Live 8 then rolled on to Johannesburg. That show, plus one featuring African artists in southwestern England, were organized following criticism that African artists had been left out of an event aimed at their own continent.
“Africans are involved in helping Africa, which doesn’t happen too often,” Cameroonian singer Coco Mbassi said before the England show. “We’re presenting a different image of Africa.”
Near Paris, an eclectic lineup including Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and Goth-rockers The Cure played to a crowd of 100,000 at the 17th-century Palace of Versailles. Faith Hill and Duran Duran joined Italian stars in Rome for a concert at the ancient Circus Maximus, which was packed with about 200,000 fans.
German crowd-pleasers Die Toten Hosen kicked off Berlin’s show — which attracted about 150,000 people — with a string of power anthems while reminding revelers that helping Africa stood above the music.
“This is no rock concert, it’s a reminder about next Wednesday,” singer Campino told the crowds, referring to the G-8 meeting.
Canadian favorite Tom Cochrane started that country’s concert with “Life is a Highway” before 35,000 roaring fans on a crisp sunny morning in Barrie, Ontario. And in Moscow, where 20 years ago residents heard little or nothing about Live Aid because of tight Soviet information controls, tens of thousands jammed a square in the shadows of the Kremlin.
Jo Hale / Getty Images
Madonna performed several of her hits at the Hyde Park show.
In London, Madonna performed “Like a Prayer” hand-in-hand with Birham Woldu, an Ethiopian woman who as a malnourished toddler appeared in some of the most wrenching footage of the 1984-85 famine. Her life was saved, Geldof said, partly through donations from Live Aid viewers.
As night fell, Sting performed “Every Breath You Take” as a message to the G-8 leaders — “We’ll be watching you,” he sang. The Who belted out their classic “Who Are You?” to a backdrop of images of the G8 chiefs.
And the crowd went wild for the reunion of ’70s supergroup Pink Floyd — the first time guitarist David Gilmour, drummer Nick Mason, keyboard player Richard Wright and bassist Roger Waters appeared onstage together since 1981.
London concertgoer Tula Contostavlos, 19, said she was there to see Mariah Carey — and to send a political message.
“Obviously some people are here for just music,” she said, “but they’re forgetting what’s important and what they’re here for.”
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Glittering towers in a war zoneDec 7th 2006 EL-FASHER, JUBA AND KHARTOUM
From The Economist print edition
Oil could break or make Africa's largest country. But at the moment there is more breaking than making
Eyevine
AT THE confluence of the White Nile and the Blue Nile in Khartoum lies Africa's largest commercial construction site. Across 1,500 acres, at a place called Alsunut, Sudanese and Chinese workmen are working in shifts around the clock to build a new Dubai: a vast complex of gleaming offices, duplexes and golf courses that will turn Khartoum, it is hoped, into the commercial and financial hub of Islamist east Africa.
The first tower of this $4 billion development, due to be finished by next October, will be the headquarters of the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company. Close behind, in a building shaped like a sail, will rise the headquarters of Petrodar. Both these companies—Chinese, Malaysian, Indian and Sudanese joint ventures—are pumping out Sudan's oil, most of which is being bought by China.
A Sudanese company, DAL Group, is investing about $700m in the infrastructure for the project, but the buildings themselves are being put up by their new owners, a Who's Who of the oil-producing Arab world and oil-consuming Asia. All the Gulf states are buying plots. Khartoum is not only awash in its own oil money, but is also mopping up some of the surplus petrodollars of the Middle East. The Kuwaitis, the Malaysians and the Chinese are well represented. A Pakistani group is adding a snazzy 350-room hotel.
And that is just on one side of the White Nile. Opposite Alsunut, on the Omdurman side, Saudi and Kuwaiti investors have bought a large plot of land on which they intend to build a huge financial centre. And all this is taking shape in a country which is still subject to comprehensive economic sanctions, imposed by America, for giving shelter and support to terrorists—including, at one time, Osama bin Laden.
Sudan is now one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa. The IMF expects its GDP to grow by 13% this year, and the investors in Alsunut seem confident the boom will go on. Having found itself isolated in the 1990s for its Islamist extremism and terrorism, Sudan has found a way back into international esteem without the West, by re-inventing itself as the new entrepôt state of east Africa.
But this, of course, is not the whole story. Behind the fast-rising glittering towers lies a region that has been ignored: Sudan's south, where 80% of the oil lies. After 1956, when the country gained independence, the south, which is Christian and animist, was in an almost permanent state of rebellion against the Muslim Arab north, demanding a bigger share of the national wealth and a greater degree of self-rule. This region, which holds the key to the development of Sudan, also holds the key to its peace in future; not only in the south, but also in the war-ravaged western region of Darfur.
Taking grenades to school
Under intense American pressure, a comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) was signed between the north and the south in 2005. Under the CPA the political arm of the main rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), is now part of the national government in Khartoum; Salva Kiir, the SPLM leader, is both vice-president of Sudan and president of the official new government of South Sudan. This is an interim arrangement; in 2011, southerners are meant to decide whether they want to stay as part of Sudan, or found their own independent state.
Southern Sudan remains a tense, chaotic place in which memories of fighting have not faded. In Juba, the capital of the putative state of South Sudan, Mr Venisto (he will give no first name), wonders what to do about boys who bring hand grenades to his primary school. His “boys” range in age from six to 25; some bring guns, others turn up drunk. They have known little else in their lives but bush warfare. Like everyone in Juba, Mr Venisto has to survive on his wits rather than money, trying to instruct more than 2,980 pupils with just 51 teachers, all of them new to the job. With as many as 150 in each class, the tents that serve as classrooms are ripped and shredded as the pupils tumble out of them. Mr Venisto insists on a full morning of classes, as breaks quickly degenerate into all-out fighting.
The new government of South Sudan, composed of former commanders of the Sudan People's Liberation Army, is trying to enrol 750,000 new pupils this year, out of a population of 12m. If they succeed, still only about 30% of school-age children will be at school. But it is progress of sorts, and at least the south is in a state of relative peace. At the moment, the best guess is that a huge majority of southerners will vote for their own state when they get the chance.
Their own state would mean their own oil industry. Riek Machar, South Sudan's vice-president, eagerly outlines a plan for a refinery just east of Juba and pipelines through Congo to the Atlantic and Kenya to the Indian Ocean. The construction companies, he says, have already been chosen for the pipelines and the finance is nearly in place; the fact that the Kenya pipeline is supposed to reach the sea at Lamu, a World Heritage site, does not worry him. (“They're just tourists.”)
Mr Machar's plans, combined with the election schedule, mean that the northern government may have only five years to extract as much oil from the south as it can before it loses control. And this deadline puts the peace in jeopardy. The aggressive search for, and extraction of, oil by north-sponsored companies is not only messing up the environment but also inflaming tensions with the southern government. And it is provoking a dangerous backlash.
Cows, oil and poisoning
The dangers can be seen all too clearly in remote villages like Longuchuk, near the oil-rich Sudd marshes of Upper Nile state. Two years ago, Chinese oil workers arrived there. They were escorted by armed men in T-shirts, whom locals later identified as Sudanese soldiers. They stayed for six months, sank four wells and cleared access roads, all without talking to the villagers or asking their permission. A pool of slimy water beside one of the capped wells shows where the surplus oil was dumped. A hundred cows, the villagers say, died from drinking that water. When the oilmen came back last April, the local people—furious that they had got neither jobs from the project, nor compensation for their losses—refused to let them in.
Diane de Guzman, a specialist on oil in Sudan for the United Nations, argues that the rape of Longuchuk is part of a pattern across the oil zones of the south. Villagers are displaced by militias to allow exploration, the land is despoiled, cattle die within hours of drinking contaminated water. Under the terms of the CPA, the southern government is meant to be consulted about these oil missions; but it is not, and almost no compensation has been paid.
The southern government has just begun to fight back; it recently impounded two oil-company helicopters that were carrying out unauthorised seismic tests. Individual villages and militias have also begun to mount their own attacks on oil workers and installations. The past few weeks alone have brought reports of seven oil workers killed around the village of Paloich and an attack, by a group from another village, on a convoy of 21 oil tankers. More worrying for the northern government is the news that rebel groups from elsewhere are joining in. On November 27th, for the first time, one such band ventured out of terrorised Darfur to attack a refinery at Abu Jabra in North Kordofan state. This is not yet an insurgency against oil companies of the type that has been seen in Nigeria, but the first signs are there.
The northern grip
Oil is at the heart of other critical disagreements between the north and the south. The CPA requires the proper delineation of the north-south border; but the north has rejected the rulings of a border commission in the oil-rich Abyei region, fearing that too much land will go to the south. This has delayed the whole process of marking out the border. At present, the southern government is said to be getting half of the net oil revenues from the southern oilfields, as they are entitled to under the peace agreement. But it is the north that provides the statement of the net amount. Southern politicians say they are not allowed to examine the books to see whether they are getting their fair share.
