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 United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

10 April 2012

USAFRICOM - related news stories

Good morning. Please see today's news review for April 10, 2012. This e-mail is bestviewed in HTML.

Of interest in today's report:

- Future interim president meets with ruling junta in Mali- Northern Malians appeal for humanitarian corridor- Police use force to break up Tunisia protest

- PRISM, a National Defense University security studies journal, examines lessonslearned from Libya- Senator John Kerry writes blog on CLRA efforts

U.S. Africa Command Public AffairsPlease send questions or comments to:publicaffairs@usafricom.mil 421-2687 (+49-711-729-2687)

Headline Date Outlet

Future interim president meetswith ruling junta

04/10/2012  France 24

AFP - Mali's coup leader held talks on Monday on when he would hand over power to allow the return of democraticrule in the troubled west African nation, now half controlled by Islamists and rebels.

Northern Malians appeal forhumanitarian corridor  

04/09/2012  France 24

While Mali has been limping back to civilian control following the March 22 coup, the humanitarian situation in therebel-controlled north has been deteriorating, sparking urgent appeals for help by displaced civilians.

Mali neighbours clash overTuareg crisis response  

04/09/2012  France 24

REUTERS - Sahara Desert states differed on Sunday over whether to crush or talk to the rebels who have seizednorthern Mali - a mix of Tuareg separatists and Islamists with links to al Qaeda.

Police use force to break upTunisia protest  

04/09/2012  Aljazeera 

Police in Tunisia have fired tear gas to disperse a rally to commemorate Martyrs' Day and protest against theworsening economic situation and lack of employment in the north African nation. Nearly a thousand demonstratorsturned out on Monday morning to a...

Solving a Problem Like JosephKony 

04/09/2012  Huffington Post 

This isn't going to be a short post, because the truth is we can't solve this problem in 140 characters or less. Let'sstart here with the thing everyone's talking about. If you haven't by now seen or heard of the Kony 2012 video then

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it's almost safe to s...

Uganda: Why Is MuseveniBuilding Region's StrongestArmy? 

04/09/2012  The Independent (Kampala) 

Uganda's expenditure on arms surpassed Kenya's for the first in 2011, a new global arms expert report shows.Uganda spent US$1.02 billion; about double Kenya's US$735 million. Details show that Uganda spent US$270

million on its usual defense budget items ...Lessons learned in Libya   04/09/2012  Stars and Stripes 

STUTTGART, Germany -- When U.S. Africa Command stood up in 2008, it was touted as a military combatantcommand unlike the others. Rather than warfighting, AFRICOM's focus was to be security cooperation with itspartners in Africa. With nearly half of its h...

US sailor found dead at CampLemonnier in Djibouti  

04/09/2012  Stars and Stripes

A U.S. sailor assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3 was found dead Saturday as the result of anoncombat-related incident at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Navy officials said. The sailor, whose name has not yetbeen made public, was found by co-wo...

Deadly market blast strikes keySomali town 

04/10/2012  France 24

AFP - A bomb blast in a market in the strategic Somali town of Baidoa on Monday killed at least 11 people and

wounded many more in the latest in a string of attacks in the war-torn nation, an official said.

New Submarine Cables Set toRevolutionize West AfricanInternet  

04/10/2012  Voice of America 

DAKAR, Senegal -- Slow downloads and faulty Internet connections could soon become distant memories in WestAfrica. Two underwater fiber-optic cables stretching from Europe down the western coast of Africa are set to goonline in mid-2012. The cables will ...

Joy in the Congo: A musicalmiracle  

04/08/2012  60 Minutes - CBS

Beauty has a way of turning up in places where you'd least expect it. We went to the Congo a few weeks ago, thepoorest country in the world. Kinshasa, the capital, has a population of 10 million and almost nothing in the way ofhope or peace. But there's ...

Last Marines land, prepare tobegin field training at AfricanLion 2012 

04/09/2012  U.S. Marine Corps PublicAffairs 

AGADIR, Morocco, Apr 9, 2012 -- Nearly 200 Marines from 3rd Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment, 4th MarineDivision, arrived in Agadir, Morocco, April 7 to support the field training exercise portion of Exercise African Lion2012.

US Air Force Participates inMarrakech Aeroexpo,Strengthens Bonds  

04/09/2012  U.S. AFRICOM Public Affairs 

MARRAKECH, Morocco, Apr 9, 2012 -- U.S. Air Forces Africa participated in the third biennial Marrakech Aeroexpoin Marrakech, Morocco, April 4-7, 2012, to strengthen the partnerships with Morocco and more than 15 otherparticipating nations. Approximately ...

Africa Partnership Station Aims

to Organize for 2013   04/09/2012 

U.S. Naval Forces Europe-

Africa, U.S. 6th Fleet PublicAffairs 

GARMISH, Germany, Apr 9, 2012 -- The Africa Partnership Station (APS) 2013 Initial Planning Conference (IPC)took place in Garmisch, Germany, March 28-30, 2012. The three-day conference provided a venue for participatingpartner nations from Africa, Austr...

News Headline: Future interim president meets with ruling junta |

News Date: 04/10/2012

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Outlet Full Name: France 24News Text: AFP - Mali's coup leader held talks on Monday on when he would hand overpower to allow the return of democratic rule in the troubled west African nation, now halfcontrolled by Islamists and rebels.

Army Captain Amadou Sanogo, who seized power with other soldiers on March 22, met with

the man set to be sworn in as Mali's interim president to oversee the transition back toconstitutional rule.

Dioncounda Traore, who is currently Mali's speaker of parliament, met Sanogo in the presenceof international mediators for about an hour at a military camp near the capital Bamako.

The March coup set off a sequence of events that saw the northern desert half of the vast anddeeply impoverished nation fall to Tuareg rebels and their Islamist allies, triggering a majorhumanitarian crisis.

Sanogo told reporters the encounter "went well", adding that more information would bereleased soon.

"We established a framework" of focus points, said Ivory Coast African Integration MinisterAdama Bictogo who, along with Burkina Faso's Foreign Minister Djibrill Bassole, is acting asmediator.

"No-one lost anything and no-one won anything," he added.

The meeting came the day after Amadou Toumani Toure, who was ousted in the coup,formally resigned Mali's presidency under the deal which also saw the lifting of sanctions thathad been imposed by west African states.

Under the transition deal, Toure's departure means Sanogo must prepare to step down andallow for Traore to be sworn in as interim president, but it was not immediately clear exactlywhen that would happen.

Traore will be tasked with organising elections, if possible within 40 days.

Transitional authorities must address the situation in the north, which since the coup has beenoverrun by Tuareg rebels, outlaws and Islamic extremists who exploited the political andmilitary disarray in Bamako.

An interim prime minister will also be appointed to head "a government of national unity",according to the terms of the deal which the West African ECOWAS bloc forced on Mali'smilitary rulers in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.

A Burkina Faso official said it was hoped the first cabinet meeting could be held before Friday.

Meanwhile the humanitarian crisis in the north, cut off from the rest of the world, was growing

worse, witnesses and non-governmental organisations warned.

