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.

US raids Libya and Somalia in Search of Terrorists; Captures One, Fails in the Other

Abu Anas al-Liby has been seized by US forces in the Libyan capital Tripoli, the Pentagon has revealed. His real name is Nazih al-Ragye while the above is his pseudonym. John Kerry speaking in Indonesia, ahead of an Asia-Pacific summit said: "We hope this makes clear that the United States of America will never stop in its effort to hold those accountable who conduct acts of terror. Those members of al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations literally can run but they can't hide. We will continue to try to bring people to justice."

Liby, a Libyan believed to be 49, has been under US indictment for his alleged role in the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, which killed 224 people. The US government has also been offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture, under the State Department's Rewards for Justice programme.

On his own part, Pentagon spokesman George Little said: "As the result of a US counter-terrorism operation, Abu Anas al-Liby is currently lawfully detained by the US military in a secure location outside of Libya." Liby was apparently 'kidnapped'. Local witnesses said he was returning from morning prayers before he was rounded up and whisked away. He returned to Libya after the demise of Gaddafi. This definitely is another confirmation of the havoc NATO and Western-led regime change invasions are doing which could have occurred in Syria but for Putin's sagacity.

Another of such raid to capture al Shabaab's commander ended in failure. The raid on Liby was done without the US informing the Libyan authority. If Somalia is devoid of any real authority, has Libya turned into that too? Anyway, the Libyan government has become a full stooge since it sees NATO and its attendant sponsors as liberators. The Prime Minister of the Libyan Government has demanded that his 'bosses' in White House and the Pentagon give an explanation on the raid.

Al Shabaab's Fortress in Somalia Attacked by 'Western' Forces

The Westgate Mall attack in Kenya opened the eyes of Africa and Africans to the full reality that there is really an unfinished business in Somalia which serves as the training bastion for fundamentalists and terrorists. Somalia since 1991 has been a real headache for its neighbours in the horn of Africa; notably Kenya and Ethiopia. It served as the port haven for militants now roving some countries on the continent. Speculations even went around that the UN bombing that happened in Nigeria was carried out by a suicide bomber trained in Somalia before Boko Haram itself became sophisticated.

The US intervention in Somalia in the early 90s in an operation code-named 'Black Hawk Down' could not defeat or effectively decimate the ranks and files of the militants. The operation ended in a shocking 'defeat' for the United States as it was forced to withdraw its troops due to the notorious ways in which Farah Aideed and his men humiliated American soldiers. Westgate has however drawn worldwide interest on a larger scale probably in what al Shabaab is capable of doing and the havoc it can orchestrate.

Reuters quoting members of the al Shabaab militants reports that "Western" forces attacked a house in one of its coastal bases in the town of Barawe under the cover of dark, killing one rebel fighter. Foreign forces landed on the beach at Barawe, about 180 km (110 miles) south of Mogadishu, and launched an assault that drew gunfire from rebel fighters, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, spokesman for al Shabaab's military operations.

It was not immediately clear why the Barawe base had been targeted specifically, nor whether the assault was related to the attack on a Kenyan mall two weeks ago, which the al Qaeda-linked group said it carried out and which killed at least 67. Western navies patrol the sea off Somalia - mired in conflict for more than two decades - and have in the past launched strikes on land from warships.

No foreign military units typically involved in such operations in Somalia have said they were involved in the strike. One Western official in the region declined to comment. Kenyan forces stationed in the southern parts of Somalia were unavailable for comment. "Westerners in boats attacked our base at Barawe beach and one was martyred from our side," Musab said. "No planes or helicopters took part in the fight. The attackers left weapons, medicine and stains of blood, we chased them," he said.

Many residents said they were woken by the noise of heavy gunfire late on Friday night. "We were awoken by heavy gunfire last night, we thought an al Shabaab base at the beach was captured," Sumira Nur, a mother of four told Reuters from Barawe on Saturday. "We also heard sounds of shells but we do not know where they landed. We don't have any other information," she said.

Although the United States does not report its activities in Somalia, it has used drones in recent years to kill Somali and foreign al Shabaab fighters. In January, the French military used helicopters to attack an al Shabaab base in a southern Somalia village to rescue a French hostage. Two French commandos were killed and the insurgents later claimed they had killed the agent. Western nations are worried that Somalia will sink back into chaos and provide a launchpad for Islamist militancy despite a fragile recovery after two decades of war.

Al Shabaab were driven out of Mogadishu in late 2011 and are struggling to hold on to territory elsewhere in the face of attacks by Kenyan, Ethiopian and African Union forces trying to prevent Islamist militancy spreading out from Somalia. Al Shabaab wants to impose its strict version of sharia, or Islamic law, across the Horn of Africa state. Last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon was seeking to send drones to Kenya as part of a $40 million (25 million pounds)-plus military aid package to help four African countries fighting al Qaeda and al Shabaab militants.

The Kenyan and Ethiopian troops coupled with the AU forces performed creditably well in decimating the militants. Without them, al Shabaab would have grown exceptionally and extremely stronger than it could have ever been imagined. The coordination of the Westgate attack and the later threats and rantings of the terrorist group show that it is ready to effect more devastating attacks of the shores of Somalia if not properly handled or shown the way of force too.

Al Shabaab is a Threat to the World and Global Peace; Somalia's President Warns

As Kenya battles militants from Somalia, who launched a very colossal terrorist attack on Westgate shopping mall in the capital Nairobi killing several people including a foremost Ghanaian cum African poet; Kofi Awoonor, Uganda expressly boosted its security while the Somali leader has come out to diplomatically warn the world on the danger al Shabaab poses.

AP reports that the President of Somalia says the group claiming responsibility for the terrorist attack at a Kenyan mall presents a threat not just to Africa, but to the entire world. Kenyan authorities say dozens of people have died in the attack. Somali militant group al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud says reports that some of the attackers may have been Somalis who lived in the US illustrate the global nature of al-Shabaab. Mohamud said after a Monday speech at Ohio State University in Columbus that he has spoken with the president of Kenya and plans to visit the country.

