Arab League Calls for Action, Dialogue in Libya

Arab League leaders are calling for both "action" and "dialogue" to prevent the United States and NATO-imposed chaotic situation in Libya from getting worse. Libya's representative to the League urged the world to help arm the Libyan rebel Army, while the country's parliament speaker called for help in protecting the country's oil infrastructure.

The Arab League meeting on the crisis in Libya took place as a long-awaited national dialogue session of rival leaders in Libya was again postponed.

Arab League chief Nabil Elarabi told delegates to the Cairo conference the solution to the conflict “must respect the free will of the Libyan people,” as well as “the sovereignty and unity of the country.” He added that the League supports Libya's “legitimately elected parliament" and the government stemming from it.

Elarabi stressed that everyone involved must adhere to the principles of dialogue and renounce violence and terrorism.

"A decisive position must be taken towards all acts of terrorism on Libyan soil, which are leading to chaos and a political and security vacuum in the country," said Nabil Elarabi.

Neo-colonial Libya's representative to the League, Ambassador Ashour Bou Rached, said military action must be taken quickly to put an end to bloodshed and urged the international community to help arm the rebel Libyan Army.

"Every delay in taking action against Islamist militias means there is less chance for a negotiated solution. I urge the international community to sanction those who are destroying public infrastructure and impeding a solution to the conflict," said Rached.

Paul Sullivan, who teaches at Georgetown University, told VOA that he is not extremely optimistic about the Arab League's ability to affect a positive change in Libya, given its record of “impotence” in past conflicts and crises.

He argues that talk of “dialogue,” at this point would be equivalent to “being in the middle of a heated gang war in old Chicago,” and asking [notorious gangster Al] Capone to have tea and discuss matters.” Sullivan goes a step further and suggests that Libya “may already be finished as a state” and that the current chaos “may breed new countries in its place.”

The speaker of the Libyan rebel parliament, elected last June, Aqelah Saleh, urged Arab states, during a press conference after the Cairo meeting, to “take action to help protect Libya's oil infrastructure.”

Considerable damage has been inflicted on oil storage facilities by Islamist militiamen in the port of Ras es Seder.

Saleh also accused Turkey of helping to arm the Islamist militias, known as Fajr Libya, or Libya Dawn, which seized control of the capital Tripoli last year. Those militias have set up their own government which is not recognized internationally.

Libya's imperialist-recognized government, based at a hotel in the eastern city of Tobruk, issued a decree Monday forbidding foreign nationals from Syria, Palestinian territories and Sudan from entering the country to take part in the ongoing conflict.

Venezuela's Maduro Would Release Dissident If U.S. Freed Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera

6:48pm EST

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday he would only seek the release of jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez if the United States agreed to release a Puerto Rican nationalist currently held in a U.S. prison.

Lopez was arrested in February after he helped launch a three-month wave of opposition demonstrations seeking Maduro's resignation, an effort government critics called free protest but the government said was meant to spark a coup.

Maduro suggested he could send Lopez to the United States if Washington secured the release of Oscar Lopez Rivera, who was convicted in 1981 of seditious conspiracy along with other militants who sought to secure Puerto Rican independence.

"The only way I would use (presidential) powers would be to put (Leopoldo Lopez) on a plane, so he can go to the United States and stay there, and they would give me Oscar Lopez Rivera - man for man," Maduro said during a televised broadcast.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Caracas said he had no immediate comment on the issue.

U.S. government officials including President Barack Obama have called for the release of Lopez, describing him as a political prisoner, a term Maduro says is more appropriate for Lopez Rivera.

In 1999, Lopez Rivera turned down an offer of conditional clemency by then President Bill Clinton, according to media reports.

(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Controversy Continues Over Selma Film

Critics say Ava DuVernay’s film isn’t fair to LBJ. That’s because it’s about a movement, not leaders

By Jamelle Bouie

Ava DuVernay’s Selma is likely a top contender for the Academy Award for Best Picture. With its focus on the power of activism to force political and moral change, the highly praised film has the right message for our present moment of racial unrest. But not everyone is happy with the way it approaches history, and in particular, how it portrays President Lyndon Johnson.

Johnson “is devoid of any palpable conviction on voting rights. Vainglorious and power hungry, he unleashes his zealous pit bull, FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, on King, who is determined to march in protest from Selma to Montgomery despite LBJ’s warning that it will be ‘open season’ on the protesters,” writes Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum director Mark K. Updegrove in a column for Politico magazine. “This characterization,” he continues, “flies in the face of history.”

Even harsher is former Johnson staffer Joseph A. Califano Jr., who accuses DuVernay of taking “trumped-up license with a true story that didn’t need any embellishment to work as a big-screen historical drama.” “In fact,” writes Califano, “Selma was LBJ’s idea.”

That’s a huge exaggeration. Activists had been organizing in Selma, Alabama, for at least two years before Martin Luther King Jr. met with Johnson, and weeks prior to his meeting with the president, King and his allies had decided on Selma as the site for new action and protests. By the time Johnson suggested something similar to King, the plan was already in motion.

But more than that, that entire line of criticism is misplaced. Selma isn’t a documentary or even a dramatized history. It is a film based on historical accounts, and like all films of its genre, it has a loose relationship to actual history. In Alan Parker’s Mississippi Burning, the investigation to solve the murders of three civil rights workers in 1964, is transformed into a story of FBI heroes, one that ignores the role of local activists in bringing the killers to justice and doesn’t touch the bureau’s famous antagonism—under J. Edgar Hoover—toward the civil rights movement.

Selma is about the men and women who fought to put voting rights on the national agenda, and it engages history from their perspective.

Just as egregious is the narrative of Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, which shows a relentless Central Intelligence Agency—personified in Jessica Chastain as Maya—whose methods, including torture, lead to Osama Bin Laden and the military raid that killed him. The factual problem, as detailed in December’s Senate Intelligence Committee report, is that torture didn’t lead to unique intelligence. As such, it’s not clear that it helped find Bin Laden. But Bigelow made a choice to say otherwise, and in the context of the film, it’s defensible. Zero Dark Thirty—to my eyes at least—is less about the particulars of finding Bin Laden and more about the costs of obsession. What happens when you’re willing to give up everything for a single goal? What will you sacrifice? In this reading, torture is the moment when we—through Maya—commit to darkness in pursuit of our ends.

This is all to say that it’s wrong to treat nonfiction films—even biopics—as documentaries. Instead, it’s better to look at deviations from established history or known facts as creative choices—license in pursuit of art. As viewers, we should be less concerned with fact-checking and more interested in understanding the choices. Why did the director opt for this view and not a different one? If she omits and distorts, why? What is she trying to communicate?