"The situation in the three northern region is dramatic. There are no more hospitals and hungeris growing... The international community must intervene," member of parliament Abdou Sidibetold AFP.

On the military front, ECOWAS is threatening to intervene to put down the northern rebellion bythe Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA), which is said to comprise some 500fighters, nearly all of them Arabs from the Timbuktu region.

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The MNLA led by Tuareg rebels last week proclaimed the independence of the northern regionthey call Azawad, a move rejected by the international community as well as by the IslamistAnsar Dine, which controls some towns.

And an Al-Qaeda dissident group on Sunday claimed it was behind the kidnap of sevenAlgerian diplomats Thursday in the northern town of Gao.

The Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) said it had seized the diplomatsafter rebels overran Gao, along with Kidal and and the legendary city of Timbuktu.

MUJAO in December also claimed the kidnap in October in Algeria of two Spaniards and oneItalian aid workers.

MUJAO is said to have broken off from the main group, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb(AQIM), in order to spread jihad to west Africa rather than confine themselves just to theMaghreb or Sahel regions.

The only French national present in Gao when it fell told Monday's edition of Le Figaronewspaper how she managed, with the help of local residents, to escape across the desert toAlgeria.

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News Headline: Northern Malians appeal for humanitarian corridor |

News Date: 04/09/2012Outlet Full Name: France 24News Text: By Leela Jacinto

While Mali has been limping back to civilian control following the March 22 coup, thehumanitarian situation in the rebel-controlled north has been deteriorating, sparking urgentappeals for help by displaced civilians.

Malians have heaved a sigh of relief following a weekend of rapid political developments thatsaw the lifting of sanctions imposed after the March 22 military coup and the resignation of thecountry's ousted president Amadou Toumani Toure, paving the way for the implementation oflast week's transitional exit plan.

But the reprieve has been marred by reports of the worsening security and humanitariansituation in northern Mali, a region as large as France, effectively isolated for over a week sinceTuareg rebels, in an uneasy alliance with Islamist groups, seized control of the key northerncities of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu.

As international attention focused on the implementation of Friday's power handoveragreement, northern Malians in the capital of Bamako gathered to appeal to the internationalcommunity to find a solution to the crisis in northern Mali.

―Today, we have a humanitarian disaster because our country has been occupied by terroristsand Islamic extremists who have killed hundreds of our brethren in Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu,‖said Maliki Alhusseini Maiga, president of COREN (Le Collectif des Resortissants du NordMali), an association of people from the north, at a press conference in Bamako on Sunday.―They have raped our sisters, they have burned government buildings, the y have destroyed ourcities and they are terrorizing the population. If it continues like this, we will face a very, verydangerous situation in this area.‖

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Maiga called on the regional West African ECOWAS bloc, the African Union, and theinternational community to ―liberate northern Mali‖ and set up a humanitarian corridor to supplyaid to Malians trapped in the northern region.

His appeal came amid reports of growing tensions between Tuareg rebels and Islamistfactions.

The rebel advance following the March 22 coup has been conducted by the secular Tuaregseparatist group MNLA (Mouvement National pour la Liberation de l'Azawad) in an uneasyalliance with Islamist factions, including the Ansar Dine (Defenders of the Faith), an Islamistgroup believed to have links to al Qaeda's North Africa branch, AQIM (al Qaeda in the IslamicMaghreb).

Last week, the MNLA declared the independence of the north. But more than a week after thethree northern regions fell from government control, residents say they are still unsure which ofthe groups control their areas amid reports of rivalries between rebel factions.

On Sunday, residents of Gao trying to flee the city in a bus told the Associated Press that theysaw Islamist fighters cut the throat of a Tuareg gunman, assumed to belong to the MNLA.

The bus was driven off the road by Tuareg fighters who apparently wanted to rob theoccupants. Passengers on the bus then called a hotline given to them by Islamist fighters in anattempt to instill confidence. When the Islamist fighters arrived, a bus company employee toldthe Associated Press that he and the other passengers saw the Islamist fighters cut the throatof one of the Tuareg fighters.

Urgent calls for humanitarian access

International human rights groups have warned that northern Mali is on the brink of ahumanitarian disaster compounded by drought, fighting and a lack of access to the region.

In a statement released last week, Amnesty International called for immediate access tonorthern Mali to deliver humanitarian aid.

―All the food and medicine stored by major aid agencies has been looted and most of the aidworkers have fled,‖ said Gaëtan Mootoo, Amnesty International's researcher on West Africa.―The population is at imminent risk of severe food and medical shortages that could lead tomany casualties, especially among women and children, who are less able to fend forthemselves.‖

Northern Malians who managed to f lee shortly after government soldiers abandoned theirpositions in the recent rebel advance described panicked scenes as rebels swept into thedcountry's main northern cities.

―I was the last representative to leave Kidal,‖ said Hominy Belco Maiga, a local assemblyrepresentative for the Kidal region. ―When I saw the Tuareg fighters come and the army had

fled, I thought that everything is finished and so I left.‖

Amnesty International estimates that more than 200,000 people have fled northern Mali sincefighting broke out in January following the return of Tuareg mercenaries after the fall of Libya'sMuammar Gaddafi.

While many northern Malians have fled to the government-controlled south, AmnestyInternational says an estimated 100,000 people have crossed into neighbouring Mauritania,Niger, Algeria and Burkina Faso.

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Maiga, however, maintained that he has no intention of permanently quitting his hometown. ―Iwill go back to Kidal,‖ he vowed. ―I am not afraid. These rebels are looking to find new territoryfor al Qaeda and for the trafficking of arms and drugs. But Mali is our country and it isindivisable."

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News Headline: Mali neighbours clash over Tuareg crisis response |

News Date: 04/09/2012Outlet Full Name: France 24News Text: REUTERS - Sahara Desert states differed on Sunday over whether to crush ortalk to the rebels who have seized northern Mali - a mix of Tuareg separatists and Islamistswith links to al Qaeda.

At a meeting of regional countries in Mauritania, Niger said the rebels' gains should bereversed before any talks, but Algeria warned that military intervention risked furthercomplicating the situation.

The rebels, bolstered by guns and fighters from Libya's war last year, routed Malian troops, indisarray after a March 22 coup, to carve out a zone the size of France and declare anindependent state of ―Azawad‖.

Mali's government had long had a weak hold over its northern zone, but its neighbours nowfear a void that will exacerbate regional instability, terrorism and smuggling.

Mauritania, Algeria, Niger and Mali had set up a joint military command headquarters beforethe lightning rebel push, although it had struggled to coordinate efforts against what they seeas an Islamist threat in the Sahara.

Niger, which has suffered its own sporadic Tuareg rebellions, said there could be discussion ofsome of the demands of the separatist National Movement for the Liberation of Azwad (MNLA).

But Foreign Minister Mohamed Bazoum echoed international rejection of the group's claim forindependence as ―absurd and unacceptable‖.

―We need to work to redress the balance of forces on the ground before we can talk aboutnegotiations,‖ Bazoum said at the opening of the meeting in Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott.

―We need to organise a confrontation with the terrorist groups ... Mali's north must be clearedof terrorism and it seems to me we have the ideal opportunity,‖ he said.

