AFRICOM Related Newsclips 19 June11

8/6/2019 AFRICOM Related Newsclips 19 June11

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United States Africa CommandPublic Affairs Office20 June 2011

USAFRICOM - related news stories

TOP NEWS RELATED TO U.S. AFRICA COMMAND AND AFRICA

Critics assault Obamas Libya policy (POLITICO)(Libya) An intensifying battle over the presidents power to wage war withoutcongressional consent will come to a head this week in the House with abipartisan contingents efforts to amend a defense spending bill with provisionsdesigned to end American engagement in Libya.

Gates Says Libya Strategy Absolutely Right(DOD)

(Washington) The U.S. strategy toward Libya is absolutely right, DefenseSecretary Robert M. Gates said on "Fox News Sunday" this morning. Thesecretary, who will retire June 30, also discussed Afghanistan, the fiscal future ofthe department and what he will miss about the job during one of his lastinterviews as secretary.

GOP splitting over U.S. role in Libya and Afghanistan(LA Times)(Libya) Republicans are facing a widening fissure over the U.S. role on the worldstage as party leaders decide whether to confront President Obama this weekover his policy toward Libya.

NATO confirms strike hit wrong target, killing Libyan civilians(WP)(Libya) NATO said a coalition bomb misfired into a residential neighborhood ofTripoli early Sunday and killed civilians, an acknowledgment that is likely tofuel a growing controversy over the Wests protracted effort to oust MoammarGaddafi.

Claims of Wartime Rapes Unsettle and Divide Libyans (NY Times)(Libya) The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said this month thatevidence was emerging that Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi had authorized his

soldiers to rape Libyan women, an assertion that seemed to support months ofrumors about a brutal, continuing campaign.

Libya action may cost UK hundreds of millions (BBC)(Libya) The total cost of the UK's involvement in Nato's military action in Libyacould run "into the hundreds of millions" of pounds, Treasury Chief SecretaryDanny Alexander has said.


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Angelina Jolie and UNHCR chief Guterres visit boat people on Italian island (UNHCR)(Libya) Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie and UNHCR chief AntnioGuterres met boat people, including unaccompanied minors, on a tiny Italianisland on Sunday and remembered those who have lost their lives trying to reach

Lampedusa by sea from Africa.

Darfur rebels say Sudan army attacks their positions (Reuters)(Sudan) Rebels in Sudan's western Darfur region accused the government ofattacking them with military vehicles, warplanes and troops on horses onSunday.

Somalia: Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Resigns (RFI)(Somalia) Somalia's Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed has resigned

reversing a statement he made last week saying he would not step down fromthe position.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Websitey Niger: UN Official vows to help country overcome socio-economic

challenges

y UN urges probe into reports of refugees left to drown off North Africa y Sudan: UN condemns harassment of its peacekeepers in Southern

Kordofan

y Sudan: UN peacekeepers provide medical treatment to prisoners inMalakal

y Ban urges immediate end to hostilities in Sudans Southern Kordofanstate

-------------------------------------------------------------------------UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHAT: Certification: The Path to Conflict-Free Minerals from CongoWHEN/WHERE: Monday, June 20th at 10:30am to 12:00pm; Woodrow WilsonCenterWHO:H.E. Ambassador Faida Mitifu, Embassy of the Democratic Republic ofCongo;Jane Harman, Director, President, and CEO, Woodrow Wilson Center;Steve McDonald, Director of the Africa Program and the Project on Leadershipand Building State Capacity, Wilson Center; Robert D. Hormats, UnderSecretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Agricultural Affairs, USDepartment of State;John Bradshaw, Executive Director, Enough Project; TimMohin, Director of Corporate Responsibility, Advanced Micro Devices; Sasha


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Lezhnev, Policy Consultant on Conflict Minerals, Enough Project; Joanne Lebert,Director of the Great Lakes Policy Program, Partnership Africa CanadaInfo:http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.event_summary&event_id=701620

WHAT: Liberia Through the Eyes of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, AfricasFirst Elected Female Head of StateWHEN/WHERE: Friday, June 24th at 12:30pm to 1:30pm; United States Instituteof PeaceWHO:Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of LiberiaInfo: http://www.usip.org/events/liberia-through-the-eyes-president-ellen-johnson-sirleaf-africa-s-first-elected-female-head-s

WHAT: 2011 World Congress of the Society for International Development(SID)WHEN/WHERE: From 8:30am on July 29th to 4:00pm on July 31st; OmniShoreham Hotel, 2500 Clavert Street NW, Washington, DC 20008WHO:Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank; Prime Minister RailaOdinga, Kenya; President Joaquim Chissano, the former President ofMozambiqueTOPICS: Economic Progress, Human Development, Global Health, Governanceand Citizenship, Science and Technology, and Gender EqualityInfo:http://www.interaction.org/event/2011-world-congress-society-international-development-sid----------------------------------------------------------------------------------FULL ARTICLE TEXTCritics assault Obamas Libya policy (POLITICO)By Jonathan AllenJune 19, 2011An intensifying battle over the presidents power to wage war withoutcongressional consent will come to a head this week in the House with abipartisan contingents efforts to amend a defense spending bill with provisionsdesigned to end American engagement in Libya.

Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.), a member of the intelligence committee, has drafted anamendment to prohibit the use of government funds to continue the Libyamission, unless the expenditure is aimed at withdrawing from the theater. Rep.Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), one of 10 lawmakers who filed suit against PresidentBarack Obama over his failure to seek congressional approval for U.S. militaryaction against Libya, plans to offer one that is a straightforward cutoff offunding.


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Its not just rank-and-file lawmakers who are talking about cutting off funds.Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) raised the prospect of using Congresss powerover the Treasury to restrict the presidents war-making authority because, hesays, the president has not done enough to explain the size, scope and necessity

of the U.S. mission. Obama didnt win many converts on Capitol Hill last weekwhen he informed Congress that he doesnt believe he needs lawmakersapproval for U.S. operations because they are, in his opinion, distinct from thekind of hostilities contemplated by the War Powers Act.

Boehner said that interpretation doesnt meet the straight-face test.So after nearly a decade of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, which has costthousands of American lives and nearly $1.3 trillion, a Libya mission that iscomparatively inexpensive less than $1 billion so far and does not requireground troops has become the battleground for questions over the extent of the

presidents power and Congresss willingness to let him use it.

It all amounts to a historic test of Congresss constitutional role as the war-making branch of government, the viability of the Vietnam-era War Powers Actand the ongoing public appetite for American military engagement abroad. Notonly is Obama clashing with critics in Congress, but the Republicans competingto take him on in the 2012 presidential election debated the matter at their NewHampshire forum last week.

Ultimately, there are two issues at play: The first is whether the U.S. should be

involved in Libya, and the second is whether the president needs congressionalapproval to continue American operations in that theater. After three months ofdebate on Libya, they have become intertwined in some minds. Republicans whohave historically backed a robust presidency say Obama is violating the WarPowers Act. Meanwhile, Democrats who have sought to limit presidential war-making power are comfortable with Obamas belief that the War Powers lawdoesnt apply to the situation in Libya.

Any president, if we are attacked, if our country is attacked, has even under theWar Powers Act very strong powers to go after that country. But short of that, hemust come to Congress, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in2007.

In 1999, as the branches of government debated U.S. involvement in Kosovo,Boehner called the War Powers Act constitutionally suspect as part of anargument that Congress should not bind the hands of then-President Bill Clintonor his successors.


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A strong presidency is a key pillar of the American system of government the same system of government our military men and women are prepared togive their lives to defend, Boehner argued. Just as good intentions alone arenot enough to justify sending American troops into harms way, good intentionsalone are not enough to justify tampering with the underpinnings of American

democracy.

Aides to Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Majority Whip KevinMcCarthy (R-Calif.) were in lock step Friday when asked whether their bosseswould support or oppose efforts to cut off funding for Libya. Well see, theyanswered. Pelosi and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) are opposed to afunding cutoff.

In the Senate, John Kerry (D-Mass.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) who werecandidates in the past two presidential elections are preparing a resolution

that would approve of U.S. actions in Libya in an effort to preserve the viabilityof the War Powers Act. McCain and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, two ofthe Republican Partys leading hawks, said on separate political talk showsSunday that they fear the rise of an isolationist wing of the GOP.

That element was evident during the Republican presidential debate last weekand has been reflected in the views of tea party favorites in the House GOPmajority.

First of all, we were not attacked. We were not threatened with attack. There

was no vital national interest, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, head of theHouse Tea Party Caucus, said at the New Hampshire debate.

Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers are boxed into a position in which a voteagainst the Libya action or against the presidents authority to deploy forces is a vote against Obama, and a vote in favor of continuing operations thererisks alienating both anti-war Democrats and war-weary independents.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has backed the position that Obamadoesnt need congressional approval to stay the course with his Libya policy,while Reids top lieutenant, Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), insists that hemust seek approval.

But even those who agree on the presidents basic policy in Libya are at oddsover some of his obligations under the War Powers Act. Graham said on Meetthe Press on Sunday that the law is unconstitutional and not worth the paperits printed on.


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The president needs to step up his game with Libya, but Congress should sortof shut up and not empower [Muammar] Qadhafi, Graham said.

Durbin, who agrees with Graham on the importance of continuing the mission inLibya, said the president must get congressional approval.

We are engaged in hostilities in Libya. What we should do is act on a timelybasis to pass congressional authorization under the War Powers Act, Durbinsaid on Meet the Press.

That law was designed to limit the president by allowing him to deployAmerican forces without congressional consent for only up to 90 days. It wasintended to restrict the powers of the presidency after wars were fought in Koreaand Vietnam without declarations of war from Congress. Since then, presidentsgenerally have sought congressional approval through so-called use of force

resolutions and the like before deploying troops for extended engagements.