It’s with these questions in mind that we should approach Selma. But first, we should look at how DuVernay actually presents Johnson (played by Tom Wilkinson) and his relationship with King (played by David Oyelowo).

At worst, DuVernay depicts Johnson and King as wary allies. In the film, Johnson agrees with King on the need for a Voting Rights Act, but he wants him to wait—Johnson has a Great Society to build—and warns that he doesn’t have the votes to push another civil rights bill on the heels of the 1964 Act, which outlawed discrimination in public accommodations. It’s not that King and Johnson are enemies—they both want to dismantle Jim Crow—as much as they have different responsibilities and priorities. In order to act, Johnson needs a push. And King gives it to him.

Now, there’s a case that even this is unfair to Johnson. While it’s true he didn’t want to introduce a voting rights bill so soon after the Civil Rights Act of 1964—he needed votes for his economic program, and he didn’t want to alienate Southern Democrats—it’s also true that, in late 1964, Johnson told Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach to write the “the goddamndest, toughest voting rights act you can devise.” This draft was written with help from Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield and Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, and was the basis for the bill the leaders introduced in March 1965. The Johnson of Selma, in other words, is much more reluctant than the Johnson of reality.

This is most clear in the scenes with Hoover (played by Dylan Baker), where Johnson allows the FBI director to harass King’s family with evidence of his infidelity. This is a far cry from real life. Yes, Johnson knew the contents of the FBI’s file on King, but there’s no evidence he conspired to smear him. That was a Hoover project, with no connection to Selma or the Voting Rights Act. Johnson may have been frustrated, but he wasn’t stupid, and attacking King would have only radicalized the movement, pushing it closer to its more militant activists. As much as King needed Johnson, Johnson needed King.

Which brings us back to our original question, arguably the only one you should ask of a movie that fictionalizes historical events: Why did the director make these choices? What is DuVernay trying to tell us when she makes Johnson more reluctant than he was, or when she shifts the timeline to give him a role in the FBI’s smear tapes? It’s possible these choices reflect ignorance, but I don’t think that’s right—Selma gets so much right about the period that it’s hard to believe DuVernay just didn’t know. It’s also possible they reflect malice, but again, Johnson isn’t the villain of the film—that distinction goes to Tim Roth’s (delightful) George Wallace, who doesn’t care that he’s on the “wrong side of history.”

If you need a clue, look at the people portrayed in the movie. If you don’t count Martin Sheen, who plays federal Judge Frank Minis Johnson Jr., Johnson and Wallace are the only politicians. Almost everyone else is an activist or an ordinary citizen: Carmen Ejogo’s Coretta Scott King, Lorraine Toussaint’s Amelia Boynton, Wendell Pierce’s Hosea Williams, Keith Stanfield’s Jimmie Lee Jackson, Stephan James’ John Lewis, Jeremy Strong’s James Reeb, André Holland’s Andrew Young, and many, many others.

Selma, simply put, is about the men and women who fought to put voting rights on the national agenda, and it engages history from their perspective. By hardening Johnson—and making him a larger roadblock than he was—DuVernay emphasizes the grass roots of the movement and the particular struggles of King and his allies. In the long argument of who matters most—activists or politicians—DuVernay falls on the side of the former, showing how citizens can expand the realm of the possible and give politicians the push—and the room—they need to act.

By those terms, Selma mostly succeeds. But there are flaws. “Except for a few scenes, we see little of the bravery Selma’s citizens displayed,” writes historian Gary May for the Daily Beast. “Annie Lee Cooper, well played by [Oprah] Winfrey, is shown trying but failing to register to vote. We are not told that Cooper had been able to vote without hindrance when she lived in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. But when she returned to Selma in 1962 to care for her aged mother, she lost that right.”

If Selma could have been better, it wasn’t because DuVernay didn’t do justice to Lyndon Johnson, but because there was so much to show about the ordinary people of Selma, and we—as viewers—don’t see it.


MLK Aide Andrew Young Weighs in on Selma-LBJ Controversy

by Evan McMurry
1:52 pm, January 4th, 2015

 A controversy has emerged in the last two weeks around the civil rights film Selma, though not entirely the expected one, as LBJ historians and aides have criticized the film for falsely portraying President Lyndon Johnson as resistant to the idea of voting rights, and even suggested that Selma was “LBJ’s idea.” Director Ann DuVernay called the latter claim “jaw dropping and offensive.”

On Sunday morning MLK aide Andrew Young (played by André Holland in the film) told Up with Steve Kornacki that neither side had it entirely correct.

“President Johnson did not say ‘it had to wait,’” Young said. “He said, ‘I have a great agenda.’ …We did not expect him to commit. We were really kind of letting him know that we had to pursue voting rights. His agenda, I found out later, was that he thought that the Great Society…would be easier for him to bring first. If he had said that, we would probably have agreed with him. But we didn’t have a choice.”

“We could not have had this bill without LBJ, but LBJ could not have passed it without Martin Luther King” and others, Young said. “It’s unfair for anybody to talk about credit. Too many people gave their lives. Too many people risked too much.”

One point on which the film appears to be on weak footing: its suggestion that LBJ ordered the FBI surveillance and harassment of King.

“That I don’t think is fair to LBJ,” Young said. “It was actually Robert Kennedy who signed the order allowing the FBI to wiretap all of us. …We knew we were bugged, but that was before LBJ.”

Young added that he recently discovered a wiretap in his house that had probably been there since the 60s.

Boko Haram Seizes Army Base in Nigeria Town of Baga

BBC World News

The militant group Boko Haram has seized a town and key multinational military base in north-eastern Nigeria, officials and eyewitnesses say.

A senator in Borno state said troops had abandoned the base in the town of Baga after it was attacked on Saturday.

Residents of Baga, who fled by boat to neighbouring Chad, said many people had been killed and the town set ablaze.

Baga, scene of a Nigerian army massacre in 2013, was the last town in the Borno North area under government control.

It hosted the base of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), made up of troops from Nigeria, Chad and Niger.

Set up in 1998 to fight trans-border crime in the Lake Chad region, the force more recently took on Boko Haram.

Boko Haram attacks towns and villages on an almost daily basis, abducting people including young boys and girls, BBC Africa analyst Mary Harper reports.

The military, which includes Western advisers and surveillance, seems incapable of dealing with the problem, she adds.

'Helter skelter'

Residents who fled to Chad said they had woken to heavy gunfire as militants stormed Baga early on Saturday, attacking from all directions.

They said they had decided to flee when they saw the multi-national troops running away.

