United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

19 April 2010

USAFRICOM - related news stories

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

To fight pirate scourge, follow the money: US admiral (AFP)

WASHINGTON — International efforts against pirates off the Horn of Africa need to
target the money extorted from commercial ships, a senior US Navy officer said on
Thursday.

Credibility of Sudan's Vote Thrown into Further Doubt (Voice of America)

JUBA, Sudan - The legitimacy of Sudan's elections has been thrown into further doubt
following reports from observation teams the election will not meet international
standards. Opposition parties in Khartoum say the vote was rigged and that they will
not accept its results.

Navy looks for answers after Seebee dies from malaria (Stars and Stripes)
HEIDELBERG, Germany — Although scores of U.S. troops are infected every year by
malaria — 60 were diagnosed last year, and about 150 were diagnosed in 2003 — Joshua
Dae Ho Carrell is just the second to die of the disease in more than a decade, according
to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.

20 killed in Somali violence (UPI)

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The death toll in shelling between the government and
insurgents in Somali's capital has risen to 20, authorities said.

Zimbabwe Marks 30 Years of Independence (Associated Press)

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe on Sunday marks 30 years of the rule of President
Robert Mugabe, swept to power during the country's heady and optimistic
independence in 1980.

Coup attempt foiled in Madagascar: officer (Xinhua)

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar - A coup attempt was foiled on Sunday in Madagascar
after the minister of armed forces in the Indian Ocean island country was sacked early
in the month, according to the military.

Attackers kill soldier escorting Central Africa poll agents (AFP)

BANGUI, Central African Republic – Armed attackers shot dead a soldier escorting
electoral commission staff in the Central African Republic, officials said Friday, adding
to tensions ahead of a presidential election on May 16.

Al-Qaeda frees abducted Italian couple in Mali (BBC)

An Italian couple who were being held hostage in the west African country of Mali by
al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have been released.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
Darfur: UN-African Union Mission makes contact with four abducted
peacekeepers
UN agency lauds Tanzania’s move to naturalize ‘1972 Burundian refugees’
Somali clashes taking shocking toll on civilians, says UN refugee agency
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UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, April 21; 12:30 p.m.; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies: In Defense of Competition:
The Cost of Coalition in Africa
WHO: Nic Cheeseman, lecturer in African studies at the University of Oxford
Info: http://www.sais-jhu.edu/calendar/index.htm

WHEN/WHERE: Thursday, April 22; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Africa Business Initiative Discussion on emerging
opportunities for trade and business investment with commissioners of the African Union
WHO: United States Ambassador to the African Union, Michael Battle; Jean Ping, Chairman of
the African Union Commission; Scott Eisner, Executive Director of the Africa Business
Initiative at USCC: Greg Lebedev, Chairman of CIPE and Senior Adviser to the President of
USCC; Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairman at the African Union Commission; Assistant U.S.
Trade Representative for Africa Florie Lisner; and Bill Clontz, Vice President of MPRI.
Info: http://fpc.state.gov/events/124193.htm

WHEN/WHERE: Tuesday through Thursday, April 27-29; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: Corporate Council on Africa: U.S.-Africa Infrastructure Conference
WHO: Top U.S. and African government officials, seasoned business executives, sector experts
and financiers convene at the U.S. Africa Infrastructure Conference.
Info: http://www.africacncl.org/(xtahp03q0g1wdb55d42z1w55)/Default.aspx

WHEN/WHERE: Wednesday, April 28; Washington, D.C.

WHAT: U.S. Institute of Peace: U.S.-Relations with the Muslim World
WHO: This event will examine U.S. relations with the Muslim world one year after President
Obama's pivotal speech at Cairo University. Speakers include Oxford professor Tariq Ramadan,
Special Representative to Muslim Communities Farah Pandith, and U.S. Special Envoy to the
Organization of the Islamic Conference Rashad Hussain. USIP specialists Abiodun Williams,
Daniel Brumberg and Mona Yacoubian will also participate in the event.
Info: http://www.usip.org/events/us-relations-the-muslim-world-one-year-after-cairo
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FULL ARTICLE TEXT

To fight pirate scourge, follow the money: US admiral (AFP)

WASHINGTON — International efforts against pirates off the Horn of Africa need to
target the money extorted from commercial ships, a senior US Navy officer said on
Thursday.