West Africa's ECOWAS group had been mulling an intervention to prevent any further rebelpush until the coup meant restoring civilian rule became the regional bloc's priority.

The junta pledged on Saturday to leave power within days, paving the way for the possibility for

an intervention but it remains unclear when boots could be put on the ground.

Bazoum said Niger, Mauritania and Algeria, as Mali's closest partners in the north, shouldengage in diplomacy but be ready to intervene militarily, if needed.

Algeria, the region's biggest power, took a different tack, saying talks were the only way out.France, colonial ruler over all the states at the table, has also pushed for dialogue with theseparatist rebel movement.

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―The solution can only be a political one. It cannot be the result of a military effort which couldinstead worsen an already complex and precarious situation,‖ Mohamed Messahel, Algeria'sdelegate minister for African affairs, said.

Algeria's position in Mali has been further complicated by the kidnapping last week of its consuland six other staff from its mission in Gao, one of the northern towns seized by rebels.

Algeria's El Watan newspaper reported on its website on Sunday that the diplomats had beenfreed, but Algerian officials in Nouakchott were unable to confirm that.

Nearly a week after Malian government forces were completely routed across the north, itremains unclear which groups really control main towns or swathes of territory.

The MNLA separatists, which are more prominent in Gao than the Islamists, denied anyinvolvement in the kidnapping.

Ahead of the El Watan report that the diplomats had been freed, French RFI radio saidMUJWA, a splinter group from al Qaeda's North Africa wing, AQIM, had claimed thekidnapping.

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News Headline: Police use force to break up Tunisia protest |

News Date: 04/09/2012Outlet Full Name: AljazeeraNews Text: Police in Tunisia have fired tear gas to disperse a rally to commemorate Martyrs'Day and protest against the worsening economic situation and lack of employment in the northAfrican nation.

Nearly a thousand demonstrators turned out on Monday morning to a protest on HabibBourguia Avenue in the capital Tunis, defying a government ban on protests.

Protesters sought shelter in neighbouring streets and shops, as police beat them with batonsand fired tear gas into the scattered crowd.

A protest on Saturday was met with similar violence.

The coalition government, dominated by the conservative Ennahdha party, has come underincreasing pressure from a population hungry for change.

Secular opponents accuse Ennahdha, which advocates political Islam, of turning a blind eye toa small but vocal ultra-conservative group of Salafi activists they fear are trying impose theiraustere interpretation of Islam on the country.

Salafis have held mass protests in recent weeks demanding the implementation of sharia, or

Islamic law. At their last protest last month, Salafis attacked the national theatre in Tunis,tearing down posters and roughing up some actors.

Online dissent

Meanwwhile, a group claiming affiliation with cyberactivist collective Anonymous has published2,725 emails belonging to Tunisia's ruling Ennahdha party, including those of the primeminister.

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In a video posted on a Facebook page belonging to Anonymous TN, a hacker wearing thetrademark activist "Guy Fawkes" mask, said the emails were released in protest againstEnnahdha's alleged failure to protect the unemployed and artists who were attacked by SalafiIslamists.

The activist said the emails include phone numbers, bank transactions and invoices paid

during Tunisia's election campaign in October, in which Ennahdha won more than 40 per centof parliament seats.

One of the emails was from Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, a senior Ennahda official, to theTurkish embassy, attaching Foreign Minister Rafik Abdesslem's CV.

"To the Tunisian government, we have kept a large part of your data secret. If you do not wishto see these published on the internet we ask you to work to the best of your ability to avoidinternet censorship and to respect human rights and the freedom of expression in Tunisia," theactivist said.

It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the emails or when they wereaccessed.

Government officials declined detailed comment on the security breach but said many of theemails appeared to be old.

"We are still trying to confirm if Jebali's hacked account was from before he became primeminister or after," Jebali's spokesperson, Rida Kezdaghli, told the Reuters press agency.

New alliance

Amid rising political tensions, several Tunisian centrist opposition parties including the centre-left Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) have agreed to combine forces and gain more cloutahead of the general elections due in late 2012.

Its exact name and the make-up of its leadership was due be announced in the eastern city of

Sousse on Monday.

Five other small parties and a group of independent politicians were expected to join its ranks.

"We will make the battle against the scourge of unemployment, for equality and the respect ofTunisians' fundamental rights... our programme," the PDP's Maya Jribi said ahead of the formalannouncement.

Six months after the election and 100 days after the new government took over "there is noclear strategy, no promise has been kept, the revolution which called for jobs and dignity isthreatened," she added.

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News Headline: Solving a Problem Like Joseph Kony |

News Date: 04/09/2012Outlet Full Name: Huffington PostNews Text: This isn't going to be a short post, because the truth is we can't solve this problemin 140 characters or less.

Let's start here with the thing everyone's talking about. If you haven't by now seen or heard of

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the Kony 2012 video then it's almost safe to say you're not on Twitter or Facebook or that youhaven't checked your email or talked with your kids or co-workers.

It's one hell of a phenomenon: an online grassroots prairie fire introduced millions -- particularlyyoung people -- to the atrocities committed by Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army(LRA).

This powerful wave is testimony to things both new and old: the relatively new, butexponentially growing velocity of social media, and the old and deep power of Americancompassion in response to horrific suffering. It's not the first time: years ago kids like mewatched on our black and white TV sets the images of Bull Connor's police dogs menacingpeaceful civil rights protesters, and something clicked then about unfinished business at homeas we asked our parents how this could be happening in our country.

The technology changes from decade to decade, but a sudden uninvited image touches ourconscience and we think about things differently. We saw how America responded to thehorrifying civil rights images -- our country met collectively to right a wrong at home and breakthe back of Jim Crow.

Back then, it wasn't just a message, it was a movement.

So the question now is not whether we've seen the video, but what the hell do we do to solve aproblem like Joseph Kony?

We have to start with the uncomfortable reality that this isn't a new horror introduced to theworld. Kony has been an all too familiar nightmare to the people of Central Africa for decadeswhen his LRA terrorized the region, first in Uganda and then, after they were driven out of therein 2006, they moved on to the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic,and South Sudan.

Today, Kony and the LRA consist of only a few hundred people, but continue to inflict a level ofpain and suffering far greater than their actual size.

Kony is no stranger to many of us in Congress. Two years ago we passed legislation to providesupport to regional governments working to protect their people and to apprehend Kony andhis top commanders, and remove them from the battlefield. I helped shape the bill, the Lord'sResistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, I co-sponsored it, and Ishepherded it through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2010.

The legislation we passed is having a material impact: President Obama followed up last fall bysending 100 U.S. military personnel to Central Africa to advise the regional militaries workingon the front lines to eliminate the LRA threat. The purpose was not to send soldiers into battle,but to support regional governments like the Government of Uganda, which has spearheadedthe counter-LRA military campaign by providing political leadership.

Unlike most everything else in Washington these days, this hasn't been a partisan issue. With

the support of the White House and both political parties, our advisers recently deployed intothe field to begin their mission to help build the capacity of regional forces -- an effort beingcoordinated by the Departments of Defense and State.