One unnamed resident of the town described what had happened for the BBC:

"Yesterday at around 05:00 [04:00 GMT] we were woken up by heavy gunshots, and we couldn't identify where the shots were coming from.

"They came through the north, the west and from the southern part of the town because the eastern part is only water. So, when we [went] towards the western part, we saw heavily armed Boko Haram men coming towards us.

"The soldiers were trying to repel the attack but that wasn't going to happen because a lot of the soldiers were without their guns and some were running into the town. When you see soldiers running away into the town - what are you to do, other than to just run away as well?"

Maina Maaji Lawan, senator for Borno North, told BBC World Service civilians had run "helter skelter" - "some into the forest, some into the desert".

Communications with the town were cut off and exact information about casualty numbers could not be confirmed, he said.

"We are very dispirited," the senator added.

Confirming that the military had abandoned the base, he said people's frustration knew "no bounds" over the apparent fact that the military had not fought back.

"There is definitely something wrong that makes our military abandon their posts each time there is an attack from Boko Haram," the senator said.

Who are Boko Haram?

Founded in 2002, it initially focused on opposing Western education. Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language

Began fighting in 2009 to create an Islamic state in a campaign which has claimed thousands of lives
Attacks mostly in the north-east but has also targeted police and UN headquarters in the capital, Abuja

Was declared a terrorist group by the US in 2013

Key base

In April 2013, at least 37 people were killed and 2,275 homes destroyed in Baga by troops hunting Boko Haram fighters who had attacked a patrol, Human Rights Watch reported.

The New York-based organisation accused soldiers of engaging "more in destruction than in protection".

Before Saturday's attack on the town, the area was already a stronghold of Boko Haram, which has been waging a bloody insurgency to create an Islamic state since 2009.

More than 2,000 people were killed in militant violence last year in the north-east.

Days before the attack on Baga, suspected Boko Haram militants kidnapped about 40 boys and young men in a raid on the remote Borno village of Malari.


Many Soldiers Feared Dead In Fresh Borno Attack

Hussaini Jirgi, Kareem Haruna
Nigerian Leadership
Jan 4, 2015

Security sources in Borno State have yesterday confirmed a major attack by Boko Haram terrorists on the Multinational Joint Task Force base in the border town of Baga in Kukawa local government area of Borno State, where dozens of soldiers were said to have been killed.

This is as a credible security official in Maiduguri also confirmed the abduction of about 40 young men by the terrorists, who have created a new camp, known as Modube, close to the Sambisa forest.

Meanwhile, the top security personnel who pleaded anonymity in speaking about the attack on the multinational base said the development was being handled with top secrecy by the military authorities in the countries that constitute the Multinational Joint Task Force and that the attack was carried out at about 5am yesterday.

The source said the multinational joint task force which might have been taken unawares by the Boko Haram insurgents were “practically dislodged”.

“We had a very ugly development in Baga today (Saturday) morning, when the Boko Haram insurgents went and dislodged the Multinational Joint Task Force there. All we know for now that it was a bad outing for the soldiers, because the base was practically dislodged, but one cannot say specifically the extent of damage caused on the base and the personnel for now,” said the senior security official.

Baga is a fishing community of Borno State that borders Chad Republic. Boko Haram is said to have some of its secret camps along the border areas between Nigeria and Cameroon.

The Multinational Joint Task Force is the major military deployment that has been frustrating the activities of the terrorists in that area. But with the feared dislodgment of the soldiers there, the terrorists may continue to have a field day in that part of the country.

Baga town has suffered several attacks in the past two years, as Boko Haram terrorists continued to take attacks to the community killing civilians, mostly fishermen.

It was reported that on November 21, 2014, Boko Haram terrorists practically ambushed and slit the throats of 48 fishermen during an attack that even the soldiers of the Multinational Joint Task Force were not aware of.

On the abduction of the 40 youths by Boko Haram, the security source said they were taken to a location called Modube, a new base of the sect.

“Our office had received the Intel that on January 1, 2015, at about 5pm, some Boko Haram gunmen had invaded one Malari village in Damboa local government area of Borno State, where they killed some of the villagers and abducted some youths, who might have been taken to one of Boko Haram’s hideouts known as Modube Camp,” said the source.

The security officer added that “Modube Camp is one of the new bases where the Boko Haram insurgents are hiding out”.

Lucky residents of Malari, who escaped the attack, said the Boko Haram gunmen had attacked their village shortly after the villagers had retired back to their homes and asked them to come out to listen to some sermons during which they shot some of them and forcefully took others away.

Bulama Malam, a middle-aged farmer, told journalists in Maiduguri on Friday that at least 40 youths were taken away from the village.

“They gathered many of us near the house of the village head, after telling us that they wanted to preach to us; and then, they began to select young men aged between 12 and 25,” he said. “I was lucky to escape, because they only selected very young and able-bodied men.”

Boko Haram Attacks Tarmuwa In Yobe

Meanwhile, suspected Boko Haram members yesterday attacked Babangida, the headquarters of Tarmuwa local government area of Yobe State.

There were no details of the attack as at press time, but gunshots have persisted, according to a resident.

Tarmuwa is 65 kilometres away from Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State.

A resident, Musa Tarmuwa, who escaped the attack, told LEADERSHIP Sunday that the attackers stormed the town around 6:12pm and unleashed terror on the residents.

“Let me tell you the truth, we just got prior information since last week that the attackers are approaching Babangida, the headquarters of Tarmuwa from Gujba local government area of the state. That’s how I escaped into the bush with some people; but as we are speaking now, there are gunshots going on,” he said.

Another resident who escaped to Baimari which is about 24 kilometres, Alhaji Kalla, said many people from Babangida including women and children had fled to nearby bushes for safety. “We cannot go back to our village, because the thing is becoming worse; gunshots coming sporadically from all directions, and we have remained in the bush,” he said.

When contacted, the Yobe State Commissioner of Police, Mr Marcus Danladi, confirmed the incident, adding that they were yet to have reports on casualties, but that his men and other security personnel had gone to the scene of the incident to investigate and defend the remaining residents of the town.


Boko Haram militants seize military base in Nigeria after fierce battle with government troops

Boko Haram seized military base and carried out raids in north Nigeria
Militants 'killed several people, burnt hundreds of homes' and looted
Gunmen fought Nigerian military 'for hours' before taking over base

By AFP
12:56 EST, 4 January 2015

Suspected Boko Haram militants have seized a military base in northeastern Nigeria following a series of deadly raids in the area this weekend.

Gunmen fought the army for several hours before taking control of the military base outside the town of Baga, near Lake Chad, on Saturday.