"We have to go after the money," Admiral Mark Fitzgerald told reporters at a Pentagon
briefing.

Somalis enriched by banditry off the coast are buying up properties in the Kenyan
capital Nairobi and in Mombasa, as well as in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, said Fitzgerald,
commander of US naval forces in Europe and Africa.

"So it's not a surprise where this money is going," he said.

He said it was unrealistic to expect a stable government in Somalia to emerge any time
soon, and that governments should instead organize a joint campaign to crack down on
the financiers and the logistical supply network for the pirates.

"I think some progress is being made here but I think we need a more international
effort on that," he said.

The cost of skiffs, outboard motors and fuel have "gone up exponentially in countries
like Yemen," where the pirates get much of their supplies, he said.

Efforts to track finances need not be US-led, but should be placed under an
international "framework," he said, pointing to the United Nations or the European
Union.

And he cautioned that countering piracy in the Indian Ocean with naval patrols, like
those carried out by the US military and an array of governments, would not ultimately
fix the problem.

"We could put fleets of ships out there, we could put a World War II fleet of ships out
there and we still wouldn't be able to cover the whole ocean," he said.

"So this problem is not going to go away until we go after the root causes."
The admiral also said the United States had yet to decide the legal fate of five suspected
pirates captured earlier this month near the Seychelles.

The men were detained after opening fire from a skiff on the missile-guided frigate USS
Nicholas, which returned fire and quickly chased down the small boat.

The US State Department and Justice Department were reviewing the case, including
evidence seized by the navy crew and photographs of the skiff firing on the American
warship, he said.

Kenya is no longer willing to take into custody pirate suspects detained by international
navies off the coast, but US officials were approaching other countries, he added.

Pirates are often detained and then let go days later by foreign navies patrolling the
region.

"Catch and release is not a very good option," he said.

The end of the winter monsoon in the region has spurred a fresh spate of attacks by
pirates able to venture hundreds of miles (kilometers) from their bases and approach
their prey on relatively calm seas.

Armed with AK-47s, GPS navigation and satellite phones, pirates raked in an estimated
60 million dollars in ransoms last year.
--------------------
Credibility of Sudan's Vote Thrown into Further Doubt (Voice of America)

JUBA, Sudan - The legitimacy of Sudan's elections has been thrown into further doubt
following reports from observation teams the election will not meet international
standards. Opposition parties in Khartoum say the vote was rigged and that they will
not accept its results.

In a preliminary statement about the Sudan elections, the U.S.-based Carter Center said
Saturday "it is apparent the elections will fall short of meeting international standards
and Sudan's obligations for genuine elections in many respects."

In an interview with VOA in Juba while the polling was ongoing, U.S. president Jimmy
Carter said when judging Sudan's imperfect elections, one must put the vote into
proper context. "There have been some problems that would prevent this being an
election that would meet international standards as far as free and fair and timely, but
we have to remember that they have not had an election since 1986. And, secondly, you
are in a geographic area that is enormous, one of the largest nations on earth, highly
divided by war for 25 years and now divided geographically and politically into the
northern and southern regions," he said.

The European Union election observation team said in a statement Saturday the election
process "suffered from unprecedented complexity in its design and, consequently, from
confusion in its implementation."

On Sunday, a domestic group of northern civil society observers called Tamam said it
recorded widespread violations of electoral law during the voting process.

Sudan's first multiparty polls in 24 years started a week ago amid logistical problems,
delays, and reported irregularities. In South Sudan, registered voters struggled to find
their names on porous voter lists. In the north, opposition groups say blatant
electioneering on the part of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's ruling
National Congress Party has removed all credibility from the polls.

The opposition parties met late Saturday in Khartoum to decide their next course of
action, but broke without finalizing retaliatory steps.

A South Sudan researcher for the Washington-based advocacy group Enough, Maggie
Fick, says that it was clear before the vote started that the process was not likely to
produce a credible election. "Even before the elections started it would have been
difficult to say - even if everything had gone according to plan without technical
difficulties - that the elections could have been free and fair," she said.

In March, the think-tank International Crisis Group accused Bashir's NCP of rigging
the vote through blatant misuse of state resources and manipulating each step of the
election process in its favor.

Both the Carter Center and the E.U. statements noted the elections were an important
step in the implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between
Khartoum and the south's rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement. Under the deal,
the elections are to be followed by a referendum in South Sudan on whether to split and
form its own country.

