September 23, 2021 – Page 10

September 23, 2021September 24, 2021

Somalia, AU Coordinate to Fight Against al-Shabab

The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Somalia’s National Army (SNA) launched a center this week to better coordinate their fight against al-Shabab militants, who have threatened to disrupt Somalia’s elections.
The Joint Operations Coordination Center at AMISOM Sector One headquarters in Mogadishu was officially launched Wednesday at a ceremony presided over by the army chief of defense forces, General Odowaa Yusuf Rageh, and the AMISOM deputy force commander in charge of operations and planning, Major General William Kitsao Shume.
There are currently more than 20,000 peacekeepers in the country, trying to keep Somalis secure from attacks by al-Shabab and Islamic State.
Rageh stressed the need for continuous collaboration between the army and AMISOM. He said he success of the center would depend on the relationship of the two headquarters “and how they coordinate in delegating work to the sectors, which then execute any such directives for a successful execution and implementation. I believe our long cooperation and experiences gained over the years will help us get the best out of this center so we can confront the challenges that are ahead.”
AMISOM’s Shume said the launch of the operations center, or JOCC, was an important step in the effort to establish fully operational centers across the country.
“This event marks a milestone in our endeavor to have all the JOCCs around the sectors fully functioning and operating,” he said. “I am happy to note that the JOCCs in all the other sectors are also already established. We will be jointly planning, coordinating and synchronizing current and future operations together. Therefore, we will be able to optimize the utilization of combat support and combat service support together as we plan for our operations.”
Security analyst Samira Ahmed of the Hiral Institute said creation of the centers was a step in the right direction.
She said there was a need for Somali armed forces and AU peacekeepers to closely work together during this transitional period following political tensions that have slowed the process.
Somalia’s indirect parliamentary and presidential elections have been delayed repeatedly this year by disputes over the process. In addition, al-Shabab has threatened electoral delegates who take part in the elections.
According to the Hiral Institute in Mogadishu, the militant group killed at least 29 people in August.

Source: Voice of America

September 23, 2021September 24, 2021

Hissene Habre’s Victims Inch Closer to Justice, Reparations

Former Chadian president Hissene Habre was ordered to pay tens of millions of dollars to victims of human rights abuses after his conviction by a special court in 2017. But by the time he died in August, Habre’s victims had still not received a dime.
The African Union-backed court tried Chad’s ex-ruler Hissene Habre in Senegal and found him guilty of crimes he committed in the 1980s — a first for the continent.
On September 15, a team of AU lawyers arrived in Chad to meet with victims’ advocates, lawyers and government officials, to begin the process of establishing a trust fund for Habre’s victims.
Habre oversaw the killing and torture of tens of thousands of people during his rule as Chad’s president from 1982 to 1990. When he was convicted, the African Union was ordered to raise about $150 million that would be allocated to more than 7,000 of Habre’s victims.
The money was supposed to come from Habre’s assets, as well as from outside contributions. But the victims still haven’t been paid.
Their plight gained renewed attention in August when Habre died just five years into his life sentence.
Jacqueline Moudeina is the lead counsel for Habre’s victims. She says the African Union has not made much progress. They have yet to furnish their headquarters and hire an executive secretary, among many other tasks.
“There’s still a lot left to do,” she says. “They waited four years; and they don’t know how many more years they’ll have to wait.” If it were up to her, they would have done it all in one week.
One important task is raising money. Maadjitonke Trahohgra, the director general of Chad’s Ministry of Justice, says the Chadian government will contribute money toward the trust fund, but he doesn’t know how much.
He says many of the victims have already passed away, but the fund will provide relief for those who survived.
Clement Abaifouta is one of the surviving victims tortured for four years during Habre’s rule. He witnessed the deaths of many fellow prisoners and in some cases, was forced to dig their graves.
Now 63, he serves as president of the Association of Victims of the Crimes of the Hissene Habre regime, an organization advocating for victims and their families.
He says now that the African Union has come to expedite the process, victims are satisfied and they hope the process will go faster than expected.
Experts from the African Union plan to return to Chad in the coming weeks to continue setting up the trust fund.