Civilians were forced to flee across the border to Chad after groups of militants carried out several raids, killing several people, burning hundreds of homes and looted businesses, witnesses said.

The Islamists are believed to control large swathes of land in northeastern Nigeria since launching an uprising in 2009 that has now claimed more than 13,000 lives.

The base is used by the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), which was established in 1998 to battle cross-border crime but whose mandate was expanded to fighting the deadly Boko Haram insurgency.

The gunmen seized the base near Lake Chad after engaging troops in a fierce battle that lasted several hours, witnesses said.

'They (the militants) overwhelmed the troops and forced them to abandon the base which the gunmen took over,' local resident Usman Dansubdu said after fleeing to neighbouring Chad.

Hundreds of fear-stricken residents from Baga and five other Nigerian towns and fishing villages poured into Chad to escape the Islamist raids on their homes, witnesses said.

Witnesses in Bagan say the suspected Boko Haram militants killed several people, burnt hundreds of homes and looted scores of businesses during the attack on Saturday (file photo)

Maina Ma'aji Lawan, the senator representing northern Borno where Baga is located, confirmed the attack on the military base and other five locations.

'Boko Haram insurgents launched attacks in Baga area yesterday, destroying six towns and several settlements, forcing the people in the affected places to flee into Chad,' he said.

'They came in unbelievably large numbers and overpowered the multinational troops and local vigilantes.

'They took over the multinational troop base in Baga and sent the soldiers fleeing.'

The force is made up of troops from Nigeria, Niger and Chad, Nigerian army spokesman Brigadier General Olajide Laleye said.

Residents of Kauyen Kuros, Mile 3, Mile 4, Baga, Doron-Baga and Bundaram fled across the lake in fishing boats and canoes into Chad following the hours-long attacks by hundreds of militants from the Islamist group.

'We are now seeking refuge in Gubuwa, Kangallam and Kaiga villages inside Chad near the border with Nigeria,' Dansubdu said.

The gunmen killed several people, burnt hundreds of homes and looted scores of businesses in the attacks that lasted over seven hours, said Doron-Baga resident Lawan Ajikalumbu who also fled to Gubuwa.

There was no official casualty toll.

Abubakar Gamandi, head of the fishermen's union in Borno state and a resident of Baga, said he received several calls from union members who fled to neighbouring Chad informing him of the attacks.

Baga was the scene of the deadliest Boko Haram attack in April 2013 when 185 people were killed and more than 2,000 homes were destroyed in fighting between the Islamists and members of the multinational force.

Suspected Boko Haram gunmen late Saturday also raided the town of Babban Gida, 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Damaturu, the capital of neighbouring Yobe state, according to residents.

The militants destroyed the military barracks, torched a deserted government boarding school and a local administration building after overpowering soldiers in a gunfight, they said.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2896238/Boko-Haram-seizes-military-base-Nigeria-witnesses.html#ixzz3NuHMqBVs

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At Least 15 Killed In ‘Boko Haram’ Attack On Cameroon Bus

REUTERS
Jan 4, 2015

At least 15 people have been killed in an attack by suspected Boko Haram militants on a bus in northern Cameroon, a senior local security official and a businessman said on Saturday.

Over the last year, Boko Haram, which has killed thousands in its struggle to create a caliphate in northern Nigeria, has stepped up attacks on both sides of the border, forcing Cameroon to dispatch thousands of troops to its north.

“Boko Haram elements on Thursday attacked a bus that was transporting many passengers from Kousseri to Maroua and killed 25 persons on the spot,” said a senior officer in the military’s BIR rapid reaction unit deployed in the region.

The officer, who asked not to be named, said another 10 people had been severely injured and taken to Maroua hospital and he feared the death toll would rise.

Maroua is the capital of the Far North region, which has seen the worst of the spillover of Nigeria’s conflict.

Cameroonian authorities were not available for comment on the attack, which took place in the evening of Jan. 1. However, a local businessman based in the north said travelers who reached the town of Maroua had confirmed the incident.

Foncha Ngeh, who is based in Maroua, said travelers had told him there were at least 15 dead in the incident but many more had been injured and were being transported to Maroua for treatment.

Ngeh said there had been a string of other attacks in the region, carried out by Islamists but also ordinary bandits targeting people traveling during the holidays with lots of cash.

Late last month, Cameroon had to call on its air force to help troops dislodge Boko Haram fighters who briefly occupied a military camp after hundreds of militants mounted a wave of attacks on five northern towns.

Suicide Bomber Kills 4 People in Somalia's Capital

NAIROBI, Kenya — Jan 4, 2015, 11:40 AM ET
By ABDI GULED Associated Press

A suicide car bomber blew himself up near a moving convoy of Somalia's U.S.-trained elite forces in Mogadishu, killing at least four people, a Somali police officer said Sunday.

Somali militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the group's Radio Andulus.

The attack on the airport road in the capital killed mostly pedestrians walking along the road, said Capt. Mohamed Hussein.

Mohamed Yusuf, the spokesman of Somalia's National Security Ministry, said the government had information about the attack, and the car bomb was detonated while the attacker was being pursued.

"We shall continue preventing such attacks, however we ask people to work with us," he told reporters in Mogadishu.

The Alpha Group troops are part of Somalia's intelligence forces and often carry out operations against militants in Somalia.

Al-Shabab is an ultra-conservative Islamic militant group that is linked to the al-Qaida terrorist network and wants to run Somalia by its strict interpretation of Shariah law. Despite militants suffering huge losses in recent years, including the killing of their leader in a U.S. airstrike earlier this year, al-Shabab remains a threat. Al-Shabab leader Ahmed Godane was killed in a U.S. airstrike in September.

African Union troops supporting Somalia's weak army have pushed al-Shabab from major strongholds, including Mogadishu in 2011. However, al-Shabab fighters still carry out terror attacks in Somalia's capital and in neighboring countries that have contributed troops to the African Union Mission to Somalia.

On Christmas day al-Shabab gunmen attacked the main African Union base in Mogadishu. The AU base hosts U.N. offices and embassies.

Sunday's blast comes days after a U.S. airstrike killed al-Shabab's intelligence chief, Abdishakur Tahlil.

Somalia's government is struggling to rebuild the country after decades of conflict sparked of by the 1991 ouster of dictator Siad Barre.


Somalia violence: Deadly car bomb near Mogadishu airport

A suicide car bomb attack by Islamist group al-Shabab has killed four people in the Somali capital Mogadishu, officials say.

Witnesses said the blast was close to the international airport, where African Union troops, UN staff and several Western embassies are based.