Mohamud says his government is committed to uprooting al-Shabaab. He says maintaining security is his top priority as Somalia rebuilds after decades of civil war and terrorist threats. The apparent peopling of the mall by foreigners made it the best and a formidable chosen destination for the militants.

The Kenyan mall was a real target that could effect the necessary collateral and psychological damage terrorism always intends to achieve with its 'unseen' hands without accountability. The Somali President urged the world not to desert Somalia as doing so would constitute a real danger. Ethiopia too must not go to bed with its two eyes close as every country who participated in the demoralisation of al Shabaab could be potential target.

Fear of Al Shabaab brings Wisdom: Uganda Boosts its Security after Kenya's Westgate Disaster

Every country responsible for the ouster of Al Shabaab in Somalia must brace up for the challenges ahead after the Westgate Mall Disaster in Kenya. An African adage says the death killing one's closest allies is a proverbial message to one. This proverb is perfectly understood by Uganda and sure Ethiopia too must not sleep.

NAN reports that Uganda, which like Kenya has sent troops to fight Islamist militants in Somalia, said on Monday it had stepped up security after a raid by Somali-linked gunmen on a Kenyan shopping mall that killed at least 68 people.

The last big attack by Somalia's al Shabaab gunmen, which has claimed responsibility for the Nairobi attack, was a double bombing in Uganda in 2010, targeting people watching the soccer World Cup final on television in Kampala, killing 77 people.

"We have generally stepped up security across the board in terms of streamlining border security so that we plug all the loopholes at entry points that could be potentially exploited by these characters," said Ugandan Army Spokesman, Lt.-Col., Paddy Ankunda. There was no obvious sign of heightened security at two of the capital's main shopping malls, beyond the usual check by private security personnel.

"We have strengthened our cooperation with our neighbouring countries in intelligence sharing and all other ways in which we can collaborate to defeat these terrorists," Ankunda added. Apparently, Ethiopia too must be ready to increase its alert level and step up its security capacity and capability.

The Battle: Kenyan Forces versus Al-Qaeda-Linked Militants from Somalia

Forensic experts are combing the Westgate shopping mall for traces of explosives. The Kenyan government has also declared a 3-day national mourning period. The battle seems to be 'over' as further developments would finally reveal. Kenyan police reveal they are currently sweeping the mall and checking for explosives. A local official also said that the city morgues is preparing for the arrival of a large number of bodies of the victims of the Westgate mall attack, which currently stands at 62. There are many bodies remaining inside the mall, according to an AP witness - a brother of one of the soldiers taking part in the military operation.

The UN Envoy for Somalia, Nicholas Kay, said that the price of walking away from Somalia would be very high, Reuters reports. "Security remains the number one challenge, the control and defeating of al Shabaab is key to this," Kay told the press in Geneva. "The amount of money that we're talking about that's required for the extra effort in Somalia would be very small. But the cost of walking away would be very expensive."

The militants inside Westgate claim there are still live hostages inside the shopping mall, according to various international news sources. The al-Shabaab militia claims they have spoken to their 'mujahideen' (fighters) and despite earlier claims that the fighting could be coming to a close, say "the fighting has just started."

The militants are disputing the claims that foreigners were among the ranks of the hostage-takers. And those that claim they are American or British "do not know what is going on," Reuters reports. At the same time, a British security source says it is "a possibility" that Samantha Lewthwaite, a UK citizen, was involved with the militants, but added that no conclusive evidence exists yet to support the claim.

As Kenya's military searches Westgate mall for remaining terrorist elements and finds out more about their identities, al-Shabaab claims the 'mujahideen' are "still holding their ground," Reuters report. Al-Shabaab now claims on their Twitter that they are changing into uniforms of dead soldiers.

Kenya's Interior Ministry says Al Qaeda was behind the attack not al Shabaab. The conclusion of the battle is ongoing as Kenya's forces are now taking full charge of Westgate. The forces of evil shall never triumph over that of good. Africa is really proud of Kenya and its Police cum Military forces. Victory shall always be that of the continent over those who intend to destabilize and disturb the peace.

Kenya Defence Forces say over 200 civilians have been rescued from a besieged shopping mall as the bloody hostage crisis continues into its third day Nairobi. The military says all possible escape routes
were sealed and attackers’ chances of escape are very slim.

Kenya's Interior Ministry says the government will stand by the families of the victims. The Minister for Interior states that people should not take to spreading false information that the country is theirs and is under their control not in the hands of the inhuman and inhumane terrorists. The Minister says people should not say the terrorists blew the building as all activities are being coordinated by the Security Forces.

Meanwhile, the President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan said the storming of the Westgate Mall is a dastardly act on humanity. He called on the world to rise against terrorism by revealing that any attack on the innocent ones in any nation is an attack on everyone on the globe. He strongly condemned the Boko Haram sect and al Shabaab militants saying all these senseless termination of lives are alien to Africa and must be combated headlong.

RT reports that heavy gunfire, explosions heard at the Kenyan shopping mall, witnesses report. Smoke is seen rising from the area. TV footage from the scene showed Kenyan troops running into the complex. "It is us who caused the explosion, we are trying to get in through the roof," one security official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters at the scene. Journalists and their cameras have been moved and no longer have a clear sight of the mall.

A suspected member of the terrorist group currently holding hostages in a Kenyan shopping mall was arrested in the Netherlands. Muhammed Hussein Ahmed, a 38-year-old Dutch citizen, was detained after he bought a plane ticket to Turkey, Dutch TV RTL reported. Some of the hostages held by militants have been rescued in the latest twist of the rescue operation, AFP reports citing Kenyan police chief. The Kenyan Red Cross has revised the number of deaths in the mall attack to 62, reducing the death toll by seven. The previous number was wrong due to double counts of some bodies as they were moved from morgue to morgue.