Most disappointing of all, little progress has been made towards demobilising the scores of militias that roamed the south during the war. These militias, constantly shifting their alliances, were sometimes used as proxy fighters for the northern government. The Sudanese army has pulled back from most of its bases in the southernmost states, but only as far as the oilfields. There the north also keeps up to 60,000 of the more Islamist Popular Defence Forces, which it can deploy whenever it likes.
The danger of having so many armed militias still wandering about was dramatically illustrated last week in the town of Malakal. In the biggest breach of the 2005 ceasefire so far, the SPLM engaged in several days of fighting with both a militia group and the regular (northern) Sudanese army. Hundreds died. Previous weeks had seen about 20 attacks on the main road from Juba into Kenya, leaving more than 100 dead. Having caught 15 of the attackers, the SPLM identified them as members of a militia directed by the Sudanese army. Pa'gan Amum, the secretary-general of the SPLM, called this “an act of war” and an attempt to “terrorise and destabilise” the south.
In such an atmosphere of distrust, it is not surprising that the southern government is rapidly converting its old guerrilla force into a proper army. In the latest budget, over 40% of the precious oil money, South Sudan's only source of income, has been earmarked for military expenditure. If the north is spoiling for a fight over the oilfields and southern secession, then the south wants to make sure it is ready.
Next year 1m refugees are expected to return to the south, and a census is planned for November to pave the way for elections in the whole of Sudan in 2008. Failure could see the south reverting to chronic instability, or even to war again. Peace was achieved in the south only when America, the European Union and regional African countries bullied the north into making the necessary deals. Now that pressure has been relaxed.
The Darfur distraction
The reason is obvious. American and European attention has become focused on a much more unhappy province, Darfur in the west. Since rebel groups there started their own military campaign against the Islamist north, in 2003, the northern government has been trying to expel or kill the African pastoral tribes, even though most of them are Muslim. Appalling acts of barbarity have displaced over 2m people and killed about 300,000 more. The disaster in Darfur, and in particular the West's endless wrangling with Khartoum over whether or not to get a UN force into the region, is sapping the outside backing that is essential for securing the north-south peace accord.
The conflict in Darfur continues unabated. Indeed, despite the comings (and goings) of ceasefires and peace talks, the fighting today is as intense, and the human toll as dreadful, as ever. The north's campaign there, however, appears increasingly futile. In the past month the Sudanese army has suffered two considerable defeats in Darfur, one at Umm Sidir and the other at Karyare; there, the rebels killed about 100 government soldiers and took 200 prisoner.
Even the government's strongholds do not appear secure. This week the UN evacuated most of its staff from el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, after fighting broke out in the market with rebel fighters; there had been rumours of an imminent attack on the town by a coalition of rebel groups. The northern army seems demoralised and ineffective, which is one reason why it has reverted to using the fearsome janjaweed Arab militias as its proxies, in combination with high-level bombing, to terrorise and subdue the locals. But the army's defeats may not lead to meaningful peace deals; so many different rebel groups now infest Darfur that striking any sort of agreement with them all has become dauntingly difficult.
Chris Czerwinski, head of the World Food Programme (WFP) in el-Fasher, says that the recent fighting has created another 20,000 refugees to add to the hundreds of thousands already in the area. In the couple of months since the breakdown of a peace deal signed in May between one of the rebel groups and the government, many places have become too dangerous for aid workers.
Between June and September, 13 local staff members of NGOs were killed in attacks on vehicle convoys in North Darfur. As a result, NGOs are now withdrawing staff from permanent postings servicing the refugee camps in some of the more remote areas. In a recent attack the janjaweed pillaged four WFP stores, taking about 1,000 tonnes of food destined for refugees. The fighting in Darfur has also spilled over into the Central African Republic and Chad; there, Sudanese-backed militias are attempting to overthrow President Idriss Déby's regime, creating more refugees on the border between the two countries.
Under the CPA, elections throughout Sudan (including for the presidency and the national assembly) have to be held not later than the summer of 2009. These may provide a way out of the current impasse in the south and the west. Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, thinks that their problems have been overblown anyway, especially in the case of Darfur, which he presents as a distant and unimportant province. The Western media, he says, exaggerates it all. In Khartoum, at least, he has a sympathetic audience, for 70% of all the foreign money pouring into Sudan—according to the minister of investment—is flowing into Khartoum state, the heart of the regime, binding people there all the more closely to the ruling National Congress Party.
Yet Mr Bashir's oppressive government is not popular outside Khartoum. Indeed, it is hard to see how it could win a majority in national elections. The economy may be booming, but it is also displaying all the classic symptoms of an overheating petro-economy, with a rapidly appreciating currency, rising prices and creeping corruption, both in the northern and southern governments. Not many Sudanese have a real stake in the current oil boom, and elections might just sufficiently reshape the political landscape to alleviate the pressures from the centre on the long-suffering peoples of Darfur and the south. Perhaps the most urgent task facing everyone involved in Sudan is to hold the CPA together to ensure that those elections take place.
Timid stakeholders
On paper, a properly united Sudan seems well worth aiming for: an oil-rich but underdeveloped south complementing an educated, commercial north with few natural resources. But the northern government still feels no obligation either to share its wealth with poorer peripheral provinces, or to behave well towards them. What is more, too many countries now have a large financial stake in Sudan. Their wish to be nice to the regime in Khartoum means they have no interest in forcing it to mend its ways, by, for instance, imposing further sanctions over Darfur. The Chinese would never agree; but there has been little help from the Arab League either, or from India and Malaysia. They are more focused on the German pile-drivers laying the foundations of the towers of Alsunut—and on the oil concessions.
Alsunut is not the only huge construction site in Khartoum. About 15km (9 miles) across the city the largest American embassy in Africa is going up, which will supposedly house the biggest CIA listening post outside America. It reflects the spooks' cosy relationship with the Sudanese intelligence services in the name of the “war on terror”. When it comes to that particular war, and the lure of oil, old enmities—and the old hopes of peace in Sudan—can rapidly be forgotten.
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War, SMS and Arsenal
http://www.economist.com/theworldin/middleeastafrica/displayStory.cfm?story_id=8131199&d=2007Jonathan Ledgard NAIROBI
From The World in 2007 print edition
Two steps forward, one step back in east Africa
For east Africa, 2007 will be a year of war, technology and globalisation. It will be the fighting that grabs the headlines, of course, obscuring progress on other fronts.
Many of the headlines will come from Somalia, where Islamists will continue to hold the balance of power, with explosive results. The Islamists took control of Mogadishu and central Somalia in 2006, helped by America’s decision to back hated warlords in the name of limiting terror. The Islamist grouping is broad, including radicals trained in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. America believes the Islamists are sheltering al-Qaeda operatives responsible for the 1998 terrorist attacks in Kenya and Tanzania. Aid workers prefer to emphasise that schools and hospitals have improved under Islamist control.
Moderate Islamists outnumber the radicals, but it is the radicals who control the militias and a growing stockpile of weapons. Somalia’s feeble un-backed transitional government will stagger on into 2007, with Ethiopia its biggest supporter. Ethiopia will try to use the African Union (based in Addis Ababa) to send a force of peacekeepers into Somalia, including Ugandan and Sudanese troops. This will provoke the Islamists, who strongly oppose any foreign presence in Somalia.
Internet-capable mobile phones will be revolutionary, at least for those who can read and have the money to buy data bundles
Ethiopia has legitimate security worries. Radical Islamists want to establish an austere Islamic emirate taking in parts of Ethiopia and Kenya. Some have been implicated in terrorist attacks in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia worries that the Islamists will strengthen homegrown rebel movements, including the Oromo Liberation Front and the Ogaden National Liberation Front.
The result will be a war that will threaten the stability of Ethiopia. It will not resemble the 1977 Ogaden war, when Somalia came in with conventional forces. The Islamists have no tanks or air power. Instead, they will rely on guerrilla tactics and terrorist operations.
Mobile economicsAway from the fireworks, there will be better news. Technology will make inroads in east Africa, offering a chance for decrepit economies to get a little better. Cheaper solar panels will make a difference in rural areas. Electricity generators run on human waste will light up city slums, extending the working day and deterring crime.
Getty Images
The biggest impact will come from mobile phones. Despite the philanthropic efforts of Microsoft and others, computers have failed to penetrate much beyond the urban middle class in east Africa. Laptops are targeted by thieves, desktops are stymied by power cuts and a lack of broadband access. But mobile-phone operators are bullish. Except in restrictive Ethiopia and Eritrea, the market has taken off in the region, and 2007 will see the first high-speed internet access through mobiles. Some companies, such as South Africa’s Breakdesign, a developer of software for phones, predict that mobiles will become east Africa’s primary portal to the internet. Smart mobiles will finally push landline telephone monopolies to become more competitive.