Plumes of black smoke were seen in the area and the sound of gunfire was heard shortly after the explosion.

Security has improved but al-Shabab still attacks Mogadishu regularly.

A Somali official told the AFP news agency that security forces were alerted to the threat of a car bomb shortly before the blast.

"We had information about this car laden with explosives and we have been following it. But it detonated and four civilians were killed, and the bomber," interior ministry spokesman Mohamed Yusuf said.

The attack targeted a convoy of US-trained Somali intelligence forces known as the Alpha Group, Somali police officer Mohamed Hussein told AP news agency.

Witnesses say they were shocked by the size of the explosion.

"I'm not sure how many casualties there were yet, but I was really panicked by the force of the blast," said Mohamed Waberi.

A military spokesman for al-Shabab, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Abu Musab, confirmed that the militants had carried out the attack, AFP reported.

Sunday's blast comes just days after a US airstrike killed the group's intelligence chief, Tahlil Abdishakur.

Security officials had said on Wednesday that Abdishakur was part of a unit responsible for suicide attacks.

Last month al-Shabab insurgents infiltrated the airport compound, killing three AU peacekeepers and a civilian contractor.

Earlier in December, at least six people were killed when al-Shabab attacked a UN convoy near the airport.

The AU has about 22,000 troops in the country drawn from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Uganda.

Various armed groups have been battling for control of Somalia since the overthrow of President Siad Barre in 1991.


UN Points to Progress in Battling Al-Shabab in Somalia

by VOA News

The top U.N. envoy to Somalia says U.S. airstrikes and major ground offensives by pro-government forces have led to the liberation of nearly 20 Somali towns from al-Shabab militants and have brought the country closer to full federal control.

Special U.N. representative Nicholas Kay, speaking to VOA, cited "considerable success" in the 2014 push against the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab. He also noted political progress in ending the nearly nine-year uprising.

Kay's interview came as regional news outlets reported the January 1 killing of al-Shabab commander Ibrahim Filey near the southern town of Kurtun Waarey. U.N.-backed radio Bar-Kulan said three other militants were also killed in the confrontation with Somali forces, but the report did not provide details.

On Tuesday, Somali authorities said al-Shabab fighters killed six Somali soldiers in Baidoa, in an attack on a military checkpoint about 250 kilometers west of Mogadishu.

Separately, the Pentagon confirmed Wednesday that a U.S. airstrike killed al-Shabab security chief Tahil Abdishakur on December 29 near the town of Saakow.

A U.S. airstrike in September killed al-Shabab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane.


SOMALIA: Banki Moon Welcomes Somali new PM

January 3, 2015
Somalia News

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Friday called the new Prime Minister of Somalia, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, to congratulate him on his recent appointment, expressing hope that he will move quickly to form an inclusive Government, with the full participation of women.

According to a readout of the phone call provided by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban called on the Somali leadership to work closely together to “regain momentum in the political process,” including the formation of federal states and a participatory constitutional review process.

Recent gains by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the Somali National Army against the Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab should be complemented by the delivery of basic services and the rule of law, the UN Chief said.

Further, Mr. Ban reassured the Prime Minister of the UN’s full support in Somalia’s efforts towards peace, development and the full respect for human rights.


Suicide bomber kills 4 people in Somalia, police say

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -A Somali police officer says a suicide car bomber blew himself up near a moving convoy of Somalia's U.S.-trained elite forces in Mogadishu, killing at least four people.

Capt. Mohamed Hussein says the attacker drove his bomb-laden car into a convoy of troops on the airport road in the capital on Sunday. He said most of the casualties were pedestrians walking along the road.

The Alpha Group troops, who are part of Somalia's intelligence forces, often carry out operations against militants in Somalia.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Somali militant group al-Shabab is waging an insurgency against Somalia's government.

The blast comes days after a U.S. airstrike killed al-Shabab's intelligence chief, Abdishakur Tahlil.

Huge 'Suicide Attack' Rocks Somalia Capital

Somalia blast in Dec. 2014.

AFP

Mogadishu (AFP) - A huge car bomb blast shook Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Sunday after a suicide bomber struck an area close to the heavily-fortified international airport where African Union peacekeepers are based, officials said.

"There was a car bomb explosion near the Afisiyone area. We are getting information that a suicide bomber rammed a car laden with explosives into a pickup truck," said Ahmed Adan, a Somali police official.

There were no immediate reports on casualties.

The sprawling airport area is a major base for members of Somalia's armed forces, houses several foreign embassies and African Union troops battling Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab militants.

It has frequently been the target of militant attacks.

Witnesses said they saw clouds of smoke after the explosion and the security forces opened fire to disperse approaching onlookers.

"There was a terrible explosion. The security forces have cordoned off the area. They opened fire to disperse people nearby," said Ali Suleyman, a witness.


Somalia: Huge blast heard in Mogadishu

Posted on January 4, 2015

Mogadishu - A huge blast went off in Somalia’s capital on Sunday that was followed by gunshots, witness said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion It is target, on a road in the center of the capital.

Witness told Mareeg Media they saw a suicide bomber driving a car struck a vehicle of the Somali security forces.

Reports say that the two soldiers were killed in the blast, and four others injured.

Mareeg Media


One killed, 14 injured in Somalia roadside blast

03 January 2015 03:24

Baku-APA---At least one person was killed and 14 others, including seven Kenyan teachers, were injured in a roadside blast in Galkcayo, a city in central Somalia, local authorities said on Friday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"The bus was heading to the market when suddenly we heard a huge explosion, which injured the teachers and killed the security guard. The bus was also extensively damaged," Mohamed Abdulqadir Ali, Principal of Yamays Secondary School told Xinhua by telephone.

The seven teachers have been teaching in Yamays Secondary school located in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland.

Mohamed Hussein Aden, a local hospital director, told Xinhua that all the 14 injured people had admitted in the hospital, with two of them being seriously injured.

No group has claimed responsibility for the incident. The militant group Al-Shabaab has, however, been suspected to be responsible for the attacks of foreigners in Somalia, including teachers.

There were no students in the bus since Friday is a day-off in Somalia. It is not clear if the Kenyan teachers were being targeted in the attack.

Two journalists were injured two days ago in the same region in a grenade attack in a local radio station.

The Friday afternoon explosion comes a few hours after Al- Shabaab attacked a government base in Baidoa, a city in southern Somalia, which killed five government soldiers and injured more others.

France Wants Action on Libya, Stops Short of Calls for Intervention

Libya dawn rebels fires on other counterrevolutionaries.

AFP | Madama
Thursday, 1 January 2015

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian paid a surprise visit to northern Niger Thursday, to visit a base being built to combat the growing flow of weapons and jihadists from neighboring Libya.

