Africa News Briefs

 

Mar. 27 (GIN) - A rowdy band of undisciplined junior officers marauded through the streets of Bamako in the West African nation of Mali, after sacking Mali’s president in a mutiny earlier this week that left residents of this quiet democracy-loving nation aghast and horrified.

 

Mali, revered worldwide as the home of blues music, guitarist Ali Farka Toure, Salif Keita and other renowned singers and musicians, was the most unlikely place for an uprising of officers, many of whom were recently trained by a contingent of U.S. special operations forces stationed there.

 

Elite commandos from the 19th Special Forces Group, based in Utah, have been working with Malian and other African militaries as part of an effort to stop al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) from expanding its influence across the Sahara. It was felt at the Pentagon that Mali's President Amadou Toumani Toure was not doing enough to tackle AQIM or the smuggling of drugs, arms and Western hostages across the desert.

 

Mali also faces an uprising of a nomadic group known as the Tuaregs, whose lifestyle of pastoralism has been nearly decimated by the growth of cities in the region and the division of their traditional territory into parcels in Mali, Niger, Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Burkina Faso.

 

Now carrying weapons supplied by former Libyan leader Moamar Gaddafi, Tuaregs have been gaining territory in Mali’s northern desert expanse where they are seeking to carve out a homeland. Captain Amadou Sanogo, the little-known junta leader, has promised to end the Tuareg insurgency.

 

“No one really wants to see armed attacks on these Tuareg groups,” said Mariam Djibrilla Maiga president of a group that organized a recent peace forum.  “But people hear a hard line from the rebels - independence or nothing,” she told a reporter with the Voice of America. “This is why part of the population says we must use the military route - even though Maiga thinks the solution is to talk.”

 

Washington sends Mali about $170 billion a year in assistance, funds that go to everything from agriculture development to military training for counterterrorism work, according to State Department and USAID budget documents.  w/pix of U.S. training in Mali

 

Mar. 27 (GIN) -  Since becoming independent from Portugal in 1974, Guinea-Bissau has struggled through a dictatorship, three coups and the 2009 assassination of President Joao Bernardo Vieira.

 

Now, the election to replace the last president, Malam Bacai Sanha, who died in January after a long illness, is in disarray. Losing candidates have called the process a fraud and are refusing to take part in any run-off.

 

Second place finisher Kumba Yala, a former president who was overthrown in a 2003 coup, told reporters Thursday: "I will not compete in a second round, or even a third round of the election because these elections are fraudulent."

 

Yala retains strong support from his Balanta ethnic group, the country's largest. He received 23 percent of the vote after ex-prime minister Carlos Gomes Jr., who got nearly 49 percent among the nine candidates competing in Sunday's poll. Electoral law calls for a runoff between the top two finishers if none of the candidates received more than 50 percent.

 

Gomes, claiming victory, expressed delight at the result, adding that his ruling African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (APIGCV) was unbeatable.

 

Election observers said voting appeared to go smoothly in this country of 1.6 million people but critics expressed doubt after the government refused to update a voter register from 2008, leaving more than 100,000 people off the list.

 

The leading candidates have promised to make fighting drugs a priority. According to a leaked 2009 U.S. diplomatic cable, an estimated 800-1,000 kg of cocaine are flown into Guinea Bissau every night along with an unknown amount ferried by sea into the maze of mangrove-lined islands that make up much of its coast.  w/pix of K. Yala

 

 

Mar. 27 (GIN) – A digital archive of Nelson Mandela’s life and times has been launched on the internet, with thanks to a gift from the internet firm Google.

 

The archive is housed at Johannesburg's Centre of Memory. Almost 2,000 entries have been made available for scholars and researchers, covering most of Nelson Mandela's life, including a 1952 photo at his law office.

 

“The Mandela Digital Archive Project shows how the Internet can help preserve historical heritage and make it available to the world,” Steve Crossan, director of the Google Cultural Institute, said Tuesday.

 

Images of the cell on Robben Island, near Cape Town, in which he spent many of his 27 years in jail are among the material stored on the archive.

 

The plan was announced a year ago with $1.25 million in funds from Google.

 

It also includes thousands of handwritten documents such as church membership cards from 1929, notes on political negotiations, and what appears to be a draft of a 1995 letter to a young admirer about Valentine's Day.

 

While Google helped assemble the collection online, staff at the centre determined what content to show and how it is presented, the centre's Verne Harris said.  To see the collection, go to http://archive.nelsonmandela.org.  w/pix of N.Mandela in law office

 

Mar 27 (GIN) -  Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade acknowledged the victory of his rival, Macky Sall a former protégé of the President, who won 65 % of the vote with the “promise to reform the government and lower basic food costs.” Wade made the call at 9:27 p.m. after his defeat was sealed.

 

Sall, age 50, held various senior positions in Wade’s government including Prime Minister from 2004 - 2007. In his victory speech, Sall said, “Senegal has long been an anchor of stability in a part of the world more commonly overrun by military coups, election-related violence and “presidents for life.”

 

Sall had a fall out with President Wade over Wade’s efforts to position his son Karim Wade as the next chief executive. But Karim, mockingly known as the” Minister of Sky and Earth” because of his positions in the Ministries controlling infrastructure and energy, was unpopular due to the failure of economic development in the country which left the youth disenchanted.

 

French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Wade's peaceful exit a “testimony to Mr. Wade’s commitment to democracy.” Angola’s opposition  leader, Isaias Samakuva of UNITA said, “the lesson we would like to take ... is of a transparent process that follows democratic rules, and it would be good if that could be pursued here in Angola.”

 

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated the candidates and the Senegalese people complimenting, “the exemplary manner,” for the run-offs, while President Barrack Obama said the election, “reaffirmed Senegal’s tradition as a leading example of good governance.’…thanking Wade for his leadership and relations with the US. Wade is 85 and the second oldest leader in Africa. w/pix of M. Sall supporters