Internet-capable mobile phones will be revolutionary, at least for those who can read and have the money to buy data bundles. The humble SMS will have an even greater effect on east Africa in 2007. Innovative uses of SMS will allow people to move money by text message; to receive information on, say, maize prices, along with tips on planting; and to receive medical advice, a particular benefit to those living with tuberculosis or AIDS.
Joining the global gameSuch media services offered on mobile phones underline a tectonic shift. Ever so slowly, from Khartoum to Maputo, east Africa is joining the global village.
Symbolic of this is the addiction to English Premier League football. Even Somali Islamists sometimes have a picture of Thierry Henry, a player for Arsenal, on the wall alongside a framed quote from the Koran. Arsenal, a London club, is a phenomenon across the region. Attendance at local football matches has collapsed as access to satellite sports channels has increased. The hope is that east Africa’s addiction to Arsenal and other foreign clubs may presage a more worldly and open economy.
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Sudan 'agrees to UN force'http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/575E6596-66C8-4DE0-A8A6-257AD349C57B.htmThe UN estimates that fighting in Darfur has displaced more than 2.5 million people
The United Nations has said that Sudan has agreed to allow a small number of UN troops to support a struggling African Union force in Darfur.
Sudan will allow a small UN observer force of 105 soldiers and police to be stationed in Darfur to work with AU troops, an AU-UN statement said on Wednesday.
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But it remains unclear if Khartoum had agreed to a larger joint UN-AU peacekeeping force in Darfur, an area of western Sudan where 200,000 have been killed in the last four years.
Most international observers say that pro-government forces have carried out most of the violence there.
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An estimated 2.5 million Darfuris have also been driven from their homes by militias armed and backed by the Sudanese government.
Weeks of discussions
Sudan's agreement paves the way for 38 UN observers to deploy by the end of the year and the rest of the 105 during January, Wednesday's statement said.
"We have agreed on three phases of support from the United Nations to the African Union ... financial, technical and personnel"
Ali al-Sadigforeign ministry spokesman
"It was agreed that UN military and police officers will wear their national uniforms with a blue UN beret. In addition, they will wear an AU armband," the joint UN-AU statement said.
The UN will also provide $21 million to the African Union, including computers, communications equipment and water tankers.
"We have agreed on three phases of support from the United Nations to the African Union ... financial, technical and personnel," Sudanese foreign ministry spokesman Ali al-Sadig told a news conference in Khartoum.
Asked if there was agreement on a joint force, three government ministers at the news conference said: "No."
Al-Sadig said there was agreement on "a joint operation", making it clear any UN personnel in Darfur would be working on computers or advising rather than peace enforcing soldiers.
Sudanese hesitation
Sudan's government had previously refused to allow any UN forces in Darfur.
In a letter made public on Tuesday, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, told the UN he endorsed the joint AU-UN force, but said he wanted a veto over its implementation.
Despite an AU-mediated peace deal in May, violence has escalated in Darfur after rebel factions who reject the deal renewed hostilities with the government in June.
Lacking equipment, logistical experience and funds, the AU has failed to stem the clashes and its operations have been severely restricted by attacks on its personnel.
Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in Darfur in early 2003, accusing central government of marginalising the remote region on the border with Chad.
To quell the revolt, Khartoum armed militia, who now stand accused of a campaign of rape, murder and pillage that Washington calls genocide.
Khartoum denies genocide, but the International Criminal Court is investigating alleged war crimes in the region.
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Seven killed in Darfur clasheshttp://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/42613293-353A-463A-BE1D-61BF67F0D360.htmPeacekeepers have been too thin on the ground tobe effective against the violence [AP]
Fighting between Darfur rebels and government forces near the northern town of Kutum has killed seven people.
On Sunday, fighters said they shot down two army helicopters in the area plagued by violence.
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Despite a peace deal in May, violence has increased in Sudan's remote west after rebels who rejected the accord formed a military alliance and renewed hostilities with the government.
Amnesty International said this month that 85,000 civilians have been unlawfully killed in fighting in Darfur.
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Your ViewsAmnesty Internationalsaid this month that 85,000 civilianshave been unlawfully killed in fighting in Darfur.Send your viewsJar el-Neby, a Darfur rebel commander, told Reuters via satellite telephone: "The government troops and Janjawid militia attacked our positions and then attacked a village, killing five men and ... two women."
He said the government and their allied militia, known locally as Janjawid, attacked rebel positions near Kutum three days ago and the village of el-Goba, about 16km east of Kutum town on Friday.
Heavy clashes
In a separate statement, Esam el-Din Hajj, a Darfur rebel official, said his fighters had shot down two army helicopters during the clashes.
An army spokesman confirmed heavy fighting with the National Redemption Front (NRF), but denied that the attack on the village or that any aircraft had been shot down.
He said: "We did not use any helicopters or planes during the clashes so of course they could not shoot them down.
"Four soldiers were killed and around 20 to 25 injured."
Revolt
He also said that the rebels had attacked an army position in Shag al-Nakharah near Kutum.
He said the NRF had lost many troops and vehicles and eventually retreated.
Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003, accusing central government of marginalising the arid west.
World leaders say Khartoum armed militias to quell the revolt. Those militias stand accused of a campaign of rape, murder and pillage dubbed genocide by Washington.
Khartoum denies genocide but the International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating alleged war crimes in the region.
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Ethiopian tanks move southhttp://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C3B6C066-0AD2-4E66-BF20-AA0700714CE9.htmCrowds cheered Gedi's arrival inMogadishu [AFP]
Ethiopian tanks have driven south from Mogadishu to attack fighters of the Islamic courts movement whose leader reportedly urged them to make a stand in Kismayu, a port city in Somalia.
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Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys apparently made the call during Friday prayers at a mosque, a day after armed units of his Somalia Islamic Courts Council fled the capital in the face of government troops backed by Ethiopian armour.
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Ali Mohamed Gedi, the Somali prime minister, entered Mogadishu on Friday after a 10-day land and air offensive by Ethiopia in support of his weak interim government.
Your Views"The Islamic Courts used fear and force to take over Mogadishu and other areas"
Mack Rogers, Chattanooga, TN, US
Send us your viewsGedi said that the fight for political survival had been won, but Islamic courts leaders promised resistance.
Gedi also called on the Islamic courts fighters to enter into a dialogue. At the same time he warned of serious reprisals if the fighters followed through on threats to launch a guerrilla campaign.
Ethiopian fighter jets were seen over Kismayu and the nearby town of Jilib on Friday and Saturday, the military expert said.
A Somali government soldier said Islamic courts fighters - accused by Addis Ababa and Washington of being backed by al-Qaeda - had sown the road from Mogadishu with mines as they pulled back.
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The War for the Horn of Africa
Ethiopian troops are closing in on Somalia's capital in a proxy battle in the war between the West and Islamist extremistsBy
ALEX PERRY/CAPE TOWNSUBSCRIBE TO TIMEPRINTE-MAILMORE BY AUTHORSomalia:
Terror's PlaygroundFlashback:
Anatomy of a DisasterPosted Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2006In a lightning advance, Ethiopian troops have fought Somalia's Islamist militias to within 50 miles of the Somali capital Mogadishu and declared they are preparing for a final attack on the city. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said 1,000 people have been killed and 3,000 wounded. The United Nations says 35,000 refugees have crossed into Kenya to escape the fighting and has suspended aid to 2 million Somalis. It has warned of a bloodbath should Ethiopia try to occupy the capital, and humanitarian agencies have called for a ceasefire. But the U.S. has signaled its tacit support for the offensive, and while it is not providing overt military support, it has long trained Ethiopian troops and is likely to be passing them intelligence and aerial surveillance. Other Western and African nations — including the African Union — have either backed Ethiopia or kept silent. The reason? The fighting is about more than control of an obscure part of eastern Africa.
For much of the time since the overthrow of President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, Mogadishu and much of Somalia has been ruled by clan-based warlords who laid waste the country and turned Mogadishu into an anarchic, continuous battlefield. More than 100,000 people died in the fighting in 1991-92, and when the U.N. launched a massive relief operation in April 1992, the U.S. was drawn into the conflict — at first guarding the relief, then delivering it, then attacking the warlords that were stealing it. In October 1993, in events depicted in the film Black Hawk Down, Somali militiamen shot down a Blackhawk helicopter over Mogadishu and 18 U.S. servicemen were killed in the crash and subsequent rescue attempt. After gruesome scenes of the bodies of some American servicemen being stripped and paraded through the streets of the city were flashed around the world, the U.S. withdrew from Somalia by March 1994.
With that background, the world — and the U.S. in particular — was never going to forget Somalia easily. As the only officially Christian country in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia has long been wary of Somalia's Islamic militias, which it describes as a "regional menace." (While it is officially Christian, Ethiopia has a population that is about half Muslim.) It shares that anti-Islamist position with the U.S., particularly since August 1998 when simultaneous suicide bombings destroyed the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, killing more than 200 people. The ringleaders were tracked to Somalia, and an Islamist attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya in November 2002 was also said to have been planned by the same group.