In the interview, former president Carter said that without holding these elections,
there would be no way to proceed to the promised southern referendum. He warned of
renewed conflict if the peace deal collapsed before the independence vote.
--------------------
Navy looks for answers after Seebee dies from malaria (Stars and Stripes)

HEIDELBERG, Germany — By the time he got to Landstuhl, Joshua Dae Ho Carrell was
more dead than alive.
The Seabee was unconscious, with a tube stuck down his throat to help him breathe.
His kidneys, liver and lungs were failing, and he was in shock, with his blood pressure
falling.

Carrell, 23, was suffering from severe falciparum malaria, an infection of red blood cells
acquired from mosquito bites that had sent parasites coursing through his bloodstream,
sticking to capillaries, obstructing blood flow, damaging organs and, worst of all,
causing his brain to swell.

It was three days before last Christmas. Carrell had been infected during a deployment
to Liberia. He and 24 other Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3 were in
the fourth month of a goodwill mission to renovate a hospital.

At Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, with the best care military medicine
could provide, Carrell’s vital signs improved at first. But the day after Christmas, the
petty officer third class from Port Angeles, Wash., was declared brain dead. His
devastated mother couldn’t watch when they took him off the respirator. A friend
stayed and recorded the time of his final heartbeat: exactly 10:28 a.m.

Cause of death: cerebral malaria.

"The anti-malarials were working and we had supported him for the pulmonary and
other dysfunction, but the [swelling] in his brain was getting worse," said Lt. Col.
Nicholas Conger, chief of the infectious disease department at Landstuhl. "And there
wasn’t anything we could do about it, to be honest with you."

But there was much that could have been done before. There were steps that could have
been taken to prevent Carrell from contracting malaria in the first place and, after he
became infected, to have diagnosed him and evacuated him more quickly, according to
experts and the Navy’s own investigation into his death.

"I would have thought the U.S. military would have been more prepared," said Richard
Tren, director of the Washington-based malaria policy and advocacy nonprofit group
Africa Fighting Malaria, who was briefed on the case by Stars and Stripes. "It’s really
inexcusable."

Falciparum malaria, the most deadly of four types of the parasite spread by a certain
kind of female mosquito — the kind that kills nearly a million people a year in sub-
Saharan Africa — is both a preventable and treatable disease for those who have access
to things like mosquito nets, insecticides, anti-malarial pills and modern medicine.
"I think had he been started on medicines earlier and/or had first-world health care, he
could have had a different outcome," Conger wrote in an e-mail. "But I can’t say that
with certainty. ... Let’s put it this way, earlier diagnosis and treatment gives you your
best chance for survival."

Although scores of U.S. troops are infected every year by malaria — 60 were diagnosed
last year, and about 150 were diagnosed in 2003 — Carrell is just the second to die of the
disease in more than a decade, according to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.
About 40 percent of the cases involved the falciparum strain.

Numerous measures that might have prevented Carrell’s death — including the sailor’s
own failure to follow the prescribed antibiotic anti-malarial regimen — went seriously
awry, a Navy command investigation showed.

The investigation, conducted by U.S. Naval Forces Africa, revealed "multiple shortfalls
with the [Seabee battalion’s] planning, training, execution and enforcement of
preventive measures for malaria," according to a copy of the investigation report
provided to Stars and Stripes by U.S. Naval Forces Africa.

Wrote U.S. Naval Forces Africa commander Adm. Mark P. Fitzgerald: "A general
lackadaisical attitude about malaria prevention and enforcement permeated all levels of
command."

Liberia is well-known for malaria danger: Six years ago, 79 U.S. troops, mostly Marines,
became infected there during a peacekeeping mission. Three became critically ill.

"It’s not rocket science," acknowledged Capt. Mark Malakooti, head of preventive
medicine for the command. "People tend to forget the lessons that have been learned.
We’ve learned it again this time."

Carrell’s death sounded an alarm in the new command that was established in 2008 to
support U.S. Africa Command and had started deploying increasing numbers of troops
to Africa.

It prompted a number of changes in how Navy units prepare for African deployments,
what medical supplies they bring and what malaria-prevention procedures they follow.
It increased higher headquarters’ oversight of deployment health issues and mandated
procedures previously left up to battalion leadership.