Two shopping mall attackers have been killed and others wounded by Kenyan troops, Interior Minister Joseph Lenku told journalists. Some of the Kenyan forces sustained injuries in the firefight. The minister said all of the attackers were male, but some were wearing female clothes, which probably explained witness accounts, which said there were women among the terrorists. He added that the plume of smoke rising over the mall comes from mattresses, which have been set alight by the gunmen as a decoy.

International Criminal Court proceedings for the trial of Kenya's deputy president have been put on a week's hold as a result of the hostage crisis, Reuters reports. Two blasts accompanied by brief gunfire were heard from inside the Nairobi mall, according to a Reuters witness. The news comes as Israeli advisers are aiding Kenyan forces with developing a strategy to end the siege, after having earlier tried and failed to enter the building.

"Israelis and Kenyan forces have tried to enter Westgate (mall) by force but they could not, the mujahideen (fighters) will kill the hostages if the enemies use force," Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, Al-Shabaab spokesman said earlier in clip posted on the website. Heavy gun fire exchanges can still be heard and the battle ranges on.

Consuming Fire on the Mountain of Africa?: Islamist Terrorists from Somalia hit Kenya

RT latest report says Kenyan military spokesperson Colonel Cyrus Oguna confirmed that “most of the hostages have been released, and the Kenya Defence Forces has taken control of most parts of the building," where at least 68 people were killed in an attack. Four military personnel were injured during the latest rescue operation, Kenya Defense Forces stated. Kenyan authorities have regained control of most of the mall and have rescued most of the hostages, Kenya Defense Forces tweeted.

Kenyan forces have launched a major assault to free the hostages trapped inside the mall. US President Barack Obama has also called Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta to say that the US will support Kenya's efforts to bring the perpetrators of the shopping mall attack to justice. Former Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, said that the militants had established contact with the country’s authorities. He did not mention the attackers’ demands. Beside Kenyans, among the victims of the attack are also citizens of France, the UK, Canada, China, South Korea and India.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has sent a telegram of condolence to Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta, saying Russia strongly condemns this act of terrorism, the Kremlin’s press-service reported. Security forces have “a good chance” of neutralizing the attackers at the shopping mall, said Kenya's president Uhuru Kenyatta. "The criminals are now located in one place within the building. With the professionals on site, I assure Kenyans that we have as good a chance to successfully neutralize the terrorists as we can hope for," he told reporter

At least 68 people are now reported to have been killed according to Kenyan Red Cross and over 200 others wounded by Al-Qaeda-linked militants in a Nairobi shopping mall, as the hostage crisis there has entered its second day. Foreigners are among the casualties. 10 to 15 gunmen are still inside the shopping mall, a Kenyan minister has reported. 30 hostages are still inside the building, according to the country’s officials and Western diplomatic sources cited by CNN. AP journalists reported from the scene that gunfire was heard in the mall on Sunday morning.

They added that following the shooting, two wounded Kenyan security forces were carried from the mall. Israeli advisers are reportedly helping Kenya to work out a strategy to end a siege at the mall. "There are Israeli advisers helping with the negotiating strategy, but no Israelis involved in any imminent storming operation," an Israeli security source told Reuters. President Kenyatta also lost close members of his family. Ghanaian poet, Kofi Awoonor also died in the Westgate attack after sustaining serious injuries. Awoonor was in Nairobi to speak at the Storymoja Hay Festival, a four-day celebration of writing, thinking and storytelling.

Along with Ghanaian poets Nii Parkes and Kwame Dawes, Awoonor was due to perform on Saturday evening as part of a showcase of award-winning poetry from both sides of Africa. He died age 78. One of the smiles of Africa is gone. His son was severely injured too but new report shows he has been discharged from the hospital. Witnesses said the attackers ordered all Muslims to leave the premises, as only non-Muslims would be targeted. "The casualties are many, and that's only what we have on the outside. Inside there are even more casualties and shooting is still going on," Kenya Red Cross Society Secretary General Abbas Guled said.

A police officer inside the shopping centre said the gunmen had barricaded themselves into the Nakumatt supermarket. "We have reports of American citizens injured in the attack, and the US Embassy is actively reaching out to provide assistance," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement, Reuters reports. Al Jazeera International has reported that Al Shabaab, a hardline Islamist group with a stronghold in neighbouring Somalia, told them that they carried out the Nairobi shooting.

"We got three bodies from this shop. And a couple of bodies here," he said pointing to an abandoned hamburger bar, Reuters reports. Some local television stations are reporting that hostages have been taken, but there has been official confirmation. A Reuters photographer earlier said he saw five bodies outside the mall and a former British soldier said he saw four more people who had also been killed.

At least two dozen wounded were wheeled out on stretchers and shopping carts. Many of the victims had sustained what appeared to be superficial wounds inflicted by flying debris. Others were seen walking out of the building with bloodied articles of clothing wrapped around their injuries. "I Personally touched the eyes of four people and they were dead. One of them was a child. Its carnage up there," said a former British soldier at the scene.

Police are currently engaged in an ongoing shop-by-shop sweep of the complex. "They have seven hostages, confirmed," an officer told AFP. Kenyan soldiers were also deployed to take part in the operation to bring the shopping complex back under control. Police helicopters circled over the building as sporadic gunfire could be heard more than two hours after the attack was launched. Police cordoned off the roads surrounding the mall in central Nairobi's Westlands neighborhood.

Kenya’s interior minister said the mall shooting may be “an attack by terrorists.” "It is a possibility that it is an attack by terrorists, so we are treating the matter very seriously," Mutea Iringo, the principal secretary in the Ministry of Interior told Reuters. Asked if foreign security services were involved in the operation to flush out the attackers, he said, "At this stage it has not become necessary yet." Nairobi police Chief Benson Kibue blamed the attack on terrorists, though he did not name a group. Five assailants, armed with AK-47s and grenades launched their attack on the Westgate shopping mall in the Kenyan capital around midday.