Speaking shortly after meeting Le Drian in Niamey, Niger's president, Mahamadou Issoufou, reiterated calls for an international military intervention in Libya, a position supported by several other African leaders concerned about the impact of the country's lawlessness on the region.

The leaders of Mali and Senegal have called for action by the West in Libya to end to chaos they say stems from the 2011 intervention that helped oust Libya's longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi.

While two rival governments compete for legitimacy in Tripoli, Libya's desert south has become a stronghold for armed groups, some with links to al Qaeda.


France: Libya rising as terrorist ‘sanctuary’

By AFP
Thursday, 1 January 2015

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian paid a surprise visit to northern Niger Thursday, to visit a base being built to combat the growing flow of weapons and jihadists from neighboring Libya.

Le Drian travelled from Chad to Madama, a desert outpost about 100 kilometres from Libya, where he saw in the New Year with troops at a French base.

Madama is situated on the route used by jihadists and arms smugglers in southern Libya to reach northern Mali and Niger.

Le Drian said his visit demonstrated France’s “determination... against the jihadists, terrorism and those who want to transform this ancient caravan route into a route of violence and trafficking.”

In an address to French soldiers in Chad’s capital N’Djamena the previous day, Le Drian called on the international community to act to prevent Libya from becoming a “sanctuary for terrorists.”

Three years after Revolutionary Pan-Africanist leader Muammar Qaddafi was toppled and killed in a NATO-backed revolt, Libya is awash with weapons and powerful militias, and run by rival regimes and parliaments.

Questioned about the possibility of another military intervention in Libya, as some neighbors including Chad are calling for, Le Drian insisted on the need for a political solution.

“We first have to find a global roadmap on Libya,” he said.

Madama will serve as a forward base for French counter-terrorist operations in the Sahel.

The French military in 2013 said they routed radical Islamist groups from large swathes of northern Mali. Then in August last year, the Malian operation gave way to a wider, regional counter-terrorism drive dubbed Operation Barkhane.

A total of 3,000 troops are deployed across Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger to track and combat Islamist militants, backed by fighter aircraft, helicopters and drones.

In October, French soldiers in northern Niger intercepted a convoy of vehicles carrying three tonnes of weapons destined for Mali, including Russian shoulder-fired missiles and several hundred anti-tank rockets.

Within Mali, meanwhile, insurgent groups continue to mount attacks on local and international forces.

On Wednesday, a camp used by Malian, French and UN forces in the remote northeastern town of Tessalit near Algeria came under attack for a second time this week, a French military source said.

Wednesday also saw clashes between armed groups around the historic town of Timbuktu, an African military source in northern Mali told AFP. The situation in the area was still tense Thursday, the source said.

In Tessalit, four rockets were fired towards the camp without causing injuries, the French source said.

The Malian Islamist group Ansar Dine claimed responsibility for a similar assault on the camp Monday, which also caused no injuries.

Ansar Dine is one of the three insurgent groups which were targeted by the French intervention in Mali.

Libya Suspect Anas al-Liby Dies in US Custody

Suspect in US embassy bombings dies in custody of Washington.

An alleged al-Qaeda leader has died just days before going on trial in New York over the 1998 US embassy attacks in Africa.

Abu Anas al-Liby, 50, died in hospital on Friday, his wife and lawyers say. He is reported to have had liver cancer.

Mr Liby was seized in a US raid in Tripoli in October 2013.

He was to stand trial on 12 January over the 1998 embassy attacks, which killed more than 220 people in Kenya and Tanzania.

Mr Liby, whose real name was Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, previously pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges.

His wife, Um Abdullah, accused the US government on Saturday of "kidnapping, mistreating and killing an innocent man," according to the Associated Press news agency.

She said her husband died from complications following liver surgery, AP reports.

When he was seized in 2013, Mr Liby had been on the FBI's most wanted list for more than a decade, with a $5m (£3.1m) bounty on his head. He had been indicted by a New York grand jury in 2000.

US Secretary of State John Kerry was forced to defend the capture after Libya called on the US to explain the raid on its territory.

Many people in Libya were angry about what they said was a breach of the country's sovereignty.

Mr Liby was detained by US commandos on 5 October 2013 and interrogated on board a US warship before being handed over to FBI agents.

He was first put on a US Navy ship for interrogation but brought to the US when his health began to deteriorate after he stopped eating and drinking, US officials said.

Mr Liby, who was also known to be suffering from hepatitis C, was accused of being one of the masterminds of the al-Qaeda embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998.

Two other men were accused over the attacks. Khalid Al Fawwaz has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges and was due to stand trial on 12 January alongside Mr Liby.

Meanwhile, Adel Abdul Bary admitted helping to plan the attacks in a federal court in New York in September. The Egyptian, who was extradited from the UK in 2012, faces a maximum of 25 years behind bars.

Libya Rebels Launch New Air Strikes on Misrata

Forces loyal to Libya’s imperialist recognized regime on Saturday staged air strikes on the commercial port of Misrata, a western city allied to a group that holds the capital Tripoli, both sides said.

Fighting was also reported near the country’s biggest oil export port located in the east, part of a struggle between troops loyal to two competing governments and parliaments.

The internationally recognized prime minister Abdullah al-Thinni has been forced to run a rump state in the east since a group known as Libya Dawn linked to Misrata took control of Tripoli last August and set up a rival government.

Saqer al-Joroushi, commander of an air force unit loyal to Thinni, said war planes had hit Misrata port and an air force academy located in the western city.

A state news agency loyal to the rival Tripoli government confirmed the air strikes, saying two people had been wounded when several rockets hit a port building.

Also, the Libyan parliament decided to reinstate former army chief Khalifa Haftar and a number of other officers, Al Arabiya News Channel reported Saturday. And it has been reported that forces loyal to Haftar were behind the Saturday’s air strikes on Misrata.

Haftar’s spokesman, Maj. Mohamed al-Hijazi told The Anadolu Agency by phone that “we’ve said before that we would bomb the port of Misrata if it comes to pose a threat.”

“On Saturday, our air force bombed the [Misurata] port, because it was being used to transport weapons, ammunition and terrorist elements,” Hijazi said.

Misrata, 200 km (125 miles) east of Tripoli, has a major sea port and free trade zone. The city had so far mostly escaped the fighting that has threatened to break up Libya.

Separately, troops loyal to Thinni said they had attacked a rival force which three weeks ago tried to seize the Es Sider oil port, the country’s biggest.