Source: Voice of America

September 23, 2021September 24, 2021

Cameroon: Rebels Use Smuggled Anti-Tank Rockets to Kill 28 People

Cameroon’s military says separatist fighters have, for the first time, used anti-tank rockets smuggled from Nigeria to attack army convoys.
The military reported rebel rocket attacks on a military convoy in the western village of Bammssing in the past week have killed at least 15 troops and 13 civilians, and destroyed several armored vehicles.
Cameroon Defense Minister Joseph Beti Assomo said Wednesday from a military base in Bamenda, an English-speaking western town, that President Paul Biya wants a change of military strategy in handling the separatist crisis.
Without providing details on strategic changes, Assomo said Biya wants his military to immediately stop the attacks on government troops by separatists equipped with increasingly sophisticated weapons. He added that military intelligence indicates fighters are benefiting from outside human and material support.
The military said rebels attacked government troops with anti-tank rockets four times this week in western villages, including Sabga.
Assomo said troops have been adequately equipped and deployed to separatist hot spots in English-speaking western regions, especially on the border with Nigeria, suspected to be the origin of the anti-tank rockets.
Issa Tchiroma Bakary, Cameroon’s minister of employment and vocational training, said English-speaking civilians should help government troops by reporting those suspected of smuggling separatist weapons from neighboring Nigeria.
“We need the support of our population,” he said. “Please, denounce them. Decry it [killing]. The kind of arms they [separatists] are using is an indication that there is a kind of support they [fighters] are receiving from abroad.”
In August, Cameroon and Nigeria said Cameroon separatists, called the Ambazonia Defense Forces, and Indigenous People of Biafra, a group that wants a breakaway state in southeast Nigeria, were partnering to create an alliance.
Prince Ekosso, president of the opposition United Socialist Democratic Party, said Biya should call for a cease-fire to spare the lives of troops, civilians and separatists.
“It is time to end the war [crisis],” he said. “Everybody in the [English-speaking western regions] is bleeding in his or her heart and the whole country is bleeding. It is not helping us, it will not help us.”
Separatists have congratulated fighters on social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp for using anti-tank rocket launchers to kill Cameroon troops. Videos circulating online appear to show separatist fighters asking for more anti-tank rocket launchers to fight the Cameroon military.
Cameroon has previously said that separatists use porous borders to import weapons through Nigeria.
Cameroonian and Nigerian authorities met in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, August 26 to 28 and agreed to jointly fight armed separatists in both countries. They also promised to stop arms trafficking in the two countries.

Source: Voice of America

September 23, 2021September 24, 2021

Somalia Court Convicts Foreigners for Membership in al-Shabab

A military court in Somalia has convicted two foreign extremists for fighting alongside terrorist group al-Shabab.

The court in Mogadishu sentenced Darren Anthony Byrnes from Britain and Ahmad Mustakim bin Abdul Hamid from Malaysia to 15 years in jail for being members of al-Shabab and entering the country illegally.

They are the first foreign extremists in Somalia to be convicted for al-Shabab membership, court officials said.

Prosecutors said Abdul Hamid and Byrnes came to Somalia to support al-Shabab and “destroy” and “shed blood.”

A lawyer for the two, Mohamed Warsame Mohamed, said the men denied being members of al-Shabab and claimed to have come to Somalia to visit relatives and friends.

He said he would file an appeal if Abdul Hamid and Byrnes chose to do so.

No witnesses supporting the Somali government’s case testified in court, Mohamed said. Instead, he said, the government relied on accounts by people who gave testimonies in absentia and an alleged confession of al-Shabab membership by the defendants.

Abdul Hamid and Byrnes admit they have been to areas controlled by al-Shabab, he said, but they deny becoming members of the militant group.

“In my opinion, relying on documents is insufficient to give them a 15-year jail term,” Mohamed told VOA Somali.

Abdul Hamid traveled from Yemen and entered the country in 2009. The court said he fought for al-Shabab in at least four clashes. He also allegedly offered the group first aid and health services.

Byrnes entered Somalia through Kenya in 2010 and allegedly worked with Bilal al-Berjawi, a known al-Shabab and al-Qaida operative from Britain who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2012 outside Mogadishu, according to court documents.

Byrnes had fought alongside al-Shabab in Mogadishu before the militants were dislodged from the capital in August 2011. At the time, Byrnes was also involved in an al-Shabab plot to attack France, the court said.