But many lawmakers and lawyers, particularly those who serve administrations,argue the law is unconstitutional. In practice, the War Powers Act has done littleto limit the presidents power and some believe it has expanded the executivebranchs authority to wage war.

Sunday marked the 90th day since the start of the Libya campaign, and themission, now led by NATO, continues without congressional approval.Depending on how they are structured, the Kucinich and Heck amendments

could get votes on the House floor, giving Congress a chance to end the Libyaintervention. Conversely, if they fail, it would be a tacit approval if not anauthorization of the hostilities there.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Fox News Sunday that cutting offfunding in the middle of a military operation, when we have people engaged, isalways a mistake.

Gates Says Libya Strategy Absolutely Right

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press ServiceWashingtonJune 19, 2011The U.S. strategy toward Libya is absolutely right, Defense Secretary Robert

M. Gates said on "Fox News Sunday" this morning.


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The secretary, who will retire June 30, also discussed Afghanistan, the fiscalfuture of the department and what he will miss about the job during one of hislast interviews as secretary.

The United States and its allies began the operation to protect Libyans from the

depredations of the Gadhafi regime, and then turned leadership of the effort overto NATO. When this operation started we had 50,000 troops in Iraq. We had100,000 troops in Afghanistan. We had 24,000 people engaged in Japaneseearthquake relief. We have a number of commitments around the world, Gatessaid.

The arrangement and the understanding the president had with our key alliesfrom the very beginning was the U.S. would come in heavy at beginning,establish a no-fly zone and then hand off the operation to our allies and that wewould recede into a support role, he said. That was his decision going in and

he stuck to it. The operation is protecting the Libyan people and the regime isgetting weaker each day.

The secretary believes President Obama has complied with the War Powers Act.But the president would also welcome the Congress passing a resolution ofsupport.

From the U.S. standpoint American service members are involved in a limitedkinetic operation. If Im in Qaddafis palace, I suspect I'd think Im at war, hesaid.

Gates also discussed the strategy in Afghanistan. Once President Obama decidedon a strategy in December 2009, he has stuck with it. As part of that strategy, U.S.troops will be drawn down gradually, turning over security responsibility toAfghan forces.

Its always been envisioned that with success on the ground, that the balancebetween combination of counterinsurgency and counterterrorism, the way itwould shift more to counterterrorism over time, Gates said. We have had a lotof success over the last 15 months in Afghanistan.

The conditions on the ground are far better than they were a year ago. Thisfighting season, the coalition and its Afghan allies have not only held everythingtaken from the Taliban last year, they have been able to expand security andfurther disrupt the infiltrations coming in from Pakistan, Gates said.

Turning to the budget, the secretary said he is worried about the fiscal future ofthe department. He is afraid that many whose primary concern is the deficit willsee the department as a cash cow.


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The base defense budget is not part of the deficit problem, he said. Ourpercentage of the base budget, not counting the cost of wars, the defense budgetis about 3.5 percent of (gross domestic product).

Thats basically the lowest that's been, except for a brief period in the 90s, since

before World War II. The department will economize and the cost of the warswill fall dramatically in the next few years. I think that its a mistake --particularly to couch the question in terms of the cost of war, because myquestion is, whats the cost of failure? he said.

What was cost of 9/11 because we left Afghanistan in 1989? How much moneyhave we spent since 9/11 trying to deal with that problem?

The United States is on the right road with the combat role in Afghanistanscheduled to end in 2014. So, this isnt an open-ended conflict, he said. I just

ask people to consider the consequences of failure. Gates has served 45 years inpublic service. He offered a few insights that experience has gained hi, Whenwe have been successful in national security and foreign affairs, it has beenbecause there has been bipartisan support, he said.

At its heart, success comes when the executive and legislative branches haveagreed on the basic tenets of the national security strategy. Thats whathappened through nine presidencies and the Cold War that led to our success,because no major international problem can be solved on one presidents watch,he said. And so, unless it has bipartisan support, unless it can be extended over

a period of time, the risks of failure is high.

Gates said the only thing he will miss about being secretary is the chance tointeract with the troops. I just spent three days with them in Afghanistan aweek-and-a-half ago, and getting on that plane was very hard, he said.He felt he was leaving them behind while they were still in the fight. Theyre sodedicated and so confident and theyre so capable, he said. Theyre just (such)extraordinary people.

GOP splitting over U.S. role in Libya and Afghanistan (LA Times)By Christi Parsons and Lisa Mascaro, Washington BureauJune 20, 2011Republicans are facing a widening fissure over the U.S. role on the world stage asparty leaders decide whether to confront President Obama this week over hispolicy toward Libya.


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House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and other congressional Republicanleaders have said that U.S. involvement in NATO's bombing campaign, whichhit the 90-day mark Sunday, violates the War Powers Act. The House could seekto cut off money for the war as it takes up the annual Pentagon spending bill thisweek.

Several of the party's potential presidential candidates have called for the U.S. toquit the fight in Libya and questioned the depth of U.S. involvement inAfghanistan.