But we owe it to Americans to level with you about the difficulty we face: it ain't easy. There's areason this mass murderer hasn't been apprehended: the LRA has split up into small bandsscattered across a dense, virtually roadless jungle the size of California and our satellites can'teven penetrate the thick jungle canopy to detect a few dozen LRA fighters moving through thebush, let alone pinpoint the location of this now infamous butcher.

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We've got to come up with other tactics. That's why I've been working with the StateDepartment and others to try to identify additional strategic tools we can create to finish the job.

It's not easy or obvious and it may not sound like much, but one thing I know we can do tostrengthen our hand is to take a model that's been successful in other countries and apply it tothe hunt for Kony and the LRA. Next month I'm introducing legislation to expand the War

Crimes Rewards Program to target Kony -- to take what's currently a rewards programdesigned to secure arrests and convictions of terrorists and those trafficking in narcotics butexpand it to target the war criminals of today. (Currently, there's a smaller rewards programrelated to war crimes, but it is specifically limited to those wanted by special courts for Rwanda,Yugoslavia, and Sierra Leone, which are nearing completion). We can build on the workSenator Russ Feingold was doing in 2010 and I know Senators Coons and Isakson willcontinue to be really committed on Africa issues.

I want this to be bi-partisan legislation and I want to get it passed quickly. So next month, usingthe same social media platforms that introduced you to Kony, I'm going to come back and askyou to be a part of the movement needed to pass this bill. I'm confident that with the same bi-partisan support that helped us pass the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament Act, we can getthis done and we can disprove all the cynics who say "nothing" can happen in an election year.If we can marshal even one tenth of the activism and energy that mobilized around the video,we can get this done in a hurry.

I want to leave you with one other thought. It's always easier to watch a video and feelsomething in your gut about right and wrong than it is to focus even for a minute on drylegislation or countries that many have never heard about. But the truth is, all of these efforts tohelp Central African governments eliminate a threat to regional security and human life fromKony and the LRA are proof positive that America's investment in the world matters. Foreignassistance matters. The State Department budget matters. When he chaired the ForeignRelations Committee, Joe Biden used to quote what his dad said about the family budget,"don't tell me your values, show me your budget and I'll tell you what you value." Man, is it truein Washington about the federal budget. There's no global Grover Norquist here pushing apledge to never cut the State Department Budget. There's no International AARP for foreignassistance rallying millions of seniors to throw out the politicians if they don't invest in Africa.

I love the groundswell of grassroots energy about the Kony 2012 video, but if you want to stopbutchers like Kony all over the world, we need your attention and your activism every day thatour international investments come under attack by politicians in Washington who find it's aneasy applause line to pretend we can gut foreign aid to balance the budget when we can't andwe shouldn't.

This stuff is real: Joseph Kony must face justice come hell or high water, but this is not aboutone man. Northern Uganda has taken years to recover from the civil war that raged on its soilfor almost two decades. And while its own government should do more as well, we have andshould continue to provide development assistance to help heal the social and economicwounds there. In the Congo, we are providing cell phone and radio networks for early warningsystems, but also helping the Congolese people develop the judicial institutions they need to

reform and improve their own security forces. These are the tools of development, diplomacy,and defense that are the heart of American foreign assistance. So, what can you do to help?Help us keep up these efforts and next time you hear someone say we should slash foreignaid, which makes up only 1.5 percent of our national budget, remind them of the horror of theLRA and the work we are doing to help the people of Central Africa. Please do that so that fiveyears from now we're not all downloading a video of the next Joseph Kony.

Let's work together in a movement to make these kinds of atrocities history and please staytuned because there's much more to come.

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News Headline: Uganda: Why Is Museveni Building Region's Strongest Army? |

News Date: 04/09/2012

Outlet Full Name: The Independent (Kampala)News Text: Uganda's expenditure on arms surpassed Kenya's for the first in 2011, a newglobal arms expert report shows. Uganda spent US$1.02 billion; about double Kenya's US$735million.

Details show that Uganda spent US$270 million on its usual defense budget items (food,salaries etc) and US$ 750 million on jets pushing its officially disclosed expenditure to US$1.02billion.

Uganda's acquisition of 6 Su-30MK Russian jets elevated its air force to one of the mostadvanced combat aircraft squadrons in East and Central Africa, the Stockholm InternationalPeace Research Institute, an international institute that carries out research into conflict andarms control notes.

In its recent report, Trends in international arms transfers, 2011, SIPRI notes that the purchaseof the fighter jets and other arms increased Uganda's military expenditure by 300 percentdwarfing Africa's 9 and the world's 24 percent expenditure on arms.

The revelation comes amidst reports that Uganda has this year ordered a new batch ofweapons--tanks and ant-tank missiles.

When asked about the new order, Army Spokesman Felix Kulayigye refused to either confirmor deny it. This is not unusual because defense purchases of this nature are classified securityinformation. The purchase of the fighter jets, for example, was only confirmed in Uganda afterRussian and North African media reported it.

Why all these weapons?

Competition for regional military superiority with especially Kenya, the threat of spill-over fromany feared war between Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan, and its operation in Somaliaagainst al Shabaab and against Joseph Kony rebels in the DR Congo are quoted as incentivesfrom Uganda's ballooning military expenditure.

Of the small arms and light Weapons; assault rifles and submachine guns, transferred in Sub-Saharan Africa estimated in the last four years Uganda received 17% and Kenya, whichremains the biggest military spender in the region took 23%.

In actual numbers estimated to be at least 220 000, Uganda is reported to have procured 38,000 and Kenya 51, 500 of the arms amongst other countries, the Arms Flow to Sub-SaharanAfrica report notes.

Joseph Dube, the Africa coordinator for the International Action Network on Small Arms, saysthat the increase in global arms trade is driven by governments facing opposition that armthemselves in preparation to attack citizens.

"For you to be seen as a power, it is determined by your defence and the budget that you puton defence... We are powerful, we are able to defend, engage not only on South Africa soil butin peace missions on the continent," Dube said of South Africa. Despite being peaceful fordecades, it accounts for 70% of the continent's arms imports.

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 In Uganda's case, Museveni has always wanted to be seen as the military giant of the region.He has wanted a strong well-equipped army ever since his government formulated its securitypolicy in 2001.

Experts have questioned such heavy military expenditure considering that Uganda has been

relatively peaceful and most importantly in economic doldrums, too unfavorable for suchexpenditure.

New oil mania

Critics say that Uganda's arms appetite has been whetted by its oil discovery with the world'sweapon manufacturers increasingly seeing it as a potential buyer and Uganda notdisappointing them.

High military spending is synonymous with Africa's top oil producers from Angola, Libya,Algeria, Nigeria and even mineral rich South Africa which despite not having any wars, isAfrica's biggest military spender.

Lack of constitutional checks in terms of having parliament scrutinise military expenditure, theysay, explains why President Museveni has been able to build his arsenal unimpeded.

But Kulaigye says those who complain about Uganda's military expenditure want Uganda tokeep weak and easy to over-run.

President Yoweri Museveni in August last year defended the purchase of the jets saying theywould ease fighting insurgents especially the Lord's Resistance Army. He said Uganda hadpaid heavily for delaying to acquire high quality fighting equipment.