Ethiopia and the U.S. — whose close relationship has long included U.S. training for Ethiopian troops inside Ethiopia — back a transitional Somali government formed in October 2004 after talks between warlords and civilian leaders. Until now, that government has won international recognition, but never exercised real power and has been confined to the small southern Somali town of Baidoa. Both the U.S. and Ethiopia have backed the warlords as well. The exact nature of those relations have never been made public, but an indication of their value to the U.S. came in March 2003, when warlord Mohammed Dhere captured one of the suspects in the east Africa bombings and handed him over to the U.S.
The U.S. support for the corrupt, violent and self-serving warlords alienated many Somalis — and some analysts argue actually strengthened the popularity of the Islamists, enabling Somalia's top Islamic body, the Council of Islamic Courts, to take over Mogadishu and expel the warlords in June. The arrival of Islamist rule in Mogadishu, and the initial imposition of law and order that accompanied it, was widely welcomed on the war-torn streets of the capital. As Ethiopian troops advanced toward them, thousands of supporters of the Courts were reported to have staged rallies in Mogadishu. The Islamists are are also backed by Eritrea, the predominantly Muslim nation on the Red Sea coast that has been a historic enemy of Ethiopia. Eritrea has sent more than 2,000 troops to support the Council of Islamic Courts, according to the U.N.
Somalia's fate is attracting international attention because of its link to the war against terror. After dismissing comparisons to the Taliban when they took over the Somali capital this summer, the Islamic Courts promptly set about emulating them. Clerics threatened death to those who did not pray five times a day and enforced strict dress codes while Courts leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys declared holy war on Ethiopia, whose eastern parts he claimed belonged to a greater Somalia, along with northeastern Kenya and Djibouti, home to a U.S. base. As TIME reported earlier this year
As TIME reported earlier this year, the Courts also sent fighters to Lebanon in the summer to help Hizbollah fight Israel, and in return received weapons from Syria and Iran. The Courts even won backing from Osama bin Laden, who urged foreign jihadis to flock to Somalia to open up a third front in the war against America — a call the U.N. reported had been answered by hundreds of Pakistanis, Yemenis, Syrians, Libyans and Chechens.
Sheikh Hassan has now called on all Islamist forces to fall back to Mogadishu and prepare for a long war against the invaders. Whether that materializes remains to be seen. But what is certain is that the strife-torn Horn is more divided today than ever — and is increasingly the arena for an international war between the forces of radical Islam, and the West and its allies.
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A Dark Deja Vu in SomaliaAnalysis: The war between Islamist rebels and neighboring Ethiopia recalls an era when the agendas driving Africa's conflicts were never exclusively local, even if most of the victims wereBy
TONY KARONThe War:
Ethopian Troops Close InPosted Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2006To many Africans old enough to remember the Cold War, the bloody conflict currently unfolding in Somalia will be awfully familiar. Back before the Berlin Wall fell, localized power struggles all over the continent often turned into full-scale regional wars when the protagonists cast themselves, or were cast — however improbably — as torch-bearers for Washington or Moscow. Such association would bring boundless diplomatic and financial support, not to mention boatloads of weapons and other military assistance, enabling local strongmen to wage self-serving wars for years on end. There's no Cold War any longer, of course, but in the case of Somalia, the "Global War on Terror" may be having a similar effect.
The U.S. has backed Ethiopia's military intervention on behalf of the beleaguered and unpopular — but internationally recognized — Somali government, in what looks set to be a protracted war that could draw in most of Somalia's neighbors. Washington's reason for supporting the offensive, rather than calling for an end to hostilities, is that the enemies of the Ethiopians and the Somali government are an Islamist movement viewed by the U.S. as in cahoots with al-Qaeda.
But the "war on terror" prism conceals the complexity of a conflict based on clan, political and regional rivalries that, in some cases, date back to the 1960s. And regional analysts fear that the tension will be exacerbated rather than resolved by the responses of outside players.
While the U.S. and Ethiopia have backed the Somali government and the warlords that operate under its umbrella on the banner of fighting al-Qaeda, the Islamists have allegedly rallied financial and military support from such quarters as Saudi Arabia, Libya, Syria and Iran by painting themselves as victims of an Islamophobic Western conspiracy. And Osama bin Laden certainly helped Ethiopia and the Somali government make their case for U.S. support when, in October, he warned Western governments to stay out of Somalia.
Ethiopia is not simply acting as Washington's regional policeman, however. It has a long-running border dispute with Somalia that led to two years of open warfare in the late 1970s, and it sees the nationalist inclination of the Islamists — and their vow to take control of the Ogaden desert from Ethiopia — as an immediate threat to its own interests. (The Islamists actually back secessionist insurgents in that region.) Given Ethiopia's intervention on behalf of the government, it comes as no surprise that Addis Ababa's fiercest foe, neighboring Eritrea, is supporting and arming the Somali Islamists.
For all the involvement of outside players, however, the Somali conflict remains a domestic power struggle at heart. It pits the Transitional Federal Government, a product of years of painstaking horse-trading among rival clan warlords, against the Council of Islamic Courts, a loose Islamist alliance strongly nationalist in character — which has vowed to break the power of the warlords and unite all of Somalia under Sharia law (although it happens to be led by clan rivals of the dominant clan in the government camp).
Like the Taliban in Afghanistan in the early 1990s, the Islamists' displacement of hated warlords in southern and central Somalia was largely welcomed by the population. However, the strictures they have imposed on the population in the name of a fiercely conservative interpretation of Islam have also generated resentment. But the regional and international context of Somalia is quite different from that of Afghanistan a decade ago: The Islamists cannot prevail as long as Ethiopia is willing to lend the beleaguered government its military muscle — well-armed and trained by U.S. advisers, in contrast to the ragtag and mostly teenage light infantry of the Islamists.
But it is equally unlikely that Ethiopian military power will subdue the Islamist challenge inside Somalia. Indeed, the government's reliance on forces of the old enemy is unlikely to endear it to the Somali citizenry. Although Ethiopia promises to withdraw its forces within days, they had been active in Somalia for months before their presence was officially acknowledged, and a speedy withdrawal would leave a vacuum that the Islamists would once again fill. Yet having effectively repelled an Islamist advance on Baidoa, the Ethiopians risk losing much of their tactical advantage if they tried to capture Islamist strongholds, particularly the capital. Their goal, instead, according to Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, is to weaken the Islamists militarily in order to force them to negotiate with the government from a weaker position. But the fierce fighting last weekend and the passions stoked by open Ethiopian intervention may militate against any new compromise.
Instead, the escalating war will likely ensure that Somalia remains a failed state for the foreseeable future, a battleground not only for local clan and political rivalries but also for regional and international strategic "great games." There are unlikely to be any clear winners anytime soon, but the losers almost certainly will be the Somali people, who after more than 16 years of war, warlordism and famine, can only look forward to more of the same.
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Islamists abandon Somali capitalhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6213499.stmEthiopian-backed government troops are close to MogadishuIslamist fighters have left the Somali capital as government forces backed by Ethiopian troops advance on the city.
As they withdrew, gunfire was heard and armed supporters of the city's warlords began taking control of key facilities.
Some residents say lawlessness has returned to Mogadishu - which had been under Islamic rule for six months.
Ethiopia began a large-scale offensive at the weekend to back Somalia's interim government, capturing ground previously held by Islamist militias.
A senior Islamist leader, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, told al-Jazeera television his forces had left Mogadishu "to avert heavy bombing because Ethiopian forces are practising genocide against the Somali people".
The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says clan militiamen appeared as soon as the news of the withdrawal emerged early on Thursday, and UIC offices have been looted.
We have taken over the two control points on the main roads outside the city
Abdirahman DinariSomali government spokesman
Conflict in pictures Violence alarms pressUS keeps a close watchResidents in the north of the city have reported cars and mobile phones being stolen.
Rising insecurity has forced most businesses to stop trading.
The situation seems to be descending back into anarchy, our correspondent adds.
Observers say the UIC's departure leaves a power vacuum in Mogadishu, raising fears of a return to clan warfare that has plagued the city and Somalia for 16 years.
Last stronghold
Government forces are reported to be near Afgoye, 20km (12 miles) west of Mogadishu, cutting off the capital to the north and west.
Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said the army would enter Mogadishu in the "coming hours".
Militias allied to the government have taken control of key installations, including the airport, AFP news agency reports.
Islamic fighters are said to have fled towards the port city of Kismayo, their last remaining stronghold, 300 miles (500km) to the south.
But a senior UIC official Omar Idris said the retreat was "not the end".
He told the BBC's World Today radio programme: "We know what happened in Iraq... I think this is very, very early to say that the Islamic Court forces were defeated."
At the weekend Ethiopia began a major offensive to support the weak government against the UIC - which previously held much of central and southern Somalia.
The conflict has killed hundreds of people. The head of the International Red Cross Somalia delegation said it was "extremely concerned about civilians caught up in the fighting".
Troubled history
The African Union has called for Ethiopian forces to leave Somalia.