A series of missteps and poor decisions

Shortcomings in malaria prevention efforts were not the only problems, the report
showed.
After showing symptoms, Carrell was misdiagnosed by his unit’s corpsman — a former
dental technician. And after he was diagnosed and lay extremely ill in a small Liberian
hospital that lacked even food and water for patients, Carrell’s evacuation took far
longer than what experts say is reasonable, even in Africa.

"By the time his kidneys shut down, he should have been at Landstuhl," said a senior
military doctor who reviewed a military medical journal report and timeline on the case
at Stars and Stripes’ request but declined to be identified because he wasn’t authorized
to discuss it.

"You pick up the phone and you say, ‘No, you guys get a bird down here and get him
out of here,’ " said the doctor, who was involved some years ago in an evacuation from
Liberia to New York that took 31 hours to complete. "When his temperature was 104,
then you get his ass out of there. He should have been to Landstuhl on Day 2."

Since Carrell’s death, U.S. Naval Forces Africa has asked for a review of how medical
evacuations from Africa are handled and why Carrell’s evacuation was delayed. It also
ordered its flight surgeon’s office to devise detailed evacuation plans with each
deploying unit.

The command investigation places much of the blame on the Seabee battalion, NMCB-3,
which had recently deployed from its base in California to Rota, Spain, before sending a
25-member detachment to Monrovia, Liberia, in September — and on the leadership of
the detachment.

Commanders and medical officers in the battalion were faulted for "failing to review the
medical references in the [tactical order], failing to make malaria prevention a command
priority, failing to enforce chemoprophylaxis and PPM ("personal protective measures"
such as proper uniform-wearing and application of the insecticide DEET) and failing to
ensure a clear treatment and medevac protocol had been established," the report said.

Battalion officials, who have since returned to California, declined to comment on the
report’s findings, referring questions to U.S. Naval Forces Africa.

According to the investigating officer’s report, however, there was a "lack of clarity"
about which higher command the battalion should have sought guidance from and a
"cumbersome" process to prepare "due to the numerous directives, instructions,
manuals, websites and other items to review."

The detachment was pretty much on its own in Liberia, the report showed, in an
austere, remote environment.
The detachment was commanded by an ensign. The battalion doctor, located in Rota,
was on his first medical tour.

The lone medical Seabee on site — a former dental technician who had automatically
become a hospital corpsman when the Navy merged the two specialties in 2005 to
provide "greater flexibility" — was untrained in malaria or tropical medicine.

Those factors "contributed to the sporadic implementation of malaria preventive

measures and timely diagnosis and treatment," the investigation said.

Several people involved were "counseled" over their roles in the case, according to Lt.
Pat Foughty, a command spokesman. He declined to specify further because
administrative disciplinary actions are confidential.

Almost nothing was done by the unit to prevent mosquito bites, the first line of malarial
defense, the investigation showed. The Seabees wore shorts and T-shirts in the evening,
when the mosquitoes are most active, not their insecticide-treated uniforms, because it
was so hot. When they arrived in Africa, they had neither bed nets nor DEET insect
repellent, which had been accidentally left behind in Rota. When they got the supplies,
the report said, they didn’t use them correctly. Seabees did not regularly apply the
DEET. They incorrectly installed or failed to use the bed nets, the investigation showed.

The unit relied almost entirely on "chemoprophylaxis" to prevent malaria. Sailors were
ordered to take their daily doxycycline pill, an antibiotic that is at least 90 percent
effective on its own in preventing the infection, if taken correctly, every day.

"If you happen to be in a real hot spot and you skip a day of doxy, it’s like you never
took it," said Col. Scott Gordon, commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Unit in
Kenya.

The best practice, experts say, is Directly Observed Therapy, or DOT — assigning
someone to watch as everyone takes their pills at the same time. That’s necessary
because studies have repeatedly shown troops frequently skip doses, often because
doxy can cause stomach upset or they simply forget.

U.S. Naval Forces Africa’s force surgeon recommended DOT. But it wasn’t required.
Detachment Liberia didn’t do it. "Several unit members ... opted to band together in
informal groups to remind each other," the report said.

Carrell had missed numerous doses. Two-thirds of the way through the deployment,
the investigation showed, 188 pills remained in Carrell’s pill bottle. There should have
been fewer than 100. Now DOT is a requirement throughout the command.
Early symptoms misdiagnosed

Carrell first showed up at his battalion aid station on Friday, Dec. 18, with a
temperature of 101 degrees. He’d been tired and weak, sweating and nauseous, all
morning. He’d vomited after lunch and fainted, according to the report.