"We suffered a lot fighting the LRA because of poor equipment. The UPDF was on foot just likethe rebels and it became hard to flush them out easily, Museveni said, "The jets are meant forbad elements in the country that would surface to destabilise the peace in Uganda."

But his former Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Mugisha Muntu, who has since joined theopposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) says combat wars like that against the LRA inthe Congo jungles, does not require aircrafts but well equipped soldiers who are defensible.

He refused to speculate on Museveni's arms purchases. One needs to be sure, for instance,that the US$750m was actually spent on the Russian fighter jets. He says of the earmarkedmoney, only 50% might have been spent on the army and the rest "diverted into other things".

"It is after we have answered that that one can make an argument on whether this should havebeen spent on other critical areas like ensuring that soldiers have good health care, insurance,good accommodation and are well equipped during the war so as to ensure that the army iswell off," Muntu says.

Muntu says that Uganda's potential threats both external and internal do not even correlatewith the kind of expenditure that is being made.

"Uganda's potential threats have been the al Shabaab and possibly Khartoum but when theSPLA took over South Sudan, the dynamics changed," Muntu says, "and for the al Shaabab,Uganda does not need aircraft and tanks but other strengths like well trained soldiers and highintelligence expertise."

For Muntu, the frenzy in buying arms has largely to do with regime longevity and creating fear"to show that look we can do anything if you get in our way". He says this is not the solution to

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the country's threats given the economic conditions.

Somalia

Uganda's engagement in Somalia reinvigorated it as Uganda sought to show the region andthe world that it is a military force to reckon with.

Since then, Uganda's military has proved to be double-blessing for Museveni; it keeps him as astrategic ally of the U.S in the war against terrorism and earns him dollars. For instance, 17.3%of Uganda's defense budget is from donor partners on the Somalia mission.

Under the United Nations and African Union peacekeeping agreements, troop-contributingcountries are reimbursed if they deploy with their own equipment, both lethal and non-lethalunder an arrangement named reimbursement of Contingent Own Equipment (COE).

Sources say Uganda has been raking in millions because it has tanks in Somalia, whileBurundi, the only other partner before Kenyan joined, had only a few light arms.

Some estimates say last year Uganda was reimbursed up to US $7million compared toBurundi's US$100,000.

A military analyst told The Independent, unlike before when Uganda was the sole force, donorsare increasingly seeing a partner in Kenya in case Uganda falters.

Uganda's position appears to be that for the war in Somalia to end, pirates in the Indian Oceanhave to be dealt with because they furnish the al shaabab with supplies. Army Kulayigyeagrees with this view and Uganda's Second Deputy Prime Minister, Eriya Kategaya, has beenpushing it in summits. Kenya has also increased its defense expenditure to deal with theShaabab and al Qaeda.

Regional hotspots

Dr. Fredrick Gooloba Muteebi, an independent researcher on regional issues, says ever since

the South broke off from Sudan, there has been a likelihood of war and Uganda knows that themoment it breaks, it is likely to be sucked into it.

He says that there is likelihood that with Kony still out there, Sudan could use him in a proxywar against Uganda.

Recently, Sudan President Omar Bashir's advisor, Mustafa Osman Ismail, was quoted sayingthat Khartoum would not stand idle while Kampala and Juba continue to backing rebels inDarfur. Uganda has rubbished these claims saying that it is a signatory to the Great Lakessecurity Pact that prohibits such behaviour.

Military experts say that this gives Museveni reason to arm especially knowing Sudan isreputed to have one of the strongest aircrafts in Africa. In African Military ranks, Sudan ranks

among the top 5 ahead of Uganda in 7th position.

Recently, army officials from South Sudan arrested six Ugandan MPs that had gone on a factfinding mission on March 1 over parts of Moyo district that South Sudan claims.

Security Minister Muruli Mukasa says the Presidents of the two countries have talks planned.The situation is explosive, experts say.

In the DR Congo where the central government is not in control of the whole country, Ugandamilitary sources have been reporting that militia groups opposed to Museveni, like the Allied

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Democratic Forces (ADF), are regrouping.

In mid-March, Uganda's Chief of Defence Forces Aronda Nyakairima rerpotedly travelled toDRC to talk to his counterpart there about the possibility of jointly dealing with ADF, a rebelgroup that caused havoc in Kampala with bomb attacks in the 1990s.

Uganda also almost exchanged fire at the border with DR Congo forces a few years ago overthe oil Albertine oil fields and experts say it remains a potential cause for conflict between thetwo. Military experts have attributed the buying of jets to need to protect the oil fields.

Friction with Kenya over the Migingo Island almost sparked a military confrontation betweenKenya and Uganda.

In final efforts to wipe out the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), including the group's leader,Joseph Kony who has terrorised the region with frequent attacks over the past two decades,Uganda, Central African Republic, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo have puttogether a 5000--strong force backed by the UN and AU.

Of all these, Uganda is the big boy on the battle front having fought a number of wars andsome of them especially South Sudan and CAR have the weakest of armies in the region,therefore Uganda needs its hardware if its foot is to be felt.

To compile details of the arms purchases, SIPRI's senior researcher, Pieter Wezeman toldAljazeera that the organisation gets information from several open sources and focuses onmajor arms deals. He admitted that the information is not complete and that there are dealsthat they missed.

"It is likely that more weapons and ammunition have been imported into the region fromcountries that do not report on their arms exports in sufficient detail or at all," a SIPRI reportnotes.

But Kulayigye said the report findings are "skewed and not balanced". Unless whatever newarms have been acquired, however, they will only be money well spent if they are used soon.

As Dr. Fredrick Golooba Mutebi warned, weapons easily become obsolete. Apart from theKalishnokovs, all the guns that were manufactured in the 60's are no longer in use and Russiastopped manufacturing them in 2011.

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News Headline: Lessons learned in Libya |

News Date: 04/09/2012Outlet Full Name: Stars and StripesNews Text: By John Vandiver

STUTTGART, Germany — When U.S. Africa Command stood up in 2008, it was touted as a

military combatant command unlike the others. Rather than warfighting, AFRICOM's focus wasto be security cooperation with its partners in Africa. With nearly half of its headquarters staffcomposed of civilians, AFRICOM also was designed to improve how a military commandcoordinates with other elements of the U.S. government.

So when Operation Odyssey Dawn launched in March 2011, AFRICOM found itself in anunlikely role: leading a kinetic military operation on the African continent. While the no-fly zonemission over Libya eventually proved to be a success, AFRICOM's unique structurecomplicated U.S. efforts, particularly during the early stages of the mission, according to an

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article in the March edition of PRISM, a National Defense University security studies journal.

―In this scenario, the presence of a large number of State Department and other non-DODcivilian personnel on the USAFRICOM staff did little to improve or coordinate between myriadplayers,‖ according to the PRISM report, which was based off of a classified study onOperation Odyssey Dawn conducted by the Joint and Coalition Operational Analysis division of

the Joint Staff.