However the UN Security Council has failed to agree on a statement calling for the withdrawal of all foreign forces.
HAVE YOUR SAY
What the Ethiopian government doesn't understand is that it is making a continual enemy to Ethiopians at large
Tsegaye Girma, Addis Ababa
Send us your commentsA special adviser to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Bereket Simon, declined to specify when his country's troops would leave.
"It all depends on how we find the extremist groups whether they are trying to reorganise," he said
The UIC has its roots in the north of the capital Mogadishu.
Courts administering Islamic law restored order in a city bedevilled by anarchy since the overthrow of former President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
The UIC assumed control of the whole capital in June, driving warlords out and rapidly extending their influence to much of southern Somalia - with the exception of Baidoa, the seat of the transitional Somali government.
That body, set up in 2004 after talks between Somali factions, has been unable to meet in the capital because of opposition first from warlords, then from the UIC.
UIC leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys is accused by both Ethiopia and the US of having links to al-Qaeda - charges he denies.
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African Union tested over Somaliahttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6209583.stmBy Martin Plaut BBC Africa analyst
The African Union (AU) has backed Ethiopia's military involvement in the growing crisis in Somalia.
In a BBC interview, senior AU official Patrick Mazimhaka conceded that the union had failed to act in time.
Aid agencies have warned of the civilian cost of fightingAfrican leaders have seldom been known for their decisive intervention in the affairs of other African states so it was something of a surprise to hear an African Union spokesman coming out quite so decisively in favour of Somalia's transitional government.
In one sense the decision is entirely logical. The Somali government, which was formed two years ago after months of bitter wrangling among Somali factions, was the 14th attempt to establish a new government for the country.
President Abdullahi Yusuf was recognised not just by the African Union, but also by the United Nations.
But he had a narrow following among Somalis, an appeal that was further eroded when he immediately turned to Ethiopia - Somalia's traditional enemy - for 20,000 troops to bolster his administration.
Ethiopia's tough task The regional African grouping was badly split on the issue. Ethiopia wanted forces sent to assist the new government. Eritrea was vociferously opposed.
The United Nations pondered its options, more concerned by the problems of Iraq and Darfur.
Finally this month, the UN Security Council came down in favour of sending African troops to Somalia to support the transitional government.
Uganda, which had previously offered a battalion, decided against.
Sudan has been mentioned, as has South Africa. But so far there are no firm plans for providing the 8,000-strong peacekeeping force envisaged by the African Union.
Later this week the African Union hopes to get together with the Arab League and the regional grouping - Igad - to try to chart a way forward.
In the meantime, Ethiopia, now with the blessing of the African Union and the covert support of the United States, is fighting the war in Somalia that others shied away from.
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Somalian government forces head into final showdown with Islamic militiaElizabeth A. Kennedy, Canadian Press
Published: Saturday, December 30, 2006
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Thousands of Somalian and Ethiopian troops closed in Saturday on the last remaining stronghold of a militant Islamic movement in southern Somalia, as the prime minister called for talks to avoid further bloodshed.
Some 3,000 Muslim militiamen have taken a stand in the port city of Kismayo, wedged between the Kenyan border and the Indian Ocean, and the U.S. government believes they may include four suspects in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
The Islamic movement's leader, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, pledged to continue its fight despite losing capital and other key towns in recent days. "I want to tell you that the Islamic courts are still alive and ready to fight against the enemy of Allah," he told residents in Kismayo.
The military advance on Kismayo marks the latest move in a stunning turnaround for Somalia's government, which just weeks ago could barely control one town, its base of Baidoa in the west. Since Ethiopia's dramatic entry into the war last week, however, government troops have retaken the capital, Mogadishu, and pushed the Islamists from much of the territory they held for six months.
The Somalian and Ethiopian troops, riding in 16 Ethiopian tanks and armoured vehicles, were positioned about 120 kilometres north of Kismayo on Saturday. A trickle of Somalis began to leave the city in anticipation of an attack.
"We are going to advance from different directions to try and encircle the city and force the Islamic group to retreat and so minimize the loss of civilians," government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari told The Associated Press.
Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi called for talks with the Islamic courts movement, but said the government was ready to fight if necessary.
"We are calling on the Somali representatives of the Islamic courts for dialogue and to join us," Gedi said on the outskirts of the capital, where he was meeting with local clan elders to smooth the handover of the city. But he added: "If the remnants of the terrorists try to attack, yes of course bloodshed will take place."
On Friday, Gedi had ruled out immediate talks, even after key Islamic officials travelled to Kenya for possible peace negotiations.
"We cannot talk peace after all this bloodshed," he told The Associated Press at the time.
The conflict in Somalia has drawn the attention of the United States, which is eager to capture suspected al-Qaida terrorists in the Horn of Africa.
The U.S. navy's Fifth Fleet has a maritime task force patrolling international waters off the Somali coast. Gedi said his government was in daily contact with the Americans.
The U.S. government, which says four suspects in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania have become leaders in the Islamic movement, has a counterterrorism task force based in neighbouring Djibouti and has been training Kenyan and Ethiopian forces to protect their borders.
Somalia's President Abdullahi Yusuf said Saturday, meanwhile, that the government was continuing its plans to move to the Somalian capital. He also pledged to bring more troops to help secure the region, while Gedi also said he expects to disarm militias in the city within three weeks.
Many in overwhelmingly Muslim Somalia are skeptical of the government's reliance on neighbouring Ethiopia, a traditional rival with a large Christian population and one of Africa's largest armies. Ethiopia and Somalia fought a bloody war in 1977.
In Mogadishu, protesters in some neighbourhoods denounced the government on Saturday, while about 300 people held a rally in another area in support of the troops. Many were holding signs and chanting, "We support the government."
Before the Islamists established control, Mogadishu had been ruled by competing clans who came together to support the Islamic fighters. Now, some fear the clans could return to fighting one another and may reject the government's authority. Somalia's complex clan politics have been the undoing of at least 14 attempts to install a government in this violent, anarchic country.
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Somalia: Who supports who?http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5092586.stmThe Islamist group that has controlled much of Somalia for the last six months has abandoned the capital after an Ethiopian-backed government offensive. But there are fears that the hostilities could still engulf the region in conflict. So where does each side get its money, weapons and moral support?
TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT
The transitional government is formally supported by the African Union, the United Nations and the regional grouping, the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (Igad).
Mr Yusuf's government has been based in Baidoa, not Mogadishu
But its strongest support comes from Ethiopia, where Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is determined not to see an Islamic state established on his borders.
Somalia's interim President Abdullahi Yusuf has always had close ties with Ethiopia.
His first foreign visit after taking office in 2004 was to Addis Ababa, and it was reported that he wanted a 20,000-strong mainly Ethiopian force to strengthen his government, which has been based in Baidoa, not the capital, Mogadishu.
The Somali parliament in Baidoa approved the deployment of foreign forces inside Somalia, a move strenuously resisted by the Islamists in Mogadishu.
For months, Ethiopia denied claims that it had troops in Somalia, only admitting to having military trainers there working with government forces.
But in late December Ethiopia launched a large-scale offensive taking territory captured by the Islamists over the last six months.
Ethiopia says it has no plans to stay in Somalia in the long term.
Apart from the support President Yusuf's government has received from Ethiopia, there are a number of reports of Yemeni planes arriving in Baidoa, bringing arms and ammunition.
A group of Europeans and Australians has been arrested in Yemen, accused of breaking a United Nations arms embargo on Somalia.
The Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) also accuses Kenya, where the transitional government was formed after years of discussions, of being biased in favour of the government.
THE UNION OF ISLAMIC COURTS
During the six months that the Union of Islamic Courts ruled Mogadishu, it brought order to the capital.
The Union of Islamic Courts has brought order to Mogadishu
Finances for the courts are reportedly being provided by rich individuals in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States.
The government also says that Islamist radicals from around the world have gone to help the UIC.
This is strongly denied by the Islamic courts.
There have also been reports that Eritrea - which has a long-running border dispute with Ethiopia - has been supplying arms to the Islamists.
A leaked UN report says that 2,000 "fully equipped" Eritrean troops are working with the UIC.
This is denied by the authorities in Asmara.
The chairman of the Union of Islamic Courts, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, wrote to the UN, the European Union and the United States, calling for the establishment of friendly relations with the international community, based on mutual respect.
In a four-page letter he denied giving sanctuary to Islamic extremists, or groups loyal to al-Qaeda.
But another key UIC leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, is on a US list of individuals linked to terror groups.
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
The African Union has called for Ethiopian forces to leave Somalia following their offensive, however the UN Security Council has failed to agree on a statement calling for the withdrawal of all foreign forces.
Earlier in December, the Security Council passed a unanimous resolution to provide an 8,000-strong African peacekeeping force to protect the weak government.
This follows the establishment of the International Contact Group on Somalia by diplomats in June, which had the support of the US, Britain, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Tanzania and the EU.