Gunmen were said to have lobbed grenades at the onset of the strike. They then proceeded to shoot indiscriminately and took several people hostage at the mall in Nairobi, a senior Kenyan government source said. Armed police arrived on the scene nearly half an hour later and could be heard shouting "get out, get out" as scores of shoppers fled the building. Smoke billowed out of the entrance, which was believed to have been caused by the grenade attack.

"They don't seem like thugs, this is not a robbery incident," Yukeh Mannasseh who was on the mall's top floor when the shooting started, told Reuters. "It seems like an attack. The guards who saw them said they were shooting indiscriminately." Other witnesses said that the gunmen had asked all Muslims to vacate the mall, as only non-Muslims would be targeted in the attack. When asked if the attack was a robbery, one paramilitary officer replied, "No, terrorist".

An AFPTV reporter said police and security guards were trying to secure a multi-screen cinema complex inside the mal where many had taken shelter. The reporter said she saw at least 20 people rescued from a toy shop on one of the upper floors of the building. A shop manager who managed to escape said it had appeared “the shooters had taken control of all the mall.”

The Somali militant group al-Shabaab had earlier threatened to strike the mall, as it is a popular destination for the city’s expatriate community. However, no one has yet to claim responsibility for the assault. One victim said that he had been shot by a man who appeared to be Somali, while others noted the gunmen were speaking in a foreign language. "A Somali guy shot at me. The guy who shot me was carrying a rifle, an AK-47," said  Saptal Singh, who was in a cafe in the top floor of the mall.

The sleeping of Africa on the world stage will eventually consume it. Apparently, most of the people involved in this attack were foreigners. The consuming war of Washington versus Al Qaeda is fast moving around countries close to Muslim-populated countries or countries with a sizable number of Muslim population. One begins to wonder when Africa will wake from slumber and see itself losing in the Imperialism versus Fundamentalism game despite not being a participant and has no interest whatsoever. Nigeria is currently battling its own. Mali just ended and one only hopes for a better future ahead, now Kenya.

Of what benefit is a belief that people use to send wrong signals to the world? Of what benefit is the follower-ship of a country that is really and advantageously secured where it is located but continuously precariously spread its tentacles of hatred with its policies? The two camps are same and Africa seems to be caught between the era of Trans-Saharan and Trans-Atlantic trades again. Somalia has continually been the albatross of the continent as many of today's fundamentalists had received their training in that country since 1991. Al Shabaab has already claimed responsibility for the Kenyan attack. The Twitter account of Al Shabaab which announced the attack has been suspended.

South Sudan: Independence or Avenue for Tribal Carnage?

South Sudan is the youngest nation, not only on the African continent, but on earth. It is a nation that many in Africa had hoped will be able to get its onus right and move away from the Sudan experience of wars and carnage.

No sooner had South Sudan became independent than numerous crises began. First it was oil bout with Sudan which almost led to war over Abyei. Then, tribal conflicts began and now becoming a major quagmire for the newest African nation.

Officials in South Sudan revealed that more than 300 people were killed and thousands sent fleeing into bush during two weeks of fighting between the army, rebels and rival tribes in the east of the country in July. The east is the major flash-point in South Sudan.

The army is grappling with a rebellion led by politician David Yau Yau in vast Jonglei state and new clashes have broken out between the Lou Nuer and Murle tribes. More than 1,600 people have been killed in a cycle of tribal violence in Jonglei since the break-up of Africa's largest country.

According to Reuters, a team of local chiefs travelling around Pibor County in Jonglei had reported 328 deaths so far - all Murle members and some of them women and children, according to Jodi Jonglei Boyoris, a senior state representative. The number of Lou Nuer killed and wounded remained unknown.

The death toll is expected to rise although the fighting had died down this month. Representatives of the South Sudan army and humanitarian groups said they were not able to confirm the figures. Boyoris said the fighting ended nearly three weeks ago but local officials were only now able to count the number of killed and wounded as people had started returning to their homes.

The United Nations has said thousands of people are hiding in the bush outside Pibor town in Jonglei to avoid the conflict between the army and Yau Yau, who says he is fighting corruption, army abuses and one-party rule in South Sudan.

The United Nations estimates 100,000 people have been affected by the conflict, with many fleeing to the bush and cut off from humanitarian access. To boost security, the UN recently advocated for drones and gunships to be deployed.

The situation in South Sudan could degenerate into cataclysmic civil war in the fashion of another Sudan or Somalia. In fact, Africa has two Somalias to currently contend with. One is South Sudan, the other is Central African Republic.

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."

Kenyan Police Discover Explosives on Transit to the Coastal Region

Kenya continues to battle and tackle insecurity in the land. The rising cases of criminal activities spurred President Uhuru Kenyatta into changing as well as redeploying some of the topnotch in the security apparatus.

Since October 2011, when Kenya's troops went into neighbouring Somalia in pursuit of al Qaeda-linked insurgents blamed for kidnapping security personnel and Western tourists from its territory, it continues to suffer grenade and gun attacks. These attacks are complicated by camps housing the refugees from Somalia according to Kenyan authorities.

Kenyan police discovered a large quantity of explosives packed in boxes on a bus in the capital Nairobi. A senior officer said the explosives were being transported to the coastal region. It was not clear who was behind the consignment of 403 rolls of ammonium nitrate.

The East Africa's biggest economy has been plagued with nightmare over attacks which continue to scare off tourists and investors. Kenya, being on the Indian Ocean coast and bordering Somalia, is vulnerable to the pirates and militants activities.

Patrick Oduma, the officer in charge of police in Nairobi's central business district, said the bus's driver has been arrested and was being questioned over the explosives, which were originally offloaded from a bus that had arrived from neighbouring Tanzania. "The parcel of cartons disguised as books were destined to be transported to Voi," Oduma told Reuters, referring to a town 142 km (92 miles) inland from the port city of Mombasa.