―At the onset of the Libyan crisis, USAFRICOM was not manned to plan and conduct large -scale contingency operations,‖ the report continued. ―There were not enough target analystsassigned to support USAFRICOM, the JTF (Joint Task Force), or the JFMCC (Joint ForceMaritime Component Commander), and until analysts could be moved from other commandsto fill the void, planning to enforce the embargo and a no-fly zone was slow to develop.‖

The high number of civilians on staff also made it more difficult to stand up a 24-hour JointOperations Center, which eventually did get stood up but would have been unsustainable overa long campaign, according to the PRISM report. The challenges didn't end there. AFRICOMalso lacked sufficient systems for delivering orders to staff, and lacked sufficient networkcapability to ensure secure communications.

―As events unfolded in Libya, it became apparent that USAFRICOM did not have adequatesatellite bandwidth to conduct operations. USEUCOM transferred bandwidth to USAFRICOM;however, this put some of USEUCOM's potential operations at risk,‖ the report stated. Still,despite the challenges, the authors of the PRISM report credited commanders for overcomingthe early obstacles.

(Link to full report is available by following link to story on Stars and Stripes website)

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News Headline: US sailor found dead at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti |

News Date: 04/09/2012Outlet Full Name: Stars and StripesNews Text: A U.S. sailor assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3 was found deadSaturday as the result of a noncombat-related incident at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Navyofficials said.

The sailor, whose name has not yet been made public, was found by co-workers in theSeabees' equipment yard on Camp Lemonnier. The incident is under investigation.

―The Camp is deeply saddened by the loss of one of our shipmates,‖ Capt. Scott Hurst,commander of Camp Lemonnier, said in a statement. ―Our thoughts and prayers go out to theSailor's family during this difficult time.‖

The sailor was a member of a forward deployed battalion of NMCB 3 and stationed at the Navy

base in Rota, Spain. His detachment deployed to Djibouti, under U.S. Africa Command insupport of Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, in early February for a scheduled six-month deployment.

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News Headline: Deadly market blast strikes key Somali town |

News Date: 04/10/2012

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Outlet Full Name: France 24News Text: AFP - A bomb blast in a market in the strategic Somali town of Baidoa on Mondaykilled at least 11 people and wounded many more in the latest in a string of attacks in the war-torn nation, an official said.

"At least 11 people -- most of them women and children -- were killed by a bomb placed in a

busy market," said lawmaker Mohamed Ibrahim Habsade.

The attack was the worst in Baidoa since the town was wrested from Al-Qaeda allied Shebabinsurgents by Ethiopian-backed Somali forces in February.

"Many more were injured in the explosion, which was biggest since we took control of thetown," Habsade said.

Witnesses said the bomb was detonated after Somali government troops entered the market,but that the majority of those killed were civilians.

"This was a disaster," said Adan Hassan, a witness. "I saw several dead bodies of at least ninecivilians, most of them women -- the explosion occurred as people were shopping."

"Around 35 people were injured, some of the seriously," said Abdirahman Waney, anotherwitness.

Baidoa, located 250 kilometres (155 miles) northwest of Mogadishu, was the seat of Somalia'stransitional parliament until the hardline Shebab captured it three years ago.

African Union troops deployed in the town last week, the first time the force has dispatchedtroops outside the capital Mogadishu since the 10,000-strong force was set up five years ago.

The AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) sent 100 Burundian and Ugandan soldiers to Baidoafollowing Ethiopia's capture of the town from the hardline Shebab.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Monday's bombing, but the Shebab have

launched a series of recent guerrilla attacks and vowed to topple the Western-backedgovernment.

Last week, six people including two top Somali sports officials were killed in an attack on thenewly reopened national theatre in Mogadishu by a female suicide bomber, narrowly missingthe prime minister and seven other ministers.

A broad offensive by Ethiopian and Kenyan forces in southern and western Somalia has forcedthe rebels from many of their strongholds, while AU troops in Mogadishu have advanced on tothe outskirts of the city.

Despite the losses, the Shebab -- Somalia's most brutal militia -- remain a serious threat tointernationally backed efforts to restore stability in the Horn of African country plagued by a

devastating civil war since 1991.

The absence of an effective government in Somalia since it plunged into a civil war twodecades ago has allowed armed groups, pirate gangs and extremist militia to carve up thecountry into mini fiefdoms.

Although the Shebab have lost ground recently, analysts warn that they still remain a seriousthreat to efforts to restore stability in Somalia.

Since abandoning fixed positions in Mogadishu in August, the Shebab have been chased out

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of most of their strongholds, with the notable exception of the southern port of Kismayo,switching instead to guerrilla attacks.

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News Headline: New Submarine Cables Set to Revolutionize West African Internet |

News Date: 04/10/2012Outlet Full Name: Voice of AmericaNews Text: By Anne Look

DAKAR, Senegal -- Slow downloads and faulty Internet connections could soon becomedistant memories in West Africa. Two underwater fiber-optic cables stretching from Europedown the western coast of Africa are set to go online in mid-2012. The cables will bring faster,and likely cheaper, broadband Internet to nearly every country in the region.

Patricia Oben runs an international trade and consultancy firm in Douala, Cameroon. She paysnearly $100 each month for the best Internet connection available, which she describes as onestep up from "snail speed."

"I try to send sometimes 60 pages. That might take you anything up to 18, 20 hours, whichmeans that sometimes at night you set it up and you keep your fingers crossed that sometimein the middle of the night it will not just stop working. Sometimes it takes more time to use theInternet than to use DHL. I sent a CD to India. The CD got there before we could finishuploading. Three days. It's incredibly frustrating. A lot of time wasting and money wasting," shesaid.

Oben says her firm has lost sales because she could not access catalogues or information intime.

But that could all change in just a few months as two extensive submarine fiber-optic cablesare to set to bring faster and more reliable broadband Internet to Cameroon and 18 othercountries along the Atlantic coast of Africa.

Seven of those countries, including Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, will get broadbandaccess for the first time after years of relying on slower and more expensive satellite links.

Paul Brodsky is a senior analyst at the Washington-based market research firm,Telegeography. Broadband Internet, he says, is actually a vast global "plumbing" of fiber-opticcables. "It is quite literally strands of glass that are no thicker than a human hair through whichpulses of light, laser light, get shot through. These very high frequencies of laser light carry theinformation, the data, between computers in West Africa and Europe, North America and therest of the world," he said.

The strands of glass are twisted in pairs, encased in protective layers of steel and rubber andthen run along the ocean floor from global network hubs in Europe.

Eight West African countries, including Cameroon, are already connected via the older andslower SAT-3 cable and the Nigeria-based MainOne cable, which came online in mid-2010.

Brodsky says the two new cables will each have potential capacities of 5.12 terabits a second -more than the region may likely ever need. "Those benefits should translate to lower pricing forconsumers and businesses who need access to the Internet, as well as improved bandwidth,"he said.

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million and almost nothing in the way of hope or peace. But there's a well-kept secret downthere. Kinshasa has a symphony orchestra, the only one in Central Africa, the only all-blackone in the world.

It's called the Kimbanguist Symphony Orchestra. We'd never heard of it. No one we called hadever heard of it. But when we got there we were surprised to find 200 musicians and vocalists,

who've never played outside Kinshasa, or have been outside Kinshasa. We were even moresurprised to find joy in the Congo. When we told the musicians they would be on 60 Minutes,they didn't know what we were talking about but, still, they invited us to a performance.