The African Union, Arab League and Kenya participated as observers.
The Contact Group was formed after the collapse of the previous US strategy, which was to back the warlords who had controlled Mogadishu for many years.
The US was represented by Jendayi Frazer, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.
She has claimed that radical forces have sidelined more moderate forces in the Union of Islamic Courts.
"The top layer of the courts are extremists to the core, they are terrorists and they are creating this logic of war," she said in December.
Earlier she had said the union needed to be aware that the status of terrorists was a "core interest" of the US.
Meanwhile, the contact group had called for talks between the interim government and the UIC
But three rounds of peace talks in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, organised by the Arab League were inconclusive.
At one stage, the rivals had agreed a ceasefire but the Islamists continued to gain ground and both sides swapped fiery rhetoric.
The government no longer trusts the Arab League to mediate and the final round broke up without agreement in November.
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US wary of Somali 'terror' linksBy Martin Plaut BBC Africa analyst
Somali government soldiers have advanced with Ethiopian backingThe United States has closely followed the gains made by Somali government forces, supported by Ethiopian armour and troops, against Islamist militiamen.
Washington is determined to prevent the spread of fundamentalist Islam to Africa and has been deeply concerned by the rise of the Union of Islamic Courts.
The US has seen the fight against terrorism as its highest priority in Africa ever since 7 August 1998, when two car bombs exploded outside the American embassies in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the explosions, which killed more than 250 people and left 4,000 wounded.
Since then US officials say they have found links between key supporters of the UIC, and the attacks on the US embassies.
'Threat'
"We continue to be concerned about the state of security in the sub-region in eastern Horn of Africa; the threat that in some ways Somalia poses in terms of criminality and arms coming out of there, as well as the issue of terrorists' safe haven," the US Secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, said while visiting Kenya earlier this year.
The UIC leadership has denied links to al-Qaeda, but there is evidence to suggest that some supporters of the UIC were indeed connected to the embassy attacks.
The US developed a strategy to tackle the Islamists. First Washington supported the warlords who controlled the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
But in June the militia of the Islamic Courts drove out the warlords, who are believed to have escaped to an American ship waiting offshore.
Since then the US has given diplomatic backing to the Somali transitional government at the United Nations, pressing for an African peacekeeping force to be sent to strengthen its position.
The Americans have worked closely with Ethiopia, using troops based in neighbouring Djibouti.
There is no suggestion that American forces are involved in the current Ethiopian offensive in Somalia, but Washington has satellite images and intelligence information that would be extremely useful to Addis Ababa as it attempts to crack the Islamic Court's hold on Somalia.
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Rwanda genocide accused remandedhttp://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AAB0C9EF-4B97-41A8-A25F-FA6EFF63F150.htmA British court has remanded four Rwandan men accused of taking part in the 1994 genocide of minority Tutsis.
The men, in their 40s and 50s, appeared in a Westminster magistrates’ court on Friday after they were arrested in raids conducted in various parts of Britain.
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Vincent Bajinya, Charles Munyaneza, Celestin Ugirashebuja and Emmanuel Nteziryayo all face the same charges that between January 1, 1994 and December 12, 1994 they murdered, plotted to murder and aided the murder of Tutsis intending to eradicate them all.
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Over 800,000 Tutsis were massacred by majority Hutus in one of Africa's worst racial conflicts.
At a hearing at a Westminster magistrates’ court, Nteziryayo was remanded in custody until January 5. Bajinya, Munyaneza and Ugirashebuja were remanded until a further court appearance on January 26, a Crown Prosecution Service spokeswoman said.
Prosecutors alleged that Munyaneza, 48, Ugirashebuja, 53 and Nteziryayo, 44, had been local mayors with sweeping powers in their areas while Bajinya, 45, was accused of having been a militia coordinator in the capital Kigali.
All four men deny the accusations against them. Under an agreement between Britain and Rwanda, revealed in court for the first time on Friday, the men would not be given the death penalty if they were convicted.
The massacre took place in the spring of 1994 as gangs of machete-wielding Hutus roamed the country slaughtering not only ethnic Tutsis but also moderate members of their own race while the outside world simply stood by.
Rwanda began holding trials 10 years ago in connection with the genocide.
Earlier this month a United Nations court trying leaders of the genocide sentenced a former Catholic priest to 15 years in jail for ordering bulldozers to flatten a church in which 2,000 Tutsis were taking refuge.
Father Athanese Seromba had denied the charges. He was the 27th person to be convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
The process took on a new twist last month when a French anti-terrorism judge called for Paul Kagame, the Rwandan president, to stand trial for the shooting down of a plane carrying then President Juvenal Habyarimana that triggered the genocide.
Kigali has ridiculed the accusations, cut diplomatic ties and accused France of trying to cover what it says is its own guilt over the massacre.
"We are heading to Jilib in a convoy of 15 Ethiopian tanks," Ahmednur Yasin told Reuters by telephone. "There are more forces heading to Buale and I am sure the fighting will start soon."
A Somali government source said: "All the terrorists are in Jilib and Kismayu."
Militia leaders
One Islamic courts fighter, who asked not to be named, said: "We will fight the Ethiopian invaders. The jihad will not stop."
Parliament was expected to vote on Saturday to declare three months of martial law aimed at disarming thousands of men loyal to various clan chiefs and local militia leaders blamed for years of anarchy.
Gedi's government depends almost entirely on Addis Ababa for its military muscle, analysts say, and it was far from clear how it would maintain security without Ethiopian troops.
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Congo gets new prime ministerhttp://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BFC37812-3FB4-410E-B1F1-9C436DDB7DE2.htmGizenga had been widely expected to become the prime minister [AFP]
Joseph Kabila, the newly-elected president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has named Antoine Gizenga, the 81-year-old opposition veteran, as the country's new prime minister.
Kabila announced the decision through a presidential decree read on state television on Saturday.
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The nomination of Gizenga, leader of the Socialist-leaning Unified Lumumbist Party (PALU), has been widely expected since Kabila was sworn in on December 6 as the country's first democratically elected president in more than 40 years.
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Gizenga, who came third in the first round of a presidential election in July, signed an agreement with Kabila's political coalition ahead of an October runoff, promising his support in exchange for a guarantee that the post of prime minister would go to a member of his party.
"PALU is extremely pleased," Godefroid Mayobo, Gizenga's spokesman, told Reuters shortly after the announcement.
"We have finally come back to where we were when we were pushed aside."
Gizenga served as deputy to Patrice Lumumba, Congo's first prime minister, who was assassinated in early 1961 months after the vast, mineral-rich country spanning central Africa achieved independence from Belgium the previous year.
He later headed a rebel government of Lumumba's supporters in Kisangani in the country's northeast, following a coup led by Mobutu Sese Seko.
First arrested, then driven into exile for nearly three decades, Gizenga has not had an official government post since 1960.
Until the 2006 elections, his PALU party had never held a parliamentary seat, having refused to take part in a series of undemocratic elections in Mobutu's dictatorship, during which the country's politics was largely reduced to kleptocracy.
The UN-backed elections were meant to draw a line under a 1998-2003 war and resulting humanitarian crisis that killed an estimated four million Congolese, mostly from starvation and disease. However, militia violence continues in eastern areas.
Joseph Kabila came to power as the world's youngest head of state following the murder of his father Laurent in 2001.
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Rebels end Nigeria oilfield siegeshttp://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6D7EEBE3-D4C8-40AE-B384-CCB445D025DA.htmNigerian oil industry spokesmen say two different armed groups have lifted sieges of two oilfield stations in the country, releasing more than 20 local workers.
About 18 staff members at Agip's Tebidaba oilfield in Bayelsa state were released on Tuesday after five days in captivity.
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On the same day, five workers at Shell's nearby Nun River facility were freed after a 12-day siege.
A Shell spokesman said on Thursday that the company had begun to resume production of 14,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the facility.
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The chief executive of Agip, a unit of Eni, the Italian oil giant, visited Olusegun Obasanjo, the Nigerian president, on Wednesday to discuss the crisis.
The company's spokesmen said it was unclear what led to the lifting of the two oilfield sieges on Tuesday, but that talks with the attackers were led by the state government and involved elders from nearby villages.
Escalation expected
Industry executives expect violence to escalate in the run-up to Nigeria's general elections in April as local politicians fight turf wars for access to elected office and a share of the government's oil revenue.
Four foreign oil workers - three Italians and one Lebanese - are still being held hostage by a different armed group after an attack on Agip's Brass River export terminal on December 7.
The captors, from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), have demanded money, jobs and infrastructure for their communities in the remote region of mangrove-lined creeks and swamp in southern Nigeria.
Mend says it has spurned ransom offers and wants the Nigerian government to release two jailed leaders from the region.
It has threatened to keep the men for six months.
Weekly occurrence
Kidnappings and attacks on oil facilities have become an almost weekly occurrence in the world's eighth-largest exporter.