Thinni’s troops moved on fighters who have been holding positions in Ben Jawad, some 40 km west of the port, said a spokesman for Thinni’s troops.

“There are clashes with heavy weapons,” he said, adding that two of his troops had been killed and two others wounded.

Es Sider and the adjacent Ras Lanuf oil ports have been closed since the clashes started, depriving Libya of an estimated 300,000 barrels of day of crude production.

Since Muammar Qaddafi was ousted in 2011, Libya has failed to attain stability. Former rebel brigades which once fought side by side have now turned on each other, aligning themselves with rival political factions in a scramble for control.

Islamic State Kills 14 Soldiers in Bitterly Divided Libya

January 4, 2015 - 3:56PM

Cairo--Supporters of the so-called Islamic State, the militant group that has overrun parts of Iraq and Syria, have killed 14 Libyan soldiers in the south of the country, the country's embattled government said on Saturday.

In separate violence, forces loyal to the government staged air strikes on the port of Misrata, a western city allied to a group that holds the capital Tripoli.

Both sides also fought with ground troops near the country's biggest oil port, part of a struggle between forces loyal to former rebel groups that helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but now vie for power.

Western powers and Libya's neighbours fear Islamic State and other radical Islamists are seeking to exploit a power vacuum in the oil-producing nation.

The recognised government of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni, which has been forced to work from the east since a group known as Libya Dawn linked to Misrata seized Tripoli last August, said Islamic State had executed 14 soldiers on a road north of Sabha, the main city in the south.

"Members of IS staged an attack . . . during which they executed 14 members of the Libyan army belonging to the infantry battalion 168," the government said, asking the international community to lift an arms embargo to help fight what it called terrorists.

A website called Islamic State in Libya claimed responsibility for killing 12 soldiers at the same location and posted a picture purporting to show the execution of one soldier.

A rival Libyan parliament in Tripoli denounced the killing, a Tripoli-based news agency said.

The US military is monitoring a nascent effort by Islamic State to train a couple of hundred fighters in eastern Libya, the commander of US forces in Africa said last month.

Thirteen Egyptians were reported kidnapped in the Libyan city of Sirt, adding to seven that went missing last week in the country, Egypt's state news agency said.

Egypt has supported the recognised Libyan government, even carrying out air strikes against Libya Dawn.

The 13 reported kidnapped on Saturday were Coptic Christians and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry had met with senior church officials on Saturday amid efforts to solve the crisis, Egyptian state news agency MENA said.

Magdy Malik, a Christian activist in Egypt, said that gunmen stormed a residence for expatriates in Sirt and abducted the 13 Copts.

Seven Egyptian Christians were found shot execution-style on a beach in eastern Libya last February.

Local reports have said a Coptic doctor and his wife were murdered in their home in early December, with their daughter's body later found.

A formal diplomatic mission to retrieve the Egyptians would be difficult because much of Libya falls outside of the officially recognised government's control, an Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman said on al-Hayat, a state-owned television station. Egypt - whose ambassador was abducted last year - no longer has an embassy in Tripoli.

Troops loyal to Mr Thinni said they had attacked a rival force which three weeks ago tried to seize the Sidra oil port. Sidra and the adjacent Ras Lanuf oil ports have been closed since the clashes started.

Libya Islamists Abduct 20 Egypt Christians: Rebel Source

A Coptic Church in Libya.

Benghazi (Libya) (AFP) - Islamist militants have abducted 20 Egyptian Christians in Libya in recent days, a source close to the government said.

The Ansar al-Sharia militia kidnapped 13 of them Saturday in the coastal city of Sirte and the rest of them there over the past few days, the source said.

Their identity was not immediately clear, except that they were said to be Coptic Christians.

Thousands of Egyptians work in Libya, mainly in the construction and craft sectors, and they have been targeted as the country has descended into chaos.

In February, the bodies of seven Egyptian Christians who had been shot were found near the second city of Benghazi.

And just last week, an Egyptian Coptic couple were found dead in their home in Sirte, hometown of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi, who was overthrown and killed in a NATO-backed uprising three years ago.

Their 13-year-old daughter, who was kidnapped, was later found dead.

Local council chairman Yussef Tebeiqa said the attack might have been motivated by religion as money and jewellery were not taken.

Since Kadhafi's ouster, Libya's small Christian minority has expressed fears over Islamic extremism, especially with the rise of armed militias enforcing their own law in the absence of central control.

Sirte, 500 kilometres (310 miles) east of Tripoli, is in the hands of Islamist militias, including Ansar al-Sharia, which the UN last month added to its terror list over links to Al-Qaeda and for running Islamic State group training camps.

- UN talks start Monday -

Libya is awash with weapons and powerful militias, and has rival governments and parliaments.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian recently called on the international community to act to prevent Libya from becoming a "sanctuary for terrorists".

As well as Sirte, Tripoli and second city Benghazi are largely in the hands of militias, and the internationally recognised government has taken refuge in the remote east.

Benghazi residents said they have been suffering from shortages of electricity, water and fuel since Wednesday.

Last week, the army led its first air raids on Islamist positions in Misrata, an important base for fighters from the Islamist-led Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn) coalition of militias.

On Saturday, Libya's third city was once again hit by aerial attacks, according to military sources, who did not give any casualty figures.

Separately Saturday, Islamist fighters attacked and killed 15 soldiers in the town of Soknah, 180 kilometres southeast of Tripoli, a source close to the government said.

Some of the troops were shot dead and others decapitated by militants who have pledged allegiance to IS, the source added.

UN-brokered talks aimed at ending months of violence and political deadlock in the North African nation are scheduled to begin on Monday.

A UN diplomat said the initiative calls for a ceasefire as well as a withdrawal of all militias and the disarmament of the warring sides.

Libya's internationally recognised parliament has voted not to attend the negotiations if the rival legislature in Tripoli is party to the talks.

Last month, leaders in the sub-Saharan Sahel region of Africa meeting in Mauritania called on the United Nations to organise an international force "to neutralise the armed groups" in Libya.

Libya's violence has drawn strong condemnation from both the UN and European Union, and rights group Amnesty International has accused several factions of war crimes.

Africa 2014 in Review, Part III: Counterrevolution, Neocolonialism and the Mass Struggle

Lessons from false starts and imperialist interventions

By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Mrs. Simone Gbagbo, the former first lady of Ivory Coast, made an appearance in court inside the country on Dec. 26. She is charged with alleged crimes in connection with the tenure of her husband, the ousted President Laurent Gbagbo, who is now under the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

President Gbagbo was targeted by the former colonial power France and the United States for removal beginning in late 2010. French forces eventually put Gbagbo under siege and raided his hold-up residence in April 2011, taking him, his wife and other leading officials of the Ivorian government into custody.