Other Republicans have begun pushing back, criticizing what they see as agrowing isolationist agenda within the party. The result is that Republicans, oncerelatively unified on foreign policy issues, now have a division that parallels thelong-standing split in Democratic ranks.

The debate was on public display Sunday as two of the GOP's leading figures ondefense and foreign policy, Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Grahamof South Carolina, criticized Republican presidential hopefuls and congressionalleaders who question the country's military intervention around the world.

"There has always been an isolationist strain in the Republican Party," McCainsaid on ABC's "This Week," "but now it seems to have moved more centerstage.... That is not the Republican Party that has been willing to stand up forfreedom for people all over the world."

Graham said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that any debate over cutting funding forthe Libya war would encourage resistance by Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi."Congress should sort of shut up," he said.

McCain and Graham also criticized former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney,who's leading in the polls for the party's presidential nomination, for referring tothe fighting in Afghanistan as a "war for independence" that the U.S. shouldleave to others.

"I wish that candidate Romney and all the others would sit down" with U.S.commanders "and understand how this counter-insurgency is working andsucceeding," McCain said.

Romney was one of several presidential hopefuls who, in last week's Republicancandidate debate, focused criticism on U.S. military operations in Libya andAfghanistan. None took the sort of hawkish positions that McCain advocatedduring his presidential run in 2008.


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Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), for example, questioned what U.S. interest isat stake in Libya. "We were not attacked," Bachmann said. "We were notthreatened with attack. There was no vital national interest."

The rift among Republicans has been developing for some time but is coming

into sharper relief as the wars become increasingly unpopular and as the electionyear draws closer.

The arguments became louder last week after the White House released itsrationale for not asking Congress to authorize the Libya conflict under the WarPowers Act. White House officials said the war is not covered by the act'sdefinition of "hostilities" because the U.S. is playing a support role and Americanmilitary personnel are not directly in harm's way.

Boehner, who is trying to balance the conflicting positions within the Republican

caucus, gave a carefully worded answer on the subject last week, hinting at apossible move to cut off money. "The House has options," he said. "We're lookingat those options, and my guess is we may be prepared to move on thoseoptions."

A move to cut off money for Libya could gain support both from the right wingof the Republican Party and antiwar Democrats.

The Republican skeptics about Libya and Afghanistan tend to frame theirarguments in fiscal rather than foreign policy terms. The $700-million cost of the

Libya operation has fueled their opposition to what Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)called "an overreaching and sometimes unnecessary foreign policy."

"Our current expansive foreign policies are no longer fiscally possible to sustain,"he wrote in an op-ed article.

At the same time, the GOP has a strong interventionist faction that has longopposed most efforts to restrain presidential power. Many prominentRepublicans have argued for years, for example, that the War Powers Act isunconstitutional, a position Graham repeated Sunday.

Where the majority of Republican voters will end up is unknown. A Gallup polllast month suggested that 47% of Republicans wanted to bring the troops homefrom Afghanistan.

All that could make the issue tricky for Republican candidates, said Steven S.Smith, professor of political science at Washington University in St. Louis. "War-weariness is a real phenomenon," he said. The feeling that the fighting is


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unending "feeds the sense of misplaced priorities that bends some Americans ina more isolationist direction."

On the other hand, Smith said, "not knowing how Republican opinion mightdevelop, this appears to be a dangerous issue for Republican candidates who

have not made foreign affairs even a minor part of their campaigns."-----------------------------

NATO confirms strike hit wrong target, killing Libyan civilians (WP)By Ernesto LondonoJune 19, 2011TRIPOLI, Libya NATO said a coalition bomb misfired into a residentialneighborhood of Tripoli early Sunday and killed civilians, an acknowledgment

that is likely to fuel a growing controversy over the Wests protracted effort tooust Moammar Gaddafi.

Libyan officials said the blast flattened a two-story house, killing two childrenand seven adults. Sundays bombing marked the first time NATO hasacknowledged that a military mishap had resulted in civilian deaths in Libya,and it came a day after the alliance confirmed that last week it accidentally strucka vehicle carrying allied rebel fighters.

The two incidents underscored the perils of a military campaign the West is

waging almost exclusively from the air, with shifting front lines and scatteredallies with whom it has spotty lines of communication.

NATO regrets the loss of innocent civilian lives and takes great care inconducting strikes against a regime determined to use violence against its owncitizens, Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, the Canadian commander of the alliancesmission in Libya, said in a statement issued late Sunday.

NATO said that it intended to strike a military missile site but that a weaponssystem failure appeared to have caused a number of civilian casualties.

High-profile cases in which civilians were killed by U.S. and allied troops in theIraq and Afghanistan wars became major turning points in those conflicts as anti-Western sentiment soared. And Sundays incident bolstered Gaddafis claim thatthe coalitions operation is just the Wests latest bid to invade and pilfer aMuslim nation.