We caught up with them as they were preparing outside their concert hall, a rented warehouse.As curtain time neared, we had no idea what to expect. But maestro Armand Diangiendaseemed confident and began the evening with bang.

The music, Carmina Burana, was written by German composer Carl Orff 75 years ago. Did heever dream that it would be played in the Congo? It wouldn't have been if it hadn't been forArmand and a strange twist of fate. Armand was a commercial pilot until 20 years ago when hisairline went bust. So, like ex-pilots often do, he decided to put together an orchestra. He wasmissing a few things.

Bob Simon: You had no musicians, you had no teachers, you had no instruments.

Armand Diangienda: Yes.

Bob Simon: And you had no one who knew how to read music?

Armand Diangienda: No, nobody. Nobody.

Armand's English is limited. He preferred speaking French, Congo's official language.

Bob Simon: When you started asking people if they wanted to be members of this orchestra,did they have any idea what you were talking about?

Translation for Armand Diangienda: In the beginning, he said, people made fun of us, sayinghere in the Congo classical music puts people to sleep.

But Armand pressed on. He taught himself how to read music and play the piano, play thetrombone, the guitar and the cello. He talked a few members of his church into joining him.They brought their friends which brought more problems.

Translation for Armand Diangienda: We only had five or six violins, he said, for the 12 peoplewho wanted to learn how to play the violin.

Translation for Armand Diangienda: So they took turns, he said. One would play for 15 or 20minutes at a time. That was very difficult.

But more instruments started coming in. Some were donated; others rescued from local thriftshops -- in various states of disrepair. Then it was up to Albert -- the orchestra's surgeon -- toheal them. He wasn't always gentle with his patients, but they survived. Armand told us thatwhen a violin string broke in those early days, they used whatever they had at hand to fix it.

Bob Simon: You took the wire from a bicycle?

Armand Diangienda: Bicycle, yes.

Bob Simon: The brake of a bicycle, and turned it into a string for a violin?

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 Armand Diangienda: Yes.

Bob Simon: And it played music?

Armand Diangienda: Oui.

And with every functioning instrument, more would-be musicians poured in. Before long,Armand's house became a makeshift conservatory. Armand was the dean. Every room, everycorridor, no matter how small or dark or stifling was teeming with sound. Outdoors, the parkinglot was a quiet spot to practice the viola.

But even this was an oasis compared to what was on the other side of the walls. The Congo is,after all, a war-torn country -- has been for 60 years. This is where most of the musicians live,on unpaved streets with little in the way of running water, electricity or sanitation. Themusicians don't get paid for playing in the orchestra. Some work in the market, sellingwhatever they can. Very few people in Kinshasa make more than $50 a month or live past 50.

Sylvie Mbela's life has gotten even more demanding since she started in the orchestra 17years ago. She's got three kids now. There are no daycare centers in the neighborhood, so thekids are always with her, never far from her fiddle.

But when she turns from mother to musician, she says she has left this planet. She is not in theCongo anymore.

For years, Sylvie and the orchestra played on but only in Kinshasa -- no one outside the Congoknew anything about them until 2010. That's when two German filmmakers made adocumentary which was shown in Germany. It so inspired musicians in Germany, they sentdown instruments and then themselves to give master classes.

Opera vocalists Rolf Schmitz-Malburg and Sabine Kallhammer came to teach technique anddiction. And if you ever questioned that music is the universal language, watch this a German-speaking teacher tutoring a French-speaking African how to sing an aria in Italian. But when

Rolf and Sabine moved onto the full choir it wasn't so easy.

Bob Simon: Were they pleased to see you? Do you think that they said, "Oh, how wonderfulwe have two white people here to teach us how to play music"?

Sabine Kallhammer: They had experiences with other white people, so I can really understandthat they were careful, and a little shy. But they really were open to learn.

At times they weren't sure what they were learning or why. What was this all about? Theexercises are designed to loosen you up, the Germans explained and, after a while, they did.

Sabine Kallhammer: And then they started to sing for us, and then we were, like, ah--

Sabine Kallhammer: Their faces change when they do their music.

Sabine Kallhammer: I mean if you live in Kinshasa there is no culture life here, so these peoplehave to find a way to go to some other places. Making music is one way to go on a trip, acheap trip because you can just close your eyes, they do that very often and they aresomewhere else.

Rolf moved onto the next class. That's where we met two tenors, brothers Carrime and ValviBilolo. They live in the countryside, 10 miles from Armand's place. They took us there. Theboys' parents, two brothers and a sister share a three-room blockhouse. Carrime and Valvi

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certainly had to learn the importance of harmony growing up here, so by the time they metArmand, harmony was second nature.

Bob Simon: When did you join the orchestra?

Carrime Bilolo: En 2003, le 8 Novembre 2003. [Translation: The 8th of November 2003.]

Bob Simon: The 8th of November in 2003.

Carrime Bilolo: Yes.

Bob Simon: Why do you think you remember the exact date?

Carrime Bilolo: Bon c'est la naissance pour nous - [Well, he said, it's like a birth for us in thissymphony orchestra, so it's a date we can't forget.]

And this is how they get to rehearsal. Six days a week, 90 minutes each way. Some would callit a trek. For them, it's a commute. When they get downtown, the last stretch is on a bus. Whatkeeps them going? The music, always the music.

Sabine Kallhammer: They come here every day. They sing, and they go home. It's reallyamazing.

Bob Simon: It's pretty difficult to relate to that, isn't it?

Sabine Kallhammer: Yeah. Yeah. I don't think that anybody would do that with this conditions,in our country, no.

The boys and the choir have quite a repertoire now: Bach, Mendelssohn, Handel and, ofcourse, Beethoven. The week we were there, the orchestra was rehearsing Beethoven's NinthSymphony. Not exactly starter music, but Armand was determined to take it on and, like a goodgeneral, he reviewed all his troops.

The choir, OK. The strings? Not bad. But the full orchestra? Not quite.

French horns, he said, "You're hitting it too hard..."

"Be mindful of the echo", he told the string section.

Finally, it all came together and on the night of the performance, in this rented warehouse,Beethoven came alive. It's called the Ode to Joy, the last movement of Beethoven's lastsymphony. It has been played with more expertise before...but with more joy? Hard to imagine.

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News Headline: Last Marines land, prepare to begin field training at African Lion 2012 |

News Date: 04/09/2012Outlet Full Name: U.S. Marine Corps Public AffairsNews Text: By Tyler Main

AGADIR, Morocco, Apr 9, 2012 — Nearly 200 Marines from 3rd Battalion, 14th MarineRegiment, 4th Marine Division, arrived in Agadir, Morocco, April 7 to support the field trainingexercise portion of Exercise African Lion 2012.

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Approximately 1,200 U.S. military personnel arrived in various regions of the Kingdom ofMorocco to take part in the annual exercise, designed to improve interoperability and mutualunderstanding of each nation's military tactics, techniques and procedures.

Marines of Battery M and Headquarters Battery will work beside Moroccan counterparts toconduct events such as small-arms weapons training, infantry tactics training, battle tank

operations, combat engineering operations, artillery operations and light-armoredreconnaissance training.