Western oil companies recently evacuated hundreds of dependants of expatriate staff after two car bombings by Mend at oil company compounds in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers state in the Niger Delta.
Senior industry executives say the rising tide of violence could force them to withdraw from some areas completely.
Shell has already shut down its entire oil operation in the western side of the delta after a series of attacks in February which cut Nigeria's oil output by a fifth.
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Nigeria governor sacking reversedhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6215057.stmA court in the south-eastern Nigerian state of Anambra has reversed a controversial impeachment of the state governor, Peter Obi.
He was impeached in November for gross misconduct and replaced by his deputy.
The state assembly's speaker said some of the 23 members who had apparently voted to impeach Mr Obi later denied being present when the vote took place.
This is the third sacking this year of a governor that has been declared illegal by Nigeria's courts.
Last week, Anambra's chief judge and three other senior judges were suspended over their alleged roles in these sackings.
Some say the recent impeachments are part of a fight against corruption.
But critics say it is often more about rival politicians trying to take charge of the states so they can control the elections due early next year.
Power struggles
A spokesman for Mr Obi told the BBC that Anambra High Court judge Nri Ezedi had ruled the impeachment was null and void.
His deputy, Virginia Etiaba, had become Nigeria's first female governor after the impeachment decision last month.
Both Mrs Etiaba and Mr Obi, from the opposition All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), only occupied their posts in March this year.
They took power after a court ruled that Mr Obi's predecessor had rigged the election in 2003.
Chris Ngige, from the governing People's Democratic Party, had been Anambra's governor for three years, but had fallen out with senior party figures soon after the election.
He said it was because he refused to loot public money to pay them back for their support.
Since Mr Obi took office in March, he has been locked in a power struggle with one of the president's closest aides, Andy Uba, who wants to win the governorship in next year's elections.
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Population in Nigeria tops 140mhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6217719.stmNigeria's oil wealth is distributed according to the populationThe provisional results of Nigeria's first census in 15 years show that Africa's most populous nation has a population of more than 140m.
The National Population Commission said this was an increase of 63% since 1991.
The headcount is sensitive, as funding and political representation for Nigeria's states depend on the results.
Previous results have been mired in controversy and allegations of fraud, but March's census left out questions on religion and ethnicity.
The government was concerned that such information would trigger ethnic riots.
Surprise
The National Population Commission (NPC) chairman said this time he felt there would be no problems.
FACTS AND FIGURES
Total: 140m
Men: 71.7m
Women: 68.3m
Thumbs up?Counting controversy"I don't expect any controversy because we have done a transparent and credible census. We have done it as honestly as we can, using the most scientific methods of census taking," Sumaila Makama told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
The BBC's Mannir Dan Ali in the capital, Abuja, says the big surprise in the results so far is that Nigeria has three million more men than women.
The last census put Nigeria's population at about 88.5m.
"I am not alarmed about the total figure because it is still within the range of what we are planning," President Olusegun Obasanjo said.
Wait
Our correspondent says most Nigerians are more interested in finding out the regional and local spread of the population - figures that have not been revealed yet.
The census questionnaire was two pages long
The higher a state's population the more money it gets from the federal government.
Allocation of some government posts is also supposed to reflect different regions' populations.
But Nigerians must wait until the president, state governors and former heads of states have met to consider and agree to these figures.
Many people had wanted to find out how many Christians and Muslims there are in Nigeria, our reporter says.
But that aspect was left out of the census questionnaire.
Past censuses have generated so much controversy that many of them have been officially discarded, leaving Nigeria to use estimates for planning purposes.
The counting operation in March was a logistical challenge for the NPC.
It used digital processing of the forms, and satellite positioning to identify the areas to be counted.
Other questions included in the census were:
Education background
Occupation
Income
Size of house
Type of water supply
Toilet facilities
Type of fuel used
Access to radio, television, telephone
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Zimbabwe in talks on China loanhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6202447.stmCritics say President Robert Mugabe has ruined Zimbabwe's economyZimbabwe is preparing to open talks with China for a $2bn (£1.1bn) loan, in a bid to boost its crumbling economy.
Much of the money would be used to fight Zimbabwe's soaring inflation, the state-run Herald newspaper reported.
China has been looking to extend its influence in Africa and recently hosted a summit of African leaders.
Zimbabwe has been struggling to cope with economic collapse brought about, critics say, by the policies of President Robert Mugabe.
The southern African country - previously one of the continent's most developed economies - has seen inflation leap above 1,000%, while food and fuel shortages are rife.
The International Monetary Fund warned earlier this week that Zimbabwe's dire economic situation could get worse.
Economic myth
If agreed, the Chinese loan would be the biggest foreign loan secured by President Mugabe's government.
"China's government is ready to negotiate with the government for a $2bn loan facility to fight inflation and other aspects of the economy," Zimbabwe's ambassador to China, Chris Mutsvangwa, said.
He said China's assistance to Zimbabwe would "dispel the myth" that the country's economic problems were beyond redemption.
China had appointed an official to open talks with Zimbabwe's finance minister and central bank governor, the Herald reported.
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Madagascar confirms poll resulthttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6206351.stmMarc Ravalomanana was re-elected with a substantial majorityMadagascar's constitutional court has confirmed the victory of incumbent President Marc Ravalomanana in the 3 December election.
Mr Ravalomanana gained 54.8% of the vote in the first round of the poll, securing a second five-year term.
His rivals had lodged complaints with the court about the vote but election observers said the poll was fair.
Mr Ravalomanana, a former dairy magnate, said he felt "optimistic" about the island nation's future.
"I am very happy," Mr Ravalomanana told Agence France Presse.
"This confirms our confidence with Madagascans and the international community."
The court took an additional two weeks to confirm the result due to the time taken to collect the ballot boxes from the furthest regions of the island, some 1,600km (1,000 miles) long.
Mr Ravalomanana is expected to be formally sworn in within the first half of January.
In 2001, the island nation was pushed to the brink of civil war after the then-incumbent Didier Ratsiraka refused to accept defeat.
Roland Ratsiraka, nephew of the former president, gained 10.14% of the vote, coming third after former parliamentary speaker Jean Lahiniriko, who gained 11.65%.
In mid-December authorities said they had arrested an army general wanted over a coup attempt last month.
The officer, known as General Fidy, took control of a military base in November and called on the army to remove President Marc Ravalomanana.
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S Africa is losing its way - Tutuhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5384310.stmTutu has long spoken out against injustices in South AfricaNobel Prize winner Desmond Tutu has warned that South Africa is in danger of losing its moral direction.
He said it had failed to sustain the idealism that ended apartheid and warned of growing ethnic divisions.
Referring to South Africa's high murder rate and the rape of children as young as nine months, he said the African reverence for life had been lost.
The retired Anglican archbishop opposes ex-Vice President Jacob Zuma becoming president due to his "moral failings".
Mr Zuma's presidential aspirations received a major boost earlier this month after corruption charges were dropped against him. He was acquitted earlier this year on a rape charge.
Respect
Archbishop Tutu said the country had achieved a remarkable degree of stability in 12 years of democracy despite problems poverty, Aids, corruption and crime.
HAVE YOUR SAY
There is a very low sense of moral self esteem in South Africa today. It is really shameful
David Amana, Cape Town
Send us your commentsSouth Africa's deepening malaiseBut delivering the Steve Biko memorial lecture at University of Cape Town, he questioned why a respect for the law, environment and even life, were missing in South Africa.
"What has happened to us? It seems as if we have perverted our freedom, our rights into licence, into being irresponsible. Rights go hand in hand with responsibility, with dignity, with respect for oneself and for the other.
"The fact of the matter is we still depressingly do not respect one another. I have often said black consciousness did not finish the work it set out to do," he said.
Zuma's comments on HIV during his rape trial shocked Aids activists
He said government officials often acted like former officials during the apartheid era - treating people rudely.
He said South Africa should oppose xenophobia and act sensitively when place names were being changed rather than appearing to gloat and ride roughshod over the feelings of others.
He also made a plea for people to pick up litter, to care for their own environments and for their fellow citizens.
"Perhaps we did not realise just how apartheid has damaged us so that we seem to have lost our sense of right and wrong, so that when we go on strike as is our right to do, we are not appalled that some of us can chuck people out of moving trains because they did not join the strike, or why is it common practice now to trash, to go on the rampage?
He said that South Africa remained a wonderful country that had produced outstanding people - such as Steve Biko, the anti-apartheid leader who died in police custody in 1977.
"The best memorial to Steve Biko would be a South Africa where everyone respects themselves, has a positive self image filled with a proper self esteem and holds others in high regard."
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South Africa's 2010 Cup challengehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5141582.stmMoney from the World Cup would be welcomed by township dwellersA ceremony is being held in Germany to officially hand over the World Cup to South Africa, which in 2010 will become the first African country to host the championship. The BBC's Mohammed Allie looks at what needs to be done.
South Africa's 2010 football World Cup is set to be the most commercially successful since the first tournament was held 76 years ago.