"The explosives, which are rolls of ammonium nitrate, can be used to bring down buildings," he said. Oduma declined to speculate on what the explosives might have been intended for. He said they had been handed to bomb experts and the Kenya Anti Terrorism Police.

Pirates Hijacked Vessel off the Coast of Gabon

Barely some weeks after West and Central African leaders met to discuss the rising case of piracy and insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea, pirates struck again. The new technique really worked perfectly well. The pirates seemingly boarded the Malta-flagged Cotton tanker, carrying a partly loaded cargo of fuel oil, on Monday near Port Gentil, Gabon, in the first reported attack in that region in the past five years, Turkish operator Geden Lines said according to Reuters.

The piracy was on an oil products tanker with 24 crew on board off the Gabon coast, the vessel's operator said on Wednesday. "The company is in contact with the families of the 24 Indian crew members on board and the appropriate authorities have been contacted," Geden Lines said in a statement.

The Gulf of Guinea is really under real and imagined threats with the piracy scourge. It includes Nigeria, Ghana and Cote D'Ivoire as well as Gabon and remains a major source of oil, cocoa and, increasingly, metals for world markets. International navies are not actively engaged in counter-piracy missions in the region.

The anchorage of vessels off West African coastal nations, with little protection makes them readied target for criminals unlike waters off Somalia and the Horn of Africa, where ships can move past at high speed with armed guards on board.

The UN had earlier lauded the efforts of the West African leaders who met in Cameroon on the rising case of piracy and even called for the intervention of a multinational naval force. "The attack occurred around 200 nautical miles (NM) further south than the previous most southerly attack, which was around 160NM southwest of Bonny Island (in Nigeria) on 26 April," security firm AKE said.

"It therefore marks a significant expansion of the geographical range of Gulf of Guinea piracy. It also demonstrates the regional nature of the illegal fuel trade, the supply of which tankers such as Cotton are generally hijacked for."

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.

2 al Shabab Commanders killed; 1 Arrested, 50 More Feared Dead

Two top commanders of Somalia's Al Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group have been killed by their own fighters, following power struggle inside the extremist organization. One of the dead, Ibrahim Haji Jama Mead, also known as Al-Afghani, tops Washington’s wanted list of terrorists. Last June, the State Department placed a US$5 million bounty for information leading to his location.

The other, Abul Hamid Hashi Olhayi was also a top commander of the extremist group and one of the founders of the terrorist group. "We have informed their widows of their deaths, as they must now wear the clothes of mourning," Shabab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab told AFP.

Al-Afghani’s sister confirmed the death but called it an execution while Shabab claimed that both men died in a battle. "We deny reports that the men were killed after capture," Musab said. "The two men were killed in a shoot out after resisting arrest on court orders."

Al-Afghani - “The Afghan” - dubbed so for his activities in Afghanistan, held prominent positions in the Islamic extremist movement in Somalia occupying positions as first deputy leader of al-Shabab in charge of finance  and also as the head of al-Shabab's Kisimayo administration.

The man was believed to be representing Shabab’s hard-line faction that focuses on global jihad.  In the last few years, the insurgent movement has split into rival factions, based along clan lines and ideological differences.  It is believed that Al-Afghani challenged the command of top chief Ahmed Abdi Godane, also wanted by the US.

In a related development, another top cleric of Somalia's most prominent Islamist rebel commanders was arrested and is in the hands of a regional administration, local and government officials said on Wednesday, dealing a blow to al Shabaab insurgents. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys was detained in a coastal area of central Somalia and had been taken to a safe-house in the town of Adado, a spokesman for the Somali Federal Government revealed.

Aweys was "linked to terrorism" by the United States shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington and is on a UN Security Council terrorism sanctions list. The arrest of a man who has been a major player in many stages of Somalia's long insurgency would be a boost for a government and its African allies struggling to contain months of guerrilla-style attacks.

Diplomats suggested Aweys had fled a bout of in-fighting that indicated rifts in the group. Analysts said Mogadishu might be open to negotiate with Aweys, who they say backed a faction in al Shabaab opposed to using foreign fighters. Clan elders and the Adado administration, which is generally seen as friendly to Mogadishu, said negotiations were under way with the central government over what to do with Aweys.

"We are discussing how to solve the issue," said central government spokesman Abdirahman Omar Osman. "Our policy has always been that for those within al Shabaab who are Somalis and want to renounce violence, we are willing to lend a hand."

Adado resident Hassan Nur said the town was tense as militiamen and security forces loyal to the provincial Himan and Heeb administration sped around in pick-up trucks mounted with machineguns. "Aweys and his men are now in Himan and Heeb palace in Adado town," Abdi Kadawe, Adado's police chief, told Reuters by phone.

Rashid Abdi, an independent Horn of Africa analyst, said Aweys' arrest would be a psychological blow but was unlikely to shift the power balance in al Shabaab, which has been weakened by an offensive led by African peacekeepers.

Aweys' influence had been "seriously diminished in recent years," Abdi told Reuters. Aweys, a firebrand cleric believed to be in his late 70s, had been seen by many Somalis as the spiritual leader of al Shabaab and had been revered by militants as the father of Somalia's Islamist movement.

Up to fifty people may have been killed in two days of fighting in a strategic Somali sea port, according to witnesses. Some locals on the ground report at least 12 bodies while others place the figure somewhere around 50.

The violence has intensified in Kismayo since the leader of the Ras Kamboni militia, was nominated by a regional assembly to lead the Jubaland region. Supporter of the rival, backed by the federal government in Mogadishu, clashed with the militia of the regional governor.

The United States Boosts its Military Presence in Africa

The US military presence in Africa is on the rise yet still relatively calm and esoteric; striking Islamist militants with drones, supporting African forces in stabilising Somalia and Mali and deploying dozens of training teams. Its presence remains mostly low key, barely mentioned in the context of President Barack Obama's visit this week to Africa.