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We will never forgive, we will never forget, Libyan Foreign Minister Abdul Atial-Obeidi told reporters Sunday afternoon. He said the recent NATO bombingsought to ignite a global jihad against the oppressive, criminal West.

The Libya operations growing number of critics on Capitol Hill and in NATO

capitals are certain to pounce on the incident to argue that the costly, three-month mission is foundering. The Obama administration has struggled to defendits stance that the U.S. role does not require congressional approval, while NATOis facing mounting questions about the pace and achievements of a campaignthat Western leaders hoped would end within weeks.

Sunday marked the 90th day of the campaign, and Congress is likely to vote thisweek on amendments that would cut off funds for the operation or placerestrictions on the use of U.S. troops.

One hopes it will encourage NATO and Western governments to reconsider thecase for a cease-fire, which they appear to have ignored until now, said HughRoberts, a Libya expert at the International Crisis Group. The great danger isthat out of laziness, politicians will continue to succumb to the false argumentthat there is no alternative to military intervention.

On Sunday, a spokesman for Sen. Richard G. Lugar (Ind.), the top Republican onthe Foreign Relations Committee, said this incident brought to mind somethingthe senator had said previously.

When a president conducts a misdirected war, there will be misdirectedresults, Mark Helmke said. He added: Historians may look back and say, this[is] when the United States under Obama killed NATO, the most successfulmilitary alliance in history.

The bomb struck a home in the Souk Jouma district of northern Tripoli, an areaof the city where many despise the Gaddafi regime.

The streets of Souk Jouma have been restive in recent weeks. Regime loyalistshave painted over anti-Gaddafi graffiti and residents attempting to stage anti-government demonstrations have exchanged gunfire with government forces,residents said in interviews Sunday.

By taking foreign journalists to the flattened house twice Sunday morning,Libyan government officials provided reporters with a rare glimpse of a side ofTripoli they have worked arduously to conceal.


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Residents didnt chant pro-Gaddafi slogans when they saw foreign journalists, asoften happens in other parts of the capital. There were no photos of the autocrat,and none of the green flags used to convey loyalty to the regime were visible.

A 38-year-old man who asked to be identified only by his first name, Ali, said

more than half of the areas residents oppose the regime.But there is no army here, he said, standing on a pile of rubble. Just civilians.

Libyan government officials have struggled in recent weeks to convincejournalists that NATO has bombed civilian targets, but the accounts andevidence they have presented have often been unconvincing.

NATO aircraft have conducted more than 4,000 flights to identify or striketargets since it took command of the mission on March 31.The bombings have destroyed critical government facilities, including Gaddafis

palace.

In a video statement late Sunday, Wing Cmdr. Mike Bracken, a NATOspokesman, said, The Gaddafi regime could put a stop to this fighting if it wereto comply with the international communitys demands.

But Gaddafi has vowed to defeat the alliance and has sought to portray the rebelsas armed gangs collaborating with crusaders from the West. In a speechFriday, he urged NATO to use nuclear bombs, saying Libyans would prevail nomatter what.

Others in his government have called for an immediate halt to the bombings,saying negotiations with rebels based in the western city of Benghazi might bepossible if NATO suspends its mission.

Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim on Sunday said the strikes againstcivilians were deliberate.

They want to plant horror and terror in the heart of people so they will want aquick end to the conflict, he said. This is making the enemy even clearer: theWest attacking a Muslim country for oil, dominance and occupation.

Staff writer David A. Fahrenthold in Washington contributed to this report.-----------------------------Claims of Wartime Rapes Unsettle and Divide Libyans (NY Times)By Kareen FahimJune 19, 2011


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The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said this month that evidencewas emerging that Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi had authorized his soldiers to rapeLibyan women, an assertion that seemed to support months of rumors about abrutal, continuing campaign.

We have information that there was a policy to rape in Libya those who wereagainst the government, the prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said at a recentnews conference. There is evidence, he said, that anti-impotence drugs werebought in bulk and supplied to soldiers. In some parts of Libya, he said, theremay have been hundreds of victims.

Mr. Moreno-Ocampo cautioned that these were only allegations, however, andhuman rights investigators have since raised questions about the assertions.Amnesty International said its researchers had not turned up significantevidence to support the claim of mass rapes. And M. Cherif Bassiouni, chairman

of a United Nations commission investigating human rights violations in Libya,said he and his team had so far interviewed only one victim and had been toldabout a handful of other cases.

Im not saying it isnt true, he said in an interview. Im saying I dont have theevidence for it yet.

Some confusion was to be expected: it is notoriously difficult to investigateallegations of sexual violence in war zones, where traumatized victims alreadyburdened with the stigma of rape remain vulnerable to renewed attacks. But in

Libya, infighting among doctors and other health workers in rebel-held areaswho are trying to investigate rapes has deepened the uncertainties.

They have criticized one another, squabbled about how to conduct a properinvestigation and argued about whether there were any rapes at all.

The claims of widespread sexual violence have been cited by foreign officialscalling for Colonel Qaddafi to step down.

