Africa Week in Review- May 9th, 2014

05/09/14
Natalie Chwalisz
Africa
Conflict, U.S. Congress, U.S. Policy, U.S. Policy, Military, Governance, Terrorism

The U.S announced it will send an advisory team to Nigeria to help locate the kidnapped girls; Secretary Kerry wrapped up his visit to the continent, and the United States signed another ten year lease for its base in Djibouti. Read about this and other news below:

Nigeria & South Sudan - Conflict, Crisis and Atrocities

Secretary Kerry expressed both U.S. concern and U.S. willingness to support the Nigerian government in a speech in Ethiopia:

The kidnapping of hundreds of children by Boko Haram is an unconscionable crime, and we will do everything possible to support the Nigerian government to return these young women to their homes and to hold the perpetrators to justice.

In response to the abduction of the girls, the United States promised a team of U.S. military advisors together with civilian experts. The Department of Defense will send 10 U.S. Africa Command military personnel as part the team, which will also consist of “law enforcement officials with expertise in investigations and hostage negotiations, as well as officials with [other relevant] expertise.”

Several prominent U.S. Congresspersons, amongst them Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), called for more U.S. assistance in this effort, including military intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) assets. The Senate also passed a resolution in solidarity with the Nigerian people, calling for an immediate return of the girls.

However, some analysts are cautious about more U.S. security assistance to the Nigerian government. The Los Angeles Times published an essay focusing on the pervasive problem of corruption in Nigeria, a driving factor in the conflict.

  • The United Nations (UN) and Amnesty International (AI) published reports documenting war crimes in South Sudan. The UN report found that both rebel forces and the national army committed atrocities during the ongoing civil war. The AI report concurs, showing that “all parties to the conflict have disregarded international human rights law and humanitarian law.” Security forces, the UN writes, went from house to house, lethally targeting certain ethnic groups.

Currently, the South Sudanese military is set to receive U.S. military support, a step that the U.S. State Department defended as necessary despite human rights concerns in the last Congressional hearing on the matter. The U.S. State Department budgeted $57,841,000 in security assistance to South Sudan in the current Congressional Budget Request, in addition to any Department of Defense assistance.

The two reports will likely reinvigorate the debate around targeted UN sanctions against those bearing the greatest responsibility for war crimes. The U.S. announced sanctions against two South Sudanese, whose actions in the eyes of the United States “are contributing to the mounting humanitarian and human rights catastrophe unfolding in South Sudan.”

Security related news from across Africa

  • U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry wrapped up his four state Africa tour to Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and South Sudan. Kerry emphasized security alongside with economic development, and called for a long term U.S. engagement in Africa. For a good round up of Kerry’s visit, read the UN Dispatch blog post on the matter.
  • According to U.S. Defense News, Secretary Kerry’s tour coincides with a “sharp ramp-up in U.S. military presence in key spots” in Africa. However, the article asks the question whether “simply training indigenous troops without other societal reforms is a viable strategy for the US.”
  • There were hopeful signs in the peace negotiations in South Sudan this week. The two formal parties to the conflict signed an agreement on Monday to cease military aggression for a month in order to allow for humanitarian relief. President Salva Kiir agreed to meet with the rebel leader and former Vice President Rieck Machar today, May 9, as part of the regional peace negotiation chaired by Ethiopia. This step comes after U.S. Secretary of State Kerry urged the South Sudanese President to consider in person negotiations.  In a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, President Kiir indicated openness to the formation of an interim government, which could include former vice-president Machar.
  • U.S. Special Envoy for the Great Lakes and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Russell D Feingold gave a press briefing during Secretary Kerry’s visit to the country on May 4.Feingold praised the DRC advances against the M23 militias, and called on the DRC government to consider the pursuit of the FDLR militia as a “top priority.”
  • The Daily Maverick, a South African newspaper, published an essay critical of Kenya’s counterterrorism response. It argues that the continued attacks prove that Kenya’s large-scale, indiscriminate round-ups of Somali residents do not address the real threat of terrorism. It refers to Kenyan handling of terrorism attacks as “bullish, brutal, impulse driven and reactionary.”
  • Separately, The Economist published a piece on the rampant human rights abuses by the Kenya’s security sector, writing that in “Kenya, the police are often as dangerous as the criminal”
  • The Economist makes the point that “Kenya is one of the world’s five leading countries in terms of the funds it gets from the United States for combating terrorism.” According to our data, Kenya is amongst the top 20 recipients of U.S. security assistance worldwide.
  • The U.S. embassy in Uganda warned that they had received intelligence indicating a risk of terrorist attack against churches and public places in the capital Kampala in May or June. Uganda is a troop-contributing country to the African Union Mission in Somalia, where the terrorist group al-Shabab operates.
  • Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh travelled to the United States this week. The two countries signed a new ten-year lease for the U.S. military base in the country. In a joint press release afterwards, the two Presidents affirmed their

Shared commitment to increase security and stability in the Horn of Africa and to prevent al-Qa’ida and al-Shabaab from gaining new footholds [and the] ongoing civilian and military cooperation in the areas of countering terrorism and violent extremism, countering piracy, enhancing maritime security, and securing Djibouti’s borders.

  • France released a map reflecting their planned forward operating bases in Africa’s Sahel region. In order to execute France’s “Counter-terrorism” strategy, France will station some 3,000 soldiers between Mali, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso.
  • Reuters reports that the economic cost of piracy off the Horn of Africa has plummeted to half, as attacks have been on the decrease. Piracy remains on the uptick in West Africa however.
  • Nigeria formerly received U.S. Coast Guard cutter Gallatin in a ceremony Thursday.