The event has already attracted more marketing and television attention than the 2006 event, according to Fifa President Sepp Blatter.
"The market trusts Africa," Mr Blatter says.
2010 budget
5bn rand for stadiums
3.5bn rand other capital investment
5.2bn rand for upgrading airports
3.5bn rand for better roads and railways
(7 rand = $1) "The contracts we have already signed for 2010 are higher than the contracts for 2006 in Germany by about 25%."
Agreements with five strategic partners for 2010 are valued at more than 1bn Swiss francs (about $821 million). This dwarfs the 850m francs ($700m) worth of deals done for the German World Cup.
Companies have to fork out around $125m to be one of the six worldwide partners involved with the 2010 World Cup.
In addition there will also be eight World Cup sponsors and four to six national sponsors. Entry level sponsorship is likely to be around $40m.
Confidence
Being entrusted by Fifa to host its flagship event is indeed a massive vote of confidence in the infrastructure and organisational capacity of South Africa, more so since it will be the first time the event will be held on African soil.
Events in recent months have, however, given the sceptics ample ammunition as South Africa's state of readiness comes under the microscope. The scepticism surfaced after potential shortcomings were exposed in the space of a few weeks earlier this year.
This is an artists impression of the upgraded soccer city stadium in JohannesburgFirst, there were a series of unannounced cuts to Cape Town's electricity supply.
Next, there was a report to Parliament's Communications Portfolio Committee which revealed that the country's 30-year old broadcast infrastructure was not ready to cope with the needs of the World Cup.
Sentech Chief Executive Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane says a multibillion dollar investment in digital broadcasting transmission is needed to properly serve a worldwide television audience.
Sentech, the state-owned national broadcasting signal distributor, is due for an upgrade which will allay fears about the broadcasting capacity while Eskom, the national electricity supplier, has already started plans to upgrade its capacity.
Stadium row
Transport is an ongoing headache: South Africa's cities rely on privately-owned minibus taxis, and long-anticipated plans to upgrade the fleet are only now starting to get under away.
In this children's world cup in South Africa, Germany lost to CubaThe Gautrain, an ambitious rail project aimed at easing traffic congestion in the Johannesburg-Pretoria area, will only be partly completed by 2010. It will take tourists from the airport as far as the suburb of Sandton, but will go nowhere near any of the stadiums.
In Cape Town, a proposed new 67,000-seat stadium, earmarked to host a semi-final match, has also got off to a faltering start.
The city's new Mayor, Helen Zille, from the opposition Democratic Alliance, has questioned where the more than 1bn rand (about $160m) will come from to finance the construction of the stadium.
Ms Zille does not want the stadium to sideline more pressing needs like housing, sanitation and other essential services for the city's poor.
Even the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), allied to the ANC, supported the mayor's stance, saying the needs of the poor should come before an expensive football stadium.
Ms Zille's fears on funding the stadium seem to have been allayed following a meeting with government officials and the Local Organising Committee (LOC), but there are still questions over the site of Cape Town's stadium.
The designated area, which is magnificently located with Robben Island and Table Mountain on either side, will displace a 130-year-old golf course. This proposal has met with stiff opposition from local residents and members of the golf club.
Still, most of the five new stadiums to be constructed in Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Polokwane and Nelspruit are due to begin by November and are expected to be ready for trial runs at the 2009 Confederations Cup which features the champions of all six Fifa Confederations together with the World Champions and the host nation.
Upgrades
The other more established venues require minor upgrades which will commence at a later stage. "Many of the stadiums already have world class facilities and only require technical upgrades. The alterations at established venues such as Ellis Park, Bloemfontein and Soccer City can be left for a later date. With the continuous technical developments it makes sense to start these closer to 2010," says Danny Jordaan, Chief Executive of the LOC.
Given the employment and business prospects associated with hosting an event as big as the World Cup, South Africa's beleaguered textile industry is hoping that the tournament will revive its fortunes.
The industry, which has lost an estimated 200,000 jobs over the past five years due mainly to the influx of cheaper Chinese imports, is looking at cashing in on producing memorabilia like T-shirts, caps, hats and scarves.
"The reason we're backing the World Cup is that there should be employment and procurement opportunities for locals. It shouldn't just benefit those who are already wealthy," says Tony Ehrenreich, Cosatu's Western Cape general secretary.
"If we aren't happy with economic opportunities for locals we will be protesting at the 2010 World Cup."
Opportunities
Danny Jordaan agrees with the principle of using the tournament to provide economic opportunities, saying there were already policies in place to ensure the empowerment of black business and entrepreneurs.
The LOC predicts that the tournament will create 160,000 jobs and will contribute more than 20 billion rand (about $3.6 billion) to the country's gross domestic product.
Many local small business owners are, however, concerned that they may have to pay exorbitant licensing fees to Fifa, which controls its own marketing and television rights. This implies that companies which are not licensed by Fifa would not be able to sell their products or services in or around the World Cup venues.
"Many local clothing manufacturers I've spoken to say they won't be able to afford the fees and would therefore simply try to sidestep the rules when the event draws closer," says Navavee Matthews, who works for a marketing company.
The money-making potential of the World Cup is enormous and it will be a great tragedy if the expectations of so many of the country's aspirant entrepreneurs are stifled by Fifa's tight licensing conditions.
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SA same-sex marriage law signedhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6159991.stmSouth Africa is the first African country to approve such unionsSouth Africa's Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has signed the Civil Union Act which gives same-sex couples the right to marry.
South Africa will be the first African country where gay people can wed when the law comes into force on Friday.
The law was approved by MPs two weeks ago despite objections from religious groups and traditional leaders.
The Constitutional Court ruled last year that the existing laws discriminated against homosexuals.
The Civil Union Act gives gay people the same rights as heterosexual couples.
The ruling was based on the constitution, which was the first in the world specifically to outlaw discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.
It is an historic decision in terms of the African continent
Fikile VilakazGay Joint Working Group
To wed or not?Gay marriage around the globeThis is unusual in Africa where homosexuality is largely taboo - notably in its neighbour Zimbabwe.
Reuters news agency reports that religious groups had mounted a last-ditch effort to block the new marriage law, demanding a referendum on the issue.
"To force the morality of the radical homosexual minority on the people of South Africa through law is, in effect, to lead the masses astray," the Christian Action Network said in a statement.
But gay activists have welcomed the law.
"We are very happy. We welcome the political commitment shown by the country's leaders," said Fikile Vilakazi spokeswoman for the Joint Working Group, a network gay organisations, AFP news agency reports.
"It is an historic decision in terms of the African continent."
During the parliamentary debate earlier this month, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula told MPs: "In breaking with our past... we need to fight and resist all forms of discrimination and prejudice, including homophobia."
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U.N.: Ivorian diamond trade goes on despite banPOSTED: 1:37 p.m. EST, December 18, 2006
Story Highlights
• U.N.: Diamonds are smuggled out of the Ivory Coast via Mali and Ghana• Ghana risks suspension from the U.N.-backed Kimberley Process, U.N. says• The Kimberley Process fights "blood" or "conflict" diamond sales • No action can be taken against Mali as it was not a Kimberley Process participant
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ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (Reuters) -- Diamonds are still being smuggled out of war-divided Ivory Coast via Mali and Ghana in violation of a U.N. embargo despite rebel assertions to the contrary, according to a U.N. report.
U.N. experts identified Malian nationals who had been buying gems in the town of Seguela, which lies in the rebel-held north of Ivory Coast, and had observed "intensive mining" in the area during an aerial survey in November.
"The identification of these Malian buyers further underlines the significant smuggling of Ivorian diamonds to Mali in violation of United Nations sanctions," the group of experts said in a report to the U.N. Security Council.
The report, seen by Reuters on Monday, also said Ghana risked suspension from the Kimberley Process -- a U.N.-backed scheme to ensure "blood" or "conflict" diamonds are not sold on the black market to buy weapons -- after smuggled Ivorian gems were found among diamond exports registered as Ghanaian.
For example, diamonds of non-Ghanaian origin had been found in a shipment transported from Ghana to Dubai, an important international diamond-trading center, the report said.
It said a "detailed action plan" had been agreed with Ghana to strengthen its controls over the diamond sector. Progress would be evaluated by a Kimberley Process review team in February next year.
"If the evaluation team is not satisfied, Ghana could face suspension from the Kimberley Process," the report said.
No action could be taken against Mali as it was not a Kimberley Process participant.
Rebels seized the north of Ivory Coast in a 2002/2003 civil war and admit they smuggle cocoa -- the country's main export -- to neighboring states to fund their movement.
But they deny dealing in conflict diamonds despite allegations by U.N. experts that they generate revenue of between $9 million and $23 million from the trade.
The U.N. report also said criminal networks had been breaking an arms embargo on Ivory Coast, using international courier firms to import shipments of small arms.
"Currently the ports are wide open to abuse and the U.N. Operation in Ivory Coast has not conducted a port inspection since August," the report said.
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