In a recent statement, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton cited theallegations by Mr. Moreno-Ocampo, and said that Colonel Qaddafi and otherleaders in the region were trying to divide the people by using violence againstwomen and rape as tools of war.

Much of the controversy as well as the early, unconfirmed evidence of massrapes has centered on the work of a Libyan psychologist in Benghazi, Dr.Seham Sergewa.


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Dr. Sergewa said that she had identified at least 259 victims of rape from morethan 60,000 responses to surveys she and other volunteers distributed overseveral weeks in eastern Libya and along the Tunisian border. She said she hadpersonally interviewed 140 rape victims.

But other doctors have attacked her research and methods, saying it seemsunlikely that she could have distributed so many surveys, even in the best oftimes. The doctors, including the head of Benghazis Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. AliM. Elroey, say she has been unwilling to open her research for peer review.

I find it a bit exaggerated, Dr. Elroey said in an interview at the hospital, whereDr. Sergewa, until recently, kept a small office. I dont think in three weeks youcan distribute that many fliers.

Dr. Sergewas colleagues have also criticized her for talking to the news media.

The rape question is highly sensitive everywhere in the world, and even moreso in a conservative society like ours, said Essam Gheriani, a psychologist whois leading one of several efforts to help victims of sexual violence.

The attention is discouraging victims from coming forward, Mr. Gheriani said,and asking for the help they should be asking for. But others said that theopposite was true and that media attention could encourage women to report theattacks.

As researchers fight among themselves, unconfirmed accounts of sexual violence

continue to circulate. Rebel officials said they had discovered condoms andpackets of Viagra in tanks and other vehicles captured from Colonel Qaddafissoldiers. Many people say they have seen cellphone videos of rapes, though suchvideos have been hard to locate because, Colonel Qaddafis opponents assert,cellphone users quickly deleted them to protect the women.

CNN, however, did recently broadcast a cellphone video that it said depicted awoman being sexually assaulted by two men using a broomstick, though it wasunclear who the rapists were or when the attack occurred.

The victims have also been hard to find. Apart from Eman al-Obeidy, who burstinto a hotel full of journalists to say she had been raped by Qaddafi militiamen,few women have spoken out.Theyre not going to say it publicly, Mr. Bassiouni said. Theyre not going todestroy their family reputation. In its report from Libya, Mr. Bassiounis teamnoted that there were also allegations of rapes committed by rebel fighters.


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The story of one woman who said she was raped by Qaddafi loyalistsunderscored the challenges facing victims and people trying to help them. Thewoman said that she was willing to tell a reporter about the rape and that shehad talked to a doctor who was a friend, but that she had no intention ofdiscussing it further with any official.

The story also seemed to match a pattern that Dr. Sergewa said had emergedfrom her interviews, in which women said they were kidnapped by ColonelQaddafis soldiers or loyalists and raped in remote places.

The woman, who is 41, said that about 10 days after the uprising began inFebruary she was seized by three men with knives who drove her to a remotevilla where at least four other men were waiting. Beginning about 2 a.m. thatday, the seven men took turns raping her, she said.

They didnt say anything, the woman recalled. I wished one of them wouldtalk. When one finally did speak, at 7 a.m., he ordered several men to dump hernear her house. Let her be a lesson for every woman, she quoted the man assaying.

She said she believed that they were all loyalists of Colonel Qaddafi who werepunishing her for her visible role as a protester against his government.

Dr. Sergewa, well known in Libya for her appearances on a morning televisionprogram, said the efforts to discredit her work and harassment that has

included anonymous telephone threats reflected a continued reluctance inLibya to broach the subject of sexual violence. As a nation, we dont want todeal with it, she said.

She said that she had relied on family connections, volunteers and local charitiesto distribute the surveys in cities and towns where Libyan refugees begansettling after the uprising began. Dr. Sergewa said she would show photos shehad taken of victims injuries to investigators, if the women consented.

She showed a few completed surveys to a reporter, but said she did not haveaccess to the others because Dr. Elroey had locked up her research at her oldoffice at the psychiatric hospital, a charge that he denied.

On the back of one survey, Dr. Sergewa said, a 22-year-old rape victim wrote indespair: Im always thinking of killing myself.-----------------------------Libya action may cost UK hundreds of millions (BBC)By Unattributed Author


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June 19, 2011The total cost of the UK's involvement in Nato's military action in Libya couldrun "into the hundreds of millions" of pounds, Treasury Chief Secretary DannyAlexander has said.

He told Sky News that while the campaign was currently costing "tens ofmillions", spending would rise as operations continued.

The government had previously said it would not cost hundreds of millions.The cost of the military campaign is being met by Treasury reserves.

'Moral case'

Mr Alexander said that as the money was coming from reserves "set asideprecisely for contingencies such as this, it doesn't have an effect on any otherspending, on any other public services".

He added: "Of course there is a very powerful moral case for the action we aretaking in Libya, it's right that we find those resources precisely from thecontingency reserve that we have.