Both military and civilian medical protocols indicate that such symptoms, if presented
in a high-risk malarial area, must be considered to be from malaria and must either be
ruled out, via a blood smear under a microscope or a newer rapid detection test or
treated immediately.

If caught early, falciparum malaria, though a medical emergency, is curable. But if it

progresses to severe malaria, it becomes life-threatening, with a significant mortality
rate even in the best-managed cases.

"Past a certain point, sometimes you can’t turn the infection around," said Dr. Larry
Slutsky, chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s malaria branch.

Carrell was treated for heat illness.

Heat illness was a problem for the detachment. Temperatures were often more than 100
degrees. And when asked if he’d been taking his doxy, Carrell said he had, according to
the report.

Carrell was given IV fluids, wetted down and placed under a fan, and he felt better.

He said he was "a bit sore" the next morning, according to the investigation. He lay
down all afternoon. At 5:30 p.m. he was seen coming from the bathroom, "weaving and
stumbling as if he were drunk."

At this point, his temperature was 104 degrees. The medical corpsman started another
IV. Phone calls seeking advice were made — from the battalion doctor in Rota, the U.S.
Embassy in Monrovia, and International SOS, a private company that contracts with the
military to advise on medical care in remote areas and perform medical evacuations. He
was told to get an ambulance and have Carrell taken to the clinic in Elwa, Monrovia.

In hindsight, Malakooti said, the corpsman should have suspected malaria when Carrell
came to the aid station.

But even if the corpsman had wanted to conduct a malaria test, he couldn’t have done
so. Rapid malaria detection tests, which cost about $1 each and provide results in 15
minutes, were not required. The detachment didn’t bring them.
The Navy is studying making the tests a mandatory part of the medical kit, but they still
are not required for units deploying to Africa. Following Carrell’s death, units are
instructed to suspect malaria and test for it if possible — or if there is no test, treat
immediately.

Carrell finally was taken to a Monrovia clinic, an evangelical Christian, primary care
facility, which, like Liberian hospitals in general, lacked most of the resources of
Western medicine, including food and water for patients.

Diagnosis made, more delays

Two hours later, a doctor there confirmed Carrell had severe malaria and started him
on a quinine IV. Another three hours after that — after Carrell apparently had a seizure
— the hospital called the unit to say Carrell needed immediate evacuation.

It was late Saturday night when Carrell’s ensign called International SOS to have
Carrell evacuated, according to the report. The company contracts with the military
insurer, Tricare, to perform evacuations from Africa when the "Theatre Patient
Movement Requirement Center" determines there’s no U.S. Air Force plane available.

Emergency evacs like Carrell’s are to be done "as soon as possible," according to
Tricare’s website. The next less urgent category, "priority," calls for an evacuation
within 24 hours. U.S. Air Force evacuation guidelines call for a crew to be on the ground
to pick up an emergency case within 12 hours.

But by Sunday morning, nothing had been done.

ISOS staff needed more information before they could begin the evacuation process,
they said. Hours later, ISOS demanded Carrell undergo a spinal tap — until the
Monrovia doctor "firmly stated it was unnecessary and reiterated ... the need for an
immediate medical evacuation," the report said.

On Monday morning, Carrell was still at the Monrovia hospital.

He was taken to Monrovia’s airport for the flight at 1 p.m. Monday, and there he
waited, inside the air-conditioned ambulance, for hours, the report showed. The flight
finally left at 6 p.m. Monday night. It had taken 45 hours.

ISOS offices in Paris did not return phone calls or e-mails for comment, and an e-mail to
the company’s website address also went unreturned.
Why the quinine treatment failed to cure Carrell is unknown. He could have had a huge
number of parasites — some Seabees had more than a dozen visible mosquito bites,
according to the investigation. He might have had a special vulnerability, experts said.
Or perhaps Carrell had been infected earlier, when the flu was going around, and the
medicine came too late.

"The only [other] thing they could have tried was artesunate," said Umberto
D’Alessandro, an epidemiologist in Belgium. The World Health Organization
recommends artesunate over quinine now; studies have shown it clears the parasites
more quickly and reduces mortality by up to 40 percent.