A politician and functionary of international finance capital, Alassane Quattara, had opposed President Gbagbo in the 2010 elections. A dispute over the outcome and a less than adequate resolution by the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), lead to a political crisis and the French-led counterrevolution that imposed the candidate who was favored by the imperialist s.

Former First Lady Gbagbo, who has been held in northern Ivory Coast since the overthrow of the government, was transferred to the commercial capital of Abidjan for the court appearance. She sat in the dock alongside 83 other political and military opponents of the Paris-backed coup which extended over several months from late 2010 until April 2011.

The trial conducted by the existing pro-imperialist regime is expected to last for a month. Reports say that nine jurors will be impaneled to hear evidence and make a decision with respect to her guilt or innocence.

 “If she is found guilty, she will get 20 years to life because we are talking about a crime against state security,” said prosecutor Soungalo Coulibaly.

Nonetheless, even within the imperialist camp there is controversy surrounding the highly-politicized trial.  The ICC ordered on Dec. 11 that the former first lady be handed over for trial in the Netherlands along with her husband and his chief aide Charles Ble Goude.

In a judicial statement from the ICC it says that "After a thorough assessment... the Chamber concluded that the Cote d'Ivoire domestic authorities were not taking tangible, concrete and progressive steps aimed at ascertaining whether Simone Gbagbo is criminally responsible for the same conduct that is alleged before the ICC. (Dec. 11)

Since the French-U.S. supported counterrevolution against Gbagbo in 2010-11, the security situation inside the country has worsened particularly in the northern region where rebels were used in the plot to undermine the former government. The existing security forces appear incapable of addressing the lawlessness despite their endorsement by the West.

 "People living, working, and travelling in northern Ivory Coast are being terrorized by armed men who appear to operate with little fear of being stopped, much less prosecuted," Corinne Dufka, the West Africa director of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a press statement.

According to an article published by the French Press Agency (AFP), “Buses, cars and homes were being targeted in near daily attacks by gunmen armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, among other weapons, the report said. Many victims had said they had ‘given up reporting attacks because of the lack of response’ HRW added.” (Dec. 15)

Consequently, the counterrevolution against the Gbagbo government weakened the Ouattara regime’s ability to stabilize Ivory Coast as well as increasing the dependency of the post-colonial state. Only a reconsolidation of patriotic forces can provide hope for a better future.

Post Gaddafi Libya and the Anomaly of the So Called “Arab Spring”

At the same time that Washington and Paris were effectively destabilizing the West African state of Ivory Coast, the imperialists led by the Obama administration moved rapidly to launch a counterrevolution against the Jamahiriya in Libya. On Feb. 17, 2011, a rebel war was launched in Benghazi against the central government in Tripoli, seeking to undermine its authority.

When the loyalist forces mobilized to repel the counterrevolutionaries, the U.S., France and Britain, engineered two United Nations Security Council resolutions. The first, UNSC 1970, placed an arms embargo on the government of Muammar Gaddafi but allowed large shipments of weapons and personnel through Benghazi and other areas that border waterways and contiguous states. The second resolution, UNSC 1973, provided pseudo-legal cover for the massive bombing of the North African country under the guise of establishing a “no-fly zone.”

After the Pentagon and NATO along with their allies bombed Libya from March 19 to Oct. 31, 2011, the destruction of the country was sealed. Millions were displaced in the aerial bombardments, estimates claimed that 50,000-100,000 people were killed and the terror carried out by the western-backed rebels took on a decisively reactionary and racist character.

Today Libya is in chaos with oil terminals being burned and population groups under direct assault from various rebel factions, two of whom are contesting the control of the capital and the coveted oil resources and revenues. The imperialist-recognized faction that has taken refuge in a Tobruk hotel after being driven out of the capital, have called in Egyptian and United Arab Emirates (UAE) warplanes which are carrying out airstrikes against the rival militias labelled as Islamists.

Both Tunisia and Egypt, considered the birthplaces of the “Arab Spring” from Dec. 2010 to Feb. 2011, border Libya. Even after the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt which toppled the regimes of longtime western-allied dictators Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak, the military regimes that preempted a genuine people’s revolution allowed their military forces to be utilized in the imperialist war against Gaddafi.

Egyptian special forces were used as ground troops during the Pentagon-NATO bombings. Tunisian authorities allowed the counterrevolutionaries in Libya to take control of a key border crossing where arms and rebel forces were allowed to enter the theater of war.

Absent of an anti-imperialist and Pan-Africanist approach to the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt both countries were bound to revert to a neocolonialist reconfiguration of domestic state power and foreign policy. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood’s political organization, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), although elected in June 2012, made no fundamental changes in Cairo’s relationship with the U.S. and the State of Israel.

Consequently, with the military overthrow of the government of President Mohamed Morsi on July 3, 2013, the “Egyptian Revolution” had come full circle. Even the temporary suspension of the regime of Field Marshall Gen. Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi by the AU, which mandates that any military seizure of power must be rejected by the continental organization, as soon as the general took off his military uniform and secured the presidency through an election where the FJP was excluded, Egypt was immediately restored to full status within the successor to the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

In Tunisia, the recent elections which saw the rise of a reformed party of Ben Ali, known as Nidaa Tounes (Tunisia Call), resulted in the ascendancy of 88-year-old Beji Caid Essebsi as president. The left parties, centrists and Islamists remained divided and unable to stave off the return of the career politicians who were stalwarts of the governments of Habib Bourguiba and Ben Ali.

Even the BBC admitted in a recent article that “His critics say his election victory marks the return of the former establishment, pointing out that he served under President Ben Ali, and was also interior minister under the country's first president Habib Bourguiba. Essebsi’s emphasis has been on maintaining western influence in Tunisia in alliance with France and the U.S.

Lessons for 2015: From Uprisings to Revolutionary Pan-Africanism

Despite these challenges that have been outlined in this series of articles on developments in 2014 and their socio-historical context, there are clear indications that neocolonial dominance is not effectively guaranteed. Events in Burkina Faso provide an illustration of the potential for people to rapidly mobilize to overthrow a military-turned-civilian dictatorial regime operating in the interests of imperialism

In Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore, who led a coup against Pan-Africanist and Marxist leader Capt. Thomas Sankara in Oct. 1987, remained in power for 27 years. His removal was swiftly countered with regional plans fostered by the West to derail any potential revolution led by the working class, farmers and youth of the country who had the most to gain in the uprising against the Compaore regime and its allies in parliament.

The existing interim coalition government in Ouagadougou is designed to