―All of these events will be bilateral with our Moroccan partners,‖ said Maj. Stephen Sarnecky,operations officer, 3rd Battalion, 14th Marines. ―We're looking forward to seeing what theMarines and Moroccans can accomplish working side-by-side.‖

The end result of this training will prepare participants to successfully conduct a mechanized,motorized, helo-born, combined arms assault.

The Marines said they look forward to this rigorous training schedule and learning about theMoroccan way of life.

"We all definitely look forward to liberty and getting the opportunity to get out and learn aboutthe culture,‖ Lance Cpl. Michael Fisher said, a combat engineer with 3rd Battalion, 14thMarines. ―I'm also excited to work with the Moroccan military and see how they operate.‖

They will be assisted by Marines from 4th Combat Engineering Battalion, 4th Light ArmoredReconnaissance Battalion, 1st Battalion, 24th Marine regiment infantrymen, 4th CombinedAnti-Armor Team and 4th Marine Logistics Group, along with multiple sub-units.

―It's pretty amazing, considering we've taken reservists from all across the United States andcombined them to ensure this event is successful,‖ Sarnecky said.

AL-12 is a U.S. African Command-sponsored, Marine Forces Africa-led exercise that involvesvarious types of training including command post, live-fire and maneuvering, peace supportoperations, an intelligence capacity building seminar, aerial refueling/low-level flight training, as

well as medical and dental assistance projects.

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News Headline: US Air Force Participates in Marrakech Aeroexpo, Strengthens Bonds |

News Date: 04/09/2012Outlet Full Name: U.S. AFRICOM Public AffairsNews Text: By Benjamin Wilson

MARRAKECH, Morocco, Apr 9, 2012 — U.S. Air Forces Africa participated in the third biennialMarrakech Aeroexpo in Marrakech, Morocco, April 4-7, 2012, to strengthen the partnershipswith Morocco and more than 15 other participating nations.

Approximately 400 exhibitors from the civil and military aviation communities had theopportunity to display their particular capabilities and technology to 50,000 visitors during theexposition.

With so many participants and visitors in attendance, planning for the expo was a big task totackle.

"We started planning one-and-a-half years in advance," said Lieutenant Colonel Stephen

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daSilva, 17th Air Force lead planner for the event. "It was a little easier this year because of theexperience I gained planning the 2010 trade show in Marrakech and a similar one in SouthAfrica, but it is always a challenge."

All that preparation goes a long way to building bonds with African nations.

"The U.S. Air Force takes part in air and trade shows like this one to showcase Air Forcepeople and resources, and to enhance our key African partnerships," said Major GeneralMargaret Woodward, 17th Air Force commander.

Along with almost 100 airmen present for the show, the key resources showcased during thisyear's event include five different airframes: the F-15 Eagle, C-130J Super Hercules, C-17Globemaster III, KC-135 Stratotanker and a U.S. Army UH-72A Lakota.

Industry professionals and the general public will have a chance to view these aircraft up closeand ask questions to the airmen who maintain and operate the planes during the show;however, the Air Force's presence at the expo is more than just an opportunity to exhibit ourcapabilities to the Moroccan people.

"Since the creation of U.S. Air Forces Africa in 2008, we have partnered with Morocco, andmany of the other African nations represented here, on everything from aircraft maintenance toair traffic control," Woodward said. "This is a different type of military engagement celebratingaviation and highlighting the ties that bind airmen together."

For this reason, the U.S. Air Force has participated in all three Marrakech Aeroexpos as wellas similar events throughout Africa and the Mediterranean regions.

"Participation in these events is a testimony to the partnerships we have built over the recentyears," said daSilva. "Working together with our partner nations in Africa not only promotesinteroperability, but it shows our commitment to the international security and stability in theregion."

This multilateral engagement and the interaction between all the militaries involved is just one

of many occasions in the upcoming year for the United States to strengthen its bonds in theregion and continue developing its partnership with nations like Morocco.

"We remain committed to strengthening our relationships with our African partners andexpanding participation in programs and initiatives working toward regional security andstability," Woodward said.

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News Headline: Africa Partnership Station Aims to Organize for 2013 |

News Date: 04/09/2012Outlet Full Name: U.S. Naval Forces Europe- Africa, U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs

News Text: By Lieutenant Commander Suzanna Brugler

GARMISH, Germany, Apr 9, 2012 — The Africa Partnership Station (APS) 2013 InitialPlanning Conference (IPC) took place in Garmisch, Germany, March 28-30, 2012.

The three-day conference provided a venue for participating partner nations from Africa,Australia, Europe and North America to meet and continue the dialogue for building future APSplans, goals and objectives.

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This year's main focus for APS was moving from a training-intensive program to providingmore real-world maritime operations.

James Hart, deputy director for programs at U.S. Africa Command, provided opening remarksfor the conference.

"APS is larger than just a program… it's a maritime capacity-building continuum with the goalof enabling our African partners to provide maritime security for peace and stability," said Hart.

During his remarks Hart spoke of the goals and objectives for APS 2013.

"How do we take APS to the next level? By moving away from a training-intensive program andorganize APS efforts through emphasizing hands-on training and real-world operations."

Currently, the primary operational elements of APS include the Africa Maritime LawEnforcement Program (AMLEP), a joint mission conducted by Naval Forces Africa, U.S. CoastGuard Atlantic Area, and African navies and coast guards; maritime passing exercises; and themulti-lateral "Express" series of exercises, including Obangame Express, Saharan Express,Phoenix Express and Cutlass Express.

During the conference, representatives from a few of the attending African partner nations hadan opportunity to brief the status of their respective nation's maritime environment as well asprogress that has been made over the past five years due to APS.

Nations who provided country briefs included Cameroon, The Gambia, Mauritania, Morocco,Mozambique and Sao Tome Principe.

Lieutenant Simon P. Mendy, officer in charge of Administration, Logistics, Search and Rescueand Maritime Interdiction for The Gambia, opened his brief with a quote from a U.S. Navyhistorical figure, Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan, then went on to describe the positiveimpact APS has had on his country's maritime domain awareness.

"We are getting there, with bi-lateral engagements supported by Africa Partnership Station – 

with our partners," said Mendy.

Rear Admiral Kenneth "K.J." Norton, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa deputy chief of staff forStrategy, Resources and Plans, provided closing remarks focusing on the key to the successesAPS has experienced in the maritime domain environment.

"APS is a shared endeavor, and for APS to be successful, ships are the platform of choice,"said Norton. "But I'm not talking about grey hulls here; I'm talking about partnerships. I'mtalking about relationships. And most of all, I'm talking about friendships. Those are the shipsthat will ensure the continued success of APS."

Partner nations who attended the APS 2013 IPC included Australia, Belgium, Benin,Cameroon, Canada, Djibouti, Finland, France, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Italy, Kenya,

Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Sao Tome Principe,Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Spain, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda and United Statesof America.

APS is an international security cooperation initiative facilitated by Commander, U.S. NavalForces Europe-Africa, aimed at strengthening global maritime partnerships through trainingand collaborative activities in order to improve maritime safety and security in Africa.

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