The Liberian hospital didn’t have artesunate. Landstuhl did. For the first time in the
hospital’s history, as they prepared for Carrell’s arrival, doctors had acquired it. By the
time he arrived, though, it was too late to use it.

Carrell deteriorated further after his flight left Liberia. The ISOS plane stopped in
Senegal, where the crew was from, and decided Carrell needed emergency dialysis. By
then he was in a coma.

He "responded only to pain," according to a case study published in January in the

Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center’s Medical Monthly Surveillance Report in
January. About eight hours later, a French crew flew Carrell to Germany.

He arrived at Landstuhl just before midnight on Tuesday, Dec. 22. He was the sickest
malarial patient Conger, his doctor, had ever seen.
--------------------
20 killed in Somali violence (UPI)

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The death toll in shelling between the government and
insurgents in Somali's capital has risen to 20, authorities said.

Most of the dead were civilians, and another 35 people were injured in the clashes
Saturday night in Mogadishu, Shabelle Media Network reported Sunday.

The clashes began when Islamist fighters shelled the international airport in Aden
Adde, Shabelle said.

The Somali government has been struggling to reclaim control of its capital, Mogadishu.

The U.S. military has provided training to Somali intelligence officers and troops,
logistical support to the peacekeepers, surveillance information on insurgents and
money for weapons.
--------------------
Zimbabwe Marks 30 Years of Independence (Associated Press)

HARARE, Zimbabwe—When will all this end? It's a common refrain in Zimbabwe.
"Only when the old man goes," said Tinaye Garande, a street vendor.

Zimbabwe on Sunday marks 30 years of the rule of President Robert Mugabe, swept to
power during the country's heady and optimistic independence in 1980. Three decades
later, the country—once an agricultural powerhouse and educational beacon—is mired
in a continuing political stalemate and an impoverished, stagnant economy.

Mr. Garande, 27 years old, sells cheap sunglasses and trinkets in a parking lot outside a
suburban Harare store. He is of a generation known as the "born frees" who never
suffered under British colonial rule.

But the unkempt Mr. Garande, with worn clothing and untended dreadlocked hair,
knows the hard life. He lost his menial job at a paper and packaging firm when it went
broke in the economic meltdown four years ago.

He has two children and like many Zimbabweans educated in Mr. Mugabe's post-
independence boom in schools and health services—making "born frees" some of the
best taught and healthiest students in Africa—he battles to survive and blames Mr.
Mugabe for blocking real improvements in living standards.

It is still an offense to publicly insult Mr. Mugabe—several cases are pending in the
courts—and Zimbabweans know it. "Surely it is time for him to enjoy retirement," said
Mr. Garande guardedly.

But Mr. Mugabe, 86, who dyes his hair unnaturally black and still walks with a spring
in his step, is going nowhere. The ascetic former school teacher holds a firm grip on his
ZANU-PF party that in December chose him to lead it for another five years. And he
has no plans to yield the reins of state power, said John Makumbe, a political scientist at
the main University of Zimbabwe in Harare.

"He is afraid of the consequences of leaving office, he wants to die there," Mr. Makumbe
said.

Critics say Mr. Mugabe, a political leader of the guerrilla army that ended white rule in
1980, has shown a toxic streak in his character all along.

"He is like a chameleon who looks good when things are going well but now the dark
side is showing," he said.
Mr. Mugabe had been viewed favorably in the West for the strides in education and
health services in the 1980s that gave Mr. Garande and his "born free" classmates
Africa's highest literacy of more than 80T.

But schools and social services collapsed in recent years. Human rights organizations
have called for Mr. Mugabe to face trial at the International Criminal Court on charges
of political violence, vote-rigging and human rights violations by state agents over the
past decade. The allegations stretch far back: groups say Mr. Mugabe should be held
responsible for the massacre of up to 20,000 civilians by loyalist troops who crushed an
armed uprising against him in western Zimbabwe soon after independence from 1982
to 1987.

In 2000, Mr. Mugabe ordered the often-violent seizures of thousands of white-owned

farms that disrupted the agriculture-based economy and led to acute food shortages
and world record inflation. He argued the program corrected colonial era imbalances in
land ownership.

Bespectacled and always impeccably dressed in suits with color-matched neckties and
breast-pocket handkerchiefs, Mr. Mugabe insists Western sanctions caused the
economic collapse. A scholar with a string of academic degrees, he speaks perfectly
British-accented English interspersed with the local Shona language and has admitted
being an "anglophile" despite his avowed hatred of British colonial rule.