Authorities in Somalia’s Puntland region arrested the men in April 2019 as they tried to leave for Yemen on a boat, officials said.

Brigadier General Abdullahi Bule Kamay, the lead prosecutor of the case, said the men came to Somalia to kill people.

“One of them came from one of the developed countries in the world. … If he is spreading Islam, why did he not do that in the U.K.?” Kamay asked. “He came to Somalia to shed blood.”

Kamay described the Malaysian as an “aggressor” who came to Somalia to “destroy.”

Al-Shabab has several hundred foreign fighters from around the world, experts believe. Most of the foreign extremists are from East Africa, but some are from as far away as Britain, the United States and Asia. One of the group’s main commanders is Jehad Serwan Mostafa, the highest-ranking American jihadist fighting overseas.

Source: Voice of America

September 23, 2021September 24, 2021

UN Spotlights Need for Producing Healthy Food for All

Nearly half the planet cannot afford healthy food, the United Nations secretary-general warned at a food summit Thursday that seeks to improve global food production and access.
“Food is life. But in countries, communities and households in every corner of the world, this essential need — this human right — is going unfulfilled,” Antonio Guterres told the virtual Food Systems Summit on the sidelines of the General Assembly’s annual gathering.
Guterres noted that 3 billion people cannot afford nutritious food.
“Every day, hundreds of millions of people go to bed hungry. Children are starving,” he said.
While millions starve and famine is a reality in parts of Yemen and Ethiopia, nearly one-third of all food production is lost or wasted.
The summit, in the works for more than a year, aims to take a fresh look at every aspect of food production to make it more environmentally friendly, safe, nutritious and accessible. It is also part of advancing the U.N.’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, among which “zero hunger” is a top priority.
Pandemic increases challenge
“The COVID-19 pandemic has made this challenge much greater,” Guterres said. “It has deepened inequalities, decimated economies [and] plunged millions into extreme poverty.”
The virus was also on the minds of the leaders who addressed the General Assembly Thursday — particularly the African leaders, who made up a large portion of the day’s speakers. Many appeared by video message because of the pandemic.
“It is an indictment on humanity that more than 82% of the world’s vaccine doses have been acquired by wealthy countries, while less than 1% has gone to low-income countries,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a video address.
The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 4% of Africa’s population is fully vaccinated.
“The hoarding and inequitable distribution with the resultant uneven vaccination patterns across the globe is not acceptable,” Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said in a prerecorded message. “Vaccine nationalism is self-defeating and contrary to the mantra that ‘no one is safe until everyone is safe.’ Whether in the global North or South, rich or poor, old or young, all people of the world deserve access to vaccines.”
There was also concern about the trend toward coups in Africa. In the past year, military coups have taken place in Chad, Mali and Guinea. Sudan’s military said it put down an attempted coup there just this week. And in Tunisia, some argue that President Kais Saied essentially pulled off a coup, invoking emergency powers, firing the prime minister and suspending the parliament to consolidate his authority.
Angolan President João Gonçalves Lourenço said there has not been sufficient reaction from the international community to discourage these coups from happening.
“We consider it necessary that the international community act with resolve and does not simply issue statements of condemnation in order to force those actors to return power to the legitimately established institutions,” he told the gathering. “We cannot continue to allow recent examples, such as those of Guinea and others, to succeed in Africa and other continents.”
In the Middle East, Iraqi President Barham Salih expressed concern about terrorism in his country and the wider region.
“We cannot understate the danger posed by terrorism. If we become lax and distracted by regional conflicts, we will simply see the return of obscurantist forces that will threaten our people and our security,” he warned. “Cooperation and solidarity are our only choice in our fight against international terrorism and the groups that support it.”
Other speakers Thursday included Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
Reconciliation
Meanwhile, the opportunities provided this week for intensive diplomacy helped ease a rare rift in U.S.-Franco relations.
French officials were outraged by a security pact made between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States (AUKUS) earlier this month. Under the arrangement, Australia will receive at least eight nuclear-powered submarines, to be built in Australia using American technology. The agreement came as Australia pulled out of an earlier deal for French submarines worth tens of billions of dollars.
A phone meeting between Presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday and an in-person meeting Thursday between their top diplomats on the margins of the General Assembly in New York appear to have gone a long way to calming Paris and rebuilding confidence.

Source: Voice of America