Nevertheless, with some 4,000-5,000 personnel on the ground at any given time, the United States now has more troops in Africa than at any point since its Somalia intervention two decades ago according to Reuters. That ended in humiliation and withdrawal after the 1993 "Blackhawk Down" debacle in which 18 U.S. soldiers died.

The build-up of US military presence is due to seemingly two main reasons; al Qaeda and China. It wants to stem the tide of the rising influence of Islamic insurgency and other militant groups as well as win influence in a continent that could become an increasingly important destination for American trade and investment as China's presence grows in Africa.

Obama's week-long African tour will focus on military and security issues apart from food security and democracy. He is expected to douse fear that the US is militarising Africa for its own benefits shrouded in the war against terror. In the Horn of Africa, the vast majority of US forces deployed in Africa are at a major French military base in Djibouti, a tiny country sandwiched between northern Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Experts reveal the military base has provided a staging post for occasional special forces deployments and drone and air attacks against Islamist militant targets in Somalia. However, US officials have refused to comment. The base was also allegedly instrumental for NATO's operations in Libya.

The US views its military presence in Africa as key in a continent where China is rapidly expanding and has surpassed the United States in terms of trade relations in Africa. China has huge investment in mining, energy and infrastructure and also a key ally of Sudan's President, Omar al Bashar which of course has always bolstered him against the West.

US officers believe its limited military missions have gone a long way in reducing initial African scepticism over Germany-based AFRICOM, set up in 2008 to bring all US military activities in Africa under one unified command, rather than dividing responsibility between commanders in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

"We are focusing on building human capital," says Major General Charles Hooper, head of strategy and plans at AFRICOM. "The smaller missions can be some of the most effective when it comes to gaining trust."

In Angola, Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere, US engineers have helped train local counterparts in landmine clearance. In southern Africa, military medics have helped local armies tackle HIV infection while in Mauritania, the focus has been on veterinary aid to local ranchers.

US warships combating piracy off both East and West Africa are increasingly frequent visitors to local ports. One US aim is to convince African militaries their interests are best served by remaining democratically accountable and not interfering in politics.

Some operations, however, have hit just that problem. The hunt in Central African Republic for Ugandan warlord and head of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army Joseph Kony has largely been suspended following a March coup in CAR.

The anti-LRA mission had been the only one in Africa in which combat troops were deployed, involving just over 100 US special forces personnel. US forces continue to train Ugandan and other armies as part of that operation.

Critics in Africa complain Washington's approach to the continent has become increasingly militarised and focused on counterterrorism. Others worry US military clout may ultimately be used to seize resources. Administration officials disagree and point to Obama's visit as evidence of US intentions.

"This trip ultimately disproves the notion that we're somehow securitising the relationship with Africa," Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told a conference call last week. "This trip is expressly devoted to trade and investment, democratic institution-building, young people and unleashing economic growth through some of our development priority."

In general, US forces have only been able to operate when African governments - or sometimes France, which maintains a network of bases in former colonies - allow them to. Permission can be quickly withdrawn for political reasons. The United States still treads carefully in Somalia, the scene of a serious reverse in 1993 when militia fighters killed 18 Americans on a mission to capture a Somali warlord in support of a UN mission.

US officials say there are often one or two US liaison officers deployed inside Somalia helping African Union forces fight Islamist group al Shabaab - which is linked to al Qaeda - on behalf of Somalia's transitional government. Most of the US support for the African Union mission AMISOM remains outside the country, training forces in Kenya, Uganda and elsewhere.

It is a similar picture on the other side of the continent, where the US military is also acting primarily in support of local nations and France. The aftermath of the 2011 Libya war has seen a flood of weapons and militants across the Sahel, fueling the rise of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb which briefly captured much of northern Mali before a French offensive there earlier this year.

The US Air Force provided much of the transport for both African and French reinforcements in Mali, while US air tankers from RAF Mildenhall in England have flown long missions over the Sahara refuelling French combat jets. Some 100 US personnel deployed to Niger to set up a drone base. Unlike in East Africa, however, the drones will be unarmed and used only for reconnaissance to track Islamist militants like Boko Haram in Nigeria.

The US and African officials say Washington has long been reluctant to share its most sophisticated intelligence with African partners, in part over worries it might fall into the wrong hands. African officers say that if they are to be truly effective at fighting militants in their own countries and as part of broader Mali-type missions, they need to know as much as possible about rebel movements, locations and plans.

"The Americans are our friends - but often they are friends who are not frank," says former Senegalese army chief Mansour Seck, also an ex-ambassador to Washington. "They have a tendency to ask you what you have but will not tell you what they have."

West African Leaders Call for the Presence of Multinational Naval Force for Maritime Security

West African leaders seem to be waking up from slumber but as usual, almost powerless to walk out of bed alone without external supports. The leaders held maritime security summit in Cameroon due to the growing cases of piracy in the resource-rich Gulf of Guinea.

Member states of Economic Community of West African States and Economic Community of East African States took part in the summit held in Yaounde. The participating states signed a Memorandum of Agreement on joint prevention and repression of illegal activities in the gulf which will establish a concrete basis for the two regional blocs to share intelligence, conduct joint patrols and jointly repress piracy in their maritime domain.

The Memorandum of Agreement among ECOWAS, ECCAS and the Gulf of Guinea Commission on Maritime Safety and Security in West and Central Africa is the policy statements of the heads of state and government on maritime safety and security; as well as a Code of Conduct on the fight against piracy, armed robbery and illegal maritime activities.

President Alassane Ouattara of Cote D'Ivoire stated that a multinational naval force is needed to curb and stem the tide of the rising activities of pirates in the Gulf of Guinea which have overtaken that of the coast of Somalia. In 2012, 960 maritime personnels were abducted in the Gulf of Guinea compared to 861 off the Somali coast.