Western embargoes include financial and travel bans on him and his associates. Before
the visa restrictions that sparked his growing isolation, Mr. Mugabe often visited his
London tailor and the upscale Harrods department store in the British capital.

Mr. Mugabe counts among his dwindling international supporters such pariahs as
Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, scheduled to be his
guest of honor at a trade exposition in the second city of Bulawayo on April 23.

A recent hoax on the social networking site Facebook said Mr. Mugabe was looking for
friends to join him in "fighting imperialism."

Despite a yearlong coalition between Mr. Mugabe and the former opposition Movement
for Democratic Change critics blame Mr. Mugabe for holding out against reform.

Disputes between Mr. Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the former
opposition leader, have crippled the coalition government. In the latest, Mr.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change said this week laws to take over 51% of
mostly white businesses that scared away much needed investment were scrapped. Mr.
Mugabe declared that incorrect the next day, saying such reports were "peddled" by
hostile media.
Farm seizures that enriched cronies but were disastrous to the economy didn't win the
last elections outright for Mr. Mugabe in 2008, forcing him to enter the coalition with
Mr. Tsvangirai, said Mr. Makumbe, the political analyst. He said with new elections
proposed under the coalition agreement, possibly early next year, business takeovers
wouldn't work either.

Mr. Mugabe has been described as "the spoiler" in the coalition and likened to a
sportsman who intentionally kicks the ball off the field of play to buy time while his
elite enjoy the spoils —profits on land, business deals and speculative construction and
import and export contracts enabling them to buy cars and mansions and live in luxury.

"They've gone past getting rich, it's now a sick obsession with money," Mr. Makumbe
said.

Mr. Garande, the "born free" street vendor, said he will go to the main stadium on
Independence day Sunday not to listen to Mr. Mugabe's speech but to watch military
displays and a soccer match without having to pay admission. He said he's resigned to
more of Mr. Mugabe.

Long life runs in Mr. Mugabe's family; his mother died in her late 90s. He also employs
a Malaysian physician known as a specialist in "longevity and regenerative medicine."

"Nothing is going to change for a long time," said Mr. Garande.

--------------------
Coup attempt foiled in Madagascar: officer (Xinhua)

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar - A coup attempt was foiled on Sunday in Madagascar

after the minister of armed forces in the Indian Ocean island country was sacked early
in the month, according to the military.

Seven military officers and civilians planning to attack the leadership between Sunday
night and Monday morning were arrested in the afternoon, announced colonel Rene
Lilison, who heads the force of special intervention of the presidency.

The arrestees were captured around 1 p. m., Lilison told a press conference. They were
shown to journalists before being transferred to a brigade of the gendarmerie stationed
at Betongolo near the Defense Ministry.

Army chief Andre Ndriarijaona said the armed forces were still united, adding the
suspects had recruited ex-military personnel, reservists and soldiers for peaceful
purposes, proving that they had no control of the armed forces in service, who remain
united.
The president of the security commission of the Highest Transitional Authority (HAT),
Alain Ramaroson, disclosed that the coup attempt was foiled thanks to the information
provided by police.

"Without the information they provided, this coup d'état could have been realized,"
Ramaroson declared.

The military reportedly developed signs of division since Prime Minister Camille Vital
dismissed former minister of armed forces Noel Rakotonandrasana On April 7.

Vital said Rakotonandrasana had held suspicious meetings with senior officers without
informing him, accusing him of causing confusion in the military ranks.

HAT President Andry Rajoelina made no comments on Ravalomanana's dismissal, but

soon promoted colonel Vital to the rank of brigadier general, indicating the logic that
colonel Vital could not overpower general Rakotonandrasana over the control of
military officers, without the necessary promotion.

But Rakotonandrasana insists that he will still hold his post unless the prime minister
himself comes to him so that he could hand over power. He says he will accept the
dismissal if all the military officers want him to leave.

Rakotonandrasana was the main actor in the process of power transfer to Rajoelina,
who ousted former president Marc Ravalomanana with the backing of the military in
March 2009. The change is widely seen as unconstitutional.

Last month, the African Union imposed sanctions on Rajoelina and 108 other officials
for failing to form a new government with the three camps respectively led by former
presidents Ravalomanana, Didier Ratsiraka and Albert Zafy.