"It's right that the United Kingdom is playing a leading role to protect Libyancivilians from the appalling activities of the Libyan government and to take thatcountry, we hope, to a better future."

When military strikes against Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces began on 19March, Chancellor George Osborne estimated that the cost of British involvementwould be "in the order of tens of millions of pounds, not hundreds of millions".

Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said: "It is worrying that DannyAlexander seems to be guessing about current costs, which are dramaticallymore than George Osborne originally predicted.

"We support the mission in Libya, but the government need to be clearer on the

costs."

The BBC said last week that it understood that the cost of military operations inLibya to the British taxpayer had reached 100m.-----------------------------Angelina Jolie and UNHCR chief Guterres visit boat people on Italian island (UNHCR)


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By Melissa FlemingJune 19, 2011LAMPEDUSA ISLAND, Italy, June 19 (UNHCR) Goodwill AmbassadorAngelina Jolie and UNHCR chief Antnio Guterres met boat people, includingunaccompanied minors, on a tiny Italian island on Sunday and remembered

those who have lost their lives trying to reach Lampedusa by sea from Africa.

Jolie and Guterres visited the Porta d'Europa a stone gateway on a headlandnext to the sea where hundreds of boats have arrived with migrants from NorthAfrica, including refugees and asylum-seekers. More than 40,000 people haverisked the Mediterranean crossing on overcrowded boats and reachedLampedusa so far this year. A further 1,500 have died in the attempt.

Guterres appealed on European countries to accept the people coming from

Africa, especially those fleeing violence in Libya. "When we have so manyconflicts at the gates of Europe, the most important thing a country can do iskeep their borders open," he stressed, while mentioning Italy by name.

The High Commissioner noted that about 18,000 people, including refugees, hadreached Lampedusa by boat to date from Libya, while adding that thisrepresented only 2 per cent of the people who had left Libya since conflicterupted there in February.

Jolie, who earlier in the day meet asylum-seekers at two locations in Malta, said

she was moved to be at the Porta d'Europa. "It was very moving to stand withthe mayor, the priest and the people of Lampedusa at this place, to take amoment of silence while a wreath was laid on a submerged boat on which threepeople had lost their lives.

"When I think of these people, these families, I try to imagine what would bringsomeone for example a mother with children to make this journey. What kindof a life she must have lived, what she must have suffered, to be brought to apoint where her last resort is to step onto an overcrowded rickety boat," Joliesaid.

"What must her life be like that the best alternative is to risk drowning andsuffocation . . . only to be brought to a new country where she may be turnedaway. Sent back to sea," she said, adding: "Very few of us here today can evenbegin to understand what kind of painful existence she must have led."

The award-winning actress and Guterres also both thanked the Italiancoastguard for saving many people who were on sinking boats. Jolie had earlier


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Friday in Valletta praised coastguards in Malta for having "saved thousands oflives over the years" and urged that they receive support from the internationalcommunity to handle the inflow of migrants by sea.

The VIP visitors also saw reception facilities on Lampedusa and met with

unaccompanied minors as well as some new arrivals. Italy has moved most ofthe boat people to the mainland, but some have been returned to Tunisia. Mostof the arrivals have been economic migrants, especially from Tunisia, but someare people in need of international protection, including refugees from sub-Saharan Africa and Libya.

Guterres said it was important that arrivals be moved from the crowdedconditions of Lampedusa as soon as possible. He also noted that among thosecoming to Italy, "there are some people who are becoming a refugee for thesecond time."

Meanwhile, he spoke against proposals that Italy revive a policy of pushing backto Africa boats carrying migrants. "My position is clear, it's not possible to sendpeople back to a civil war situation."

Before joining High Commissioner Guterres in Lampedusa, Jolie had visitedMalta, which has also been a destination for people fleeing North Africa by boat.She visited Lyster Barracks, a former Royal Air Force facility and now adetention centre for asylum-seekers, many of whom have fled the violence inLibya. They include Somalis, Ethiopians and others from sub-Saharan Africa.

"Malta has saved many lives, but it is the daily conditions on the ground that areof most concern," Jolie said in Malta on Sunday morning. "We've spent timetoday speaking with the government and will spend more time talking abouthow, together, we can make the conditions more humane, especially for thechildren.

"We've spoken about our shared concerns about making sure asylum claims areprocessed as quickly as possible so no-one is sitting in a prison-like situation andwaiting on a decision about their status," she added.

Many of the people Jolie met in the barracks told her that they had been workingin Libya to make money to remit to their families back home. One man referredto Libya as the heart of Africa, where they were able to work. "Now it is on fireand Africa is crying," he said.

The people said they had never attempted to come to Europe before, they justwanted a place where they were safe and could work. "They are not asking to go


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to any particular country, they just want to find safety to work, and to havefreedom," Jolie stressed.

