravalomanana in 2009. The wife of Ravalomanana said her husband's supporters want her and her mission is to end the food crisis in the country while her husband takes care of the business of the family.

The summit said there was need for international political and diplomatic pressure for "illegitimate presidential candidates to withdraw their candidatures for the sake of peace and stability in Madagascar". France also threatened not to recognise the election.