The four parties reached agreements in Maputo and Addis Ababa last year on power
sharing, but failed to carry them out amid differences.

On Wednesday, Rajoelina admitted that France, South Africa and the Southern African
Development Community had proposed a new roadmap to end the crisis after last
year's international mediation failed.

He said he had accepted the offer and would meet Ravalomanana on April 24 in
Johannesburg, South Africa, to discuss the signing of a new agreement. He also
promised that the other two camps would share the future government if the planned
talks turn out a success.
--------------------
Attackers kill soldier escorting Central Africa poll agents (AFP)

BANGUI, Central African Republic – Armed attackers shot dead a soldier escorting
electoral commission staff in the Central African Republic, officials said Friday, adding
to tensions ahead of a presidential election on May 16.

The incident happened in the Vakaga region in the north of the country as the
Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) took census workers to carry out their duties.

"On the way back, unidentified armed men, whom I would call bandits, opened fire on
the vehicle, killing Private Didier Ngole", said Steve Yambete, the CEI's security
director. One of the attackers was caught, Yambete added.

The incident in the region bordering Sudan is the first serious one since the CEI started
organising the presidential and parliamentary elections on May 16 in the deeply poor,
landlocked nation.

The revision of the electoral rolls by the CEI has been under way since Monday and the
process will close on Sunday, according to CEI chairman Joseph Binguimale.

The opposition is boycotting the presidential election, arguing that a complete revision
of the voters' roll was necessary.

The only candidates in the presidential poll are President Francois Bozize and the
predecessor he ousted in a military coup in 2003, Ange-Felix Patasse.

General elections were to have been held on April 25, but were put off until May 16 at
the proposal of the CEI.

The opposition and foreign donors wanted elections to be held at a later date.
--------------------
Al-Qaeda frees abducted Italian couple in Mali (BBC)
An Italian couple who were being held hostage in the west African country of Mali by
al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have been released.

Local officials said Sergio Cicala and Philomene Kaboure were picked up by an army
patrol in the eastern Gao region.

Italy's foreign minister said they were "in the hands of Malian authorities" and were
being taken to a "safe place".

Mr Cicala and Mrs Kaboure - who is also a citizen of Burkina Faso - were seized in
December in neighbouring Mauritania.
The married couple had been driving past the eastern town of Kobenni on 18 December
- en route to Burkina Faso to see Mrs Kaboure's 12-year-old son - when they were
stopped by gunmen.

'Intense diplomatic work'

At the end of December, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) published a picture
on the internet of a grey-haired man, identified as Mr Cicala, kneeling on a rug in the
desert next to a woman. The woman was named as his wife, but her face was obscured.
AQIM had demanded in February that Mali's government free imprisoned militants
before 1 March in exchange for the couple.

Shortly before the deadline expired, Mr Cicala urged Italian Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi to intervene in a purported audio message posted on the internet.

AQIM members in Mali are also believed to be holding two Spanish hostages who were
abducted shortly before Mr Cicala and Mrs Kaboure. A French hostage, Pierre Camatte,
was released in February, days after four militants were released from jail in Mali.
In Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the Italians' release had been the
"fruit of intense diplomatic work that led authorities in Mali to take decisive actions to
reach this solution".

"We had to work for many months on very complex political and diplomatic
negotiations," he told state television.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb emerged in early 2007, after a feared militant group,
the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), aligned itself with Osama Bin
Laden's international network.

It has waged a campaign of suicide bomb attacks and ambushes in Algeria, and in
recent years has become more active in the Sahara.
--------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Darfur: UN-African Union Mission makes contact with four abducted peacekeepers
16 April – The joint African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID)
established contact today with four of its peacekeepers who were abducted five days
ago in the western Sudanese region.

UN agency lauds Tanzania’s move to naturalize ‘1972 Burundian refugees’

16 April – The top United Nations refugee official praised today Tanzania’s decision to
grant citizenship to tens of thousands of Burundian refugees who fled their homeland
some 38 years ago.
Somali clashes taking shocking toll on civilians, says UN refugee agency
16 April – The United Nations refugee agency today voiced its shock after more than 30
people, including children, were reported to have been killed by this week’s clashes in
Mogadishu which residents of the strife-torn Somali capital have described as some of
the worst in months.