The Coming Invasion of Africa

The Real Invasion of Africa Is Not News, and a License To Lie Is Hollywood’s Gift

by John Pilger, February 01, 2013

A full-scale invasion of Africa is under way. The United States is deploying troops in 35 African countries, beginning with Libya, Sudan, Algeria and Niger. Reported by Associated Press on Christmas Day, this was missing from most Anglo-American media.

The invasion has almost nothing to do with "Islamism", and almost everything to do with the acquisition of resources, notably minerals, and an accelerating rivalry with China. Unlike China, the

US and its allies are prepared to use a degree of violence demonstrated in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Palestine. As in the cold war, a division of labour requires that western journalism and popular culture provide the cover of a holy war against a "menacing arc" of Islamic extremism, no different from the bogus "red menace" of a worldwide communist conspiracy.

Reminiscent of the Scramble for Africa in the late 19^th century, the US African Command (Africom) has built a network of supplicants among collaborative African regimes eager for American bribes and armaments. Last year, Africom staged Operation African Endeavor, with the armed forces of 34
African nations taking part, commanded by the US military.

Africom’s "soldier to soldier" doctrine embeds US officers at every level of command from general to warrant officer. Only pith helmets are missing.

It is as if Africa’s proud history of liberation, from Patrice Lumumba to Nelson Mandela, is consigned to oblivion by a new master’s black colonial elite whose "historic mission", warned Frantz Fanon half a century ago, is the promotion of "a capitalism rampant though camouflaged".

A striking example is the eastern Congo, a treasure trove of strategic minerals, controlled by an atrocious rebel group known as the M23 , which in turn is run by Uganda and Rwanda, the proxies of Washington.

Long planned as a "mission" for NATO, not to mention the ever-zealous French, whose colonial lost causes remain on permanent standby, the war on Africa became urgent in 2011 when the Arab world appeared to be liberating itself from the Mubaraks and other clients of Washington and Europe. The hysteria this caused in imperial capitals cannot be exaggerated.

NATO bombers were dispatched not to Tunis or Cairo but Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi ruled over Africa’s largest oil reserves. With the Libyan city of Sirte reduced to rubble, the British SAS directed the "rebel" militias in what has since been exposed as a racist bloodbath.

The indigenous people of the Sahara, the Tuareg, whose Berber fighters Gaddafi had protected, fled home across Algeria to Mali, where the Tuareg have been claiming a separate state since the 1960s.

As the ever watchful Patrick Cockburn points out, it is this local dispute, not al-Qaida, that the West fears most in northwest Africa …."poor though the Tuareg may be, they are often living on top of great reserves of oil, gas, uranium and other valuable minerals".

Almost certainly the consequence of a French/US attack on Mali on 13 January, a siege at a gas complex in Algeria ended bloodily, inspiring a 9/11 moment in David Cameron. The former Carlton TV PR man raged about a "global threat" requiring "decades" of western violence. He meant implantation of the west’s business plan for Africa, together with the rape of multi-ethnic Syria and the conquest of independent Iran.

Cameron has now ordered British troops to Mali, and sent an RAF drone, while his verbose military chief, General Sir David Richards, has addressed "a very clear message to jihadists worldwide: don’t dangle and tangle with us. We will deal with it robustly" – exactly what jihadists want to hear. The trail of blood of British army terror victims, all Muslims, their "systemic" torture cases currently heading to court, add necessary irony to the general’s words.

 I once experienced Sir David’s "robust" ways when I asked him if he had read the courageous Afghan feminist Malalai Joya’s description of the barbaric behaviour of westerners and their clients in her country. "You are an apologist for the Taliban" was his reply. (He later apologised).

These bleak comedians are straight out of Evelyn Waugh and allow us to feel the bracing breeze of history and hypocrisy. The "Islamic terrorism" that is their excuse for the enduring theft of Africa’s riches was all but invented by them.

There is no longer any excuse to swallow the BBC/CNN line and not know the truth. Read Mark Curtis’s Secret Affairs: Britain’s Collusion with Radical Islam (Serpent’s Tail) or John Cooley’s Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism (Pluto Press) or The Grand Chessboard by Zbigniew Brzezinski (HarperCollins) who was midwife to the birth of modern fundamentalist terror.

 In effect, the mujahedin of al-Qaida and the Taliban were created by the CIA, its Pakistani equivalent, the Inter-Services Intelligence, and Britain’s MI6.

Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Adviser, describes a secret presidential directive in 1979 that began what became the current "war on terror". For 17 years, the US deliberately cultivated, bank-rolled, armed and brainwashed jihadi extremists that "steeped a generation in violence". Code-named Operation Cyclone, this was the "great game" to bring down the Soviet Union but brought down the Twin Towers.

Since then, the news that intelligent, educated people both dispense and ingest has become a kind of Disney journalism, fortified, as ever, by Hollywood’s licence to lie, and lie.

There is the coming Dreamworks movie on WikiLeaks, a fabrication inspired by a book of perfidious title-tattle by two enriched Guardian journalists; and there is Zero Dark Thirty, which promotes torture and murder, directed by the Oscar-winning Kathryn Bigelow, the Leni Riefenstahl of our time, promoting her master’s voice as did the Fuhrer’s pet film-maker. Such is the one-way mirror through which we barely glimpse what power does in our name.

Piracy in Africa: The End of a New Beginning

Maritime insecurity in Africa, particularly in connection with acts of piracy, has constituted an important field of study for security researchers in recent years.

It has also frequently made local and global media headlines. Despite this trend, the focus in recent reports is starting to shift away from alarm towards detailing the diminishing threat of piracy around Somalia. Large-scale pirate activities there appear to be on the wane, but in what ways can we reasonably expect 2013 to be different from the past, in East Africa and elsewhere?