The Goodwill Ambassador also visited an open centre near Malta's main airportwhere vulnerable asylum-seekers are living in tents inside an old aircraft hangar

while their asylum claims are assessed. The people she met there said livingconditions were difficult.-----------------------------

Darfur rebels say Sudan army attacks their positions (Reuters)By Alex Dziadosz

June 19, 2011KHARTOUM- Rebels in Sudan's western Darfur region accused the governmentof attacking them with military vehicles, warplanes and troops on horses onSunday.

The Sudanese army confirmed it had clashed with rebels in the mountainousJabel Marra region but said it had not used aircraft and the fighting had notdisplaced civilians.

Darfur is just one of several flashpoints as Sudan's south prepares to secede onJuly 9 -- a move analysts say could embolden rebels elsewhere. The north's armyis also battling armed groups in the Southern Kordofan border state.

Violence in Darfur, where mostly non-Arab rebels are fighting governmenttroops backed by largely Arab militias, has fallen from its peak in 2003 and 2004but a surge in attacks since December has forced tens of thousands to flee.

Ibrahim al-Helwu, a spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) led byParis-based Abdel Wahed Mohamed al-Nur, said the violence began aroundmidmorning when government troops advanced from the Darfur settlements ofKas and Nyala.

He said 27 people, including 19 civilians, were killed and about 40 woundedafter an assault with land troops and Antonov and MiG aircraft.

"From the morning, the government started to attack," Helwu said, speaking byphone from Paris. "More than 10,000 civilians are displaced from this area."


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Government military spokesman Al-Sawarmi Khaled said troops had foughtSLA rebels in the Jabel Marra area on Sunday, causing an unconfirmed numberof casualties on both sides.

He denied aircraft were used in the fighting and said civilians had not been

harmed or forced to flee.

Separately, Sudan's army has been battling southern-aligned groups in the north-run oil state of Southern Kordofan for two weeks, raising tensions as the southprepares to become an independent country in less than a month.

At least seven different rebel militias are also fighting the southern Jubagovernment, according to the United Nations.

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of masterminding genocide andwar crimes in Darfur. Khartoum refuses to recognize the court.

The United Nations says as many as 300,000 people have died during the conflictin Darfur. Khartoum puts the death toll at 10,000.

Qatar has been hosting Darfur peace talks but progress has been hampered byrebel divisions and continued military operations, as Khartoum has graduallyreasserted control over towns and other previously rebel-held areas.

The south voted to secede in a January referendum promised in a 2005 peacedeal that ended decades of civil war.-----------------------------Somalia: Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Resigns (RFI)By Unattributed AuthorJune 19, 2011Somalia's Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed has resigned reversinga statement he made last week saying he would not step down from the position.

His move follows a recent UN-backed deal reached in Uganda which called forMohamed to resign within a month to pave the way for the formation of a newgovernment in Mogadishu.

"Considering the interest of the society and in compliance with the Kampalaaccord, I decided to quit to compromise for the national interest," Mohamed toldreporters in the capital, Mogadishu.


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The accord, which also ended the prime minister's mandate, stipulates thatelections for president and speaker of parliament will have to take place before20 August, 2012.

Mohamed, a Somali-American, has served as prime minister for about the past

six months. He previously taught at a community college in New York.The president has named Abdiwali Mohamed Ali as caretaker prime ministeruntil a new appointment is made.

Somalia's transitional government, which was set up in 2004 in Kenya, owes itsurvival to the international community.

It has been weakened by in-fighting between its leaders which has worsened asthe end of the mandates approached.-----------------------------

UN News Service Africa BriefsFull Articles on UN Website

Niger: UN Official vows to help country overcome socio-economic challenges17 June The United Nations representative for West Africa today offered theworld bodys support to strengthening the democratic institutions in Niger,according to a press statement from the UN Office for West Africa (UNOWA).

UN urges probe into reports of refugees left to drown off North Africa17 June The United Nations Human Rights Council today called for acomprehensive inquiry into allegations that sinking boats carrying migrants andasylum-seekers fleeing unrest in North Africa were abandoned to their fate at seadespite the alleged ability of ships in the vicinity to rescue them.

Sudan: UN condemns harassment of its peacekeepers in Southern Kordofan17 June The United Nations today strongly condemned the detention andabuse by the Sudanese armed forces of four UN peacekeepers who were onpatrol in Kadugli, the main town in Southern Kordofan, where fighting is ragingbetween the northern and southern armies.

Sudan: UN peacekeepers provide medical treatment to prisoners in Malakal

16 June A medical team from the United Nations peacekeeping mission inSudan (UNMIS) has provided treatment to more than 140 inmates and prisonstaff in the main prison in Malakal, the capital of Southern Sudans state ofUpper Nile, during a one-day medical camp in the facility this week.

Ban urges immediate end to hostilities in Sudans Southern Kordofan state


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15 June Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged an immediate end to thefighting in Sudans Southern Kordofan state, which has caused the death ofmany civilians and the displacement of tens of thousands, and put UnitedNations staff directly at risk.

AFRICOM Related Newsclips 19 June11

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