So far in 2013 the most notable event has been the increase in piracy incidents off the West African coast, particularly in the Gulf of Guinea. This continues the trend in 2012 noted by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) where, despite a sizeable drop in the number of attacks in East Africa from 237 in 2011 to 75 in 2012, a total of 58 incidents were recorded in attacks off the West African coast in 2012, compared to 49 in 2011.

Increased naval patrols and capacity and the adoption of lessons and practices suitable to passage through these sea lanes and areas can account for the drop in attacks and might prompt hopes that piracy will eventually pose an insignificant security threat.

However, the attacks off West Africa differ from East African incidents mainly due to one factor - violent criminal acts are now connected with the movement of oil. The most recent attack took place off Côte d'Ivoire on 21 January 2013 when a large oil tanker named ITRI was hijacked, also demonstrating that the problem is not geographically limited to the Gulf of Guinea.

Crews in such cases are often assaulted while illegal oil bunkering occurs - a practice whereby the ship is drained of oil, which is subsequently spirited back to shore and either sold or refined.

This could result in oil spills, particularly around the already ravaged Niger delta. Offshore oil platforms, often seen as a means of avoiding land-based political instability, are now potential targets and frequently beyond immediate aid. Terrorist attacks on vulnerable installations could also occur, further prompting increases in the number of operations in partnership with the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM).

Many of these acts will be reported as being criminal rather than piratical, as they do not all occur in international waters but rather within the sovereign borders of states, which are set at 12 nautical miles offshore, and are thus subject to countries' own laws and legal systems, rather than being subject to international law as is commonly the case off Somalia.

Meanwhile, that of Nigeria is gradually gathering international attention though it is still largely localised. If the menace is not check appropriately, West Africa might degenerate into another Somalia just as the Islamists are allowed fertile grounds.

Mali and the Return of Mass Unrest in Africa: Remembering Kwame Nkrumah

The various resurgent unrest in Africa in both Sudan and South Sudan, attempted coup in Eritrea, lack of peace in DR Congo, rebel movement in Central African Republic, Islamists in Mali, Somalia and Algeria, Boko Haram in Nigeria and in other numerous flash-points around the continent remind one of nothing than the exertions of Nkrumah towards building a formidable continent and his predictions just as accurate as they are happening now.

The Osagyefo (Kwame Nkrumah) in the independence era of Africa; 1960, worked tirelessly across Africa preaching the gospel of a united and unified Africa. He postulated that Africa is not yet fully independent till she can control her destiny economically. Nkrumah strive for an Africa with a global voice. His actions were hinged on the creation of a United States of Africa with a United African Government backed militarily by an African High Command.

The African High Command will be a standing and standby force responsible for checking any heinous, nefarious and nauseous activities of saboteurs and rebels. The African High command will be a readily available force to be deployed. The failure of ECOWAS to act fast in Mali, AU's obfuscating mission in Somalia and Sudan are cases that proved the neglected sagacity of Nkrumah right.

The rationale for this was emphasised. He stated that Africa shall be consumed by smaller wars due to the numerous arbitrary borders created by the departing Europeans. They succeeded in establishing a 'keg of destructive explosive missiles' meant to be detonated continuously to ensure and preserve Western agenda on the continent. Nigeria and Liberia were two countries that stood against the futuristic wisdom of Nkrumah cogently and they are reaping from the sabotage anyway.

The Osagyefo was accused of pursuing a programmme for personal benefits because Ghana seemed sound as at then having got independence earlier. One wonders what difference exists in getting independence three years earlier. The foundation he laid in Ghana in making the country a unified whole without tribal tones represents the pillar for Ghana's advancement today. Those countries who stood against a united Africa's mission are today in abject poverty and unrest.

Most African leaders abhor unity because of greed. The lack of trust they display all the time is to ensure nothing tampers with their greed and avarice. Their corrupt personal gains are above the continent's glory and advancement.

Is Yemen safer than Africa!!?

Africa has been turned into a continent of emigrants; either seeking greener pastures or running from wars and agonies. If Africans run abroad to Europe, the United States, China and other economically vibrant countries in Asia and the Middle East, everybody to a reasonable and good extent will understand. But when Africans run to Yemen, then something terrible is really wrong with the continent.

Yemen is notorious for al Qaeda activities and she is still grappling with fratricidal wars. A shocking and surprising report came out from the UN refugees' Commission that Africans are trooping into Yemen to escape wars and agonies. A fate they are going to meet in Yemen but it looks as if in all, Yemen is preferable to them.

Since 2006, the commission has never witnessed such an influx. The refugees are coming en masse despite the hazards in the maritime travel. The boats are over-packed which makes everything more precarious yet people are not debarred from the journey. Read More 

Africa and Africans need to wake up seriously before all these completely get out of hand. Africans risk becoming the major destroyers of their continent most especially through the greed of the leaders and the coming avarice of some followers likely to be leaders. This is evident in the various rebel movements and sectionalism.

France in Somalia and Mali

A second French soldier has died from gunshot wounds after an attempt to rescue a French agent, Somalia's al Shabaab rebel group said Monday. The spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab told Reuters that the group will display the bodies of the dead men.

French forces went into southern Somalia by helicopter on Saturday to try to free Denis Allex, held hostage since 2009. French President Francois Hollande said on Saturday the operation had failed despite the “sacrifice” of two soldiers. Musab claimed Allex was alive and his fate would be decided later.

David Cameron has reiterated that the United Kingdom will not drop boots on the ground in Mali. The UK has provided two C17 transport planes to aid the French effort. One is expected to leave France for Mali on Monday after having flown from the UK on Sunday. The aircraft is reported to have developed some mechanical faults.

The two missions have been surprises to France. Al Shabab proved to be very daring and dangerous. The fighting spirit, training, weapons and level of sophistication of the Ansar dine rebels in Mali is also alarming to France. France promised to leave Mali within weeks. The fear in West Africa should be the resultant effect it will have on insurgency in the region has Nigeria still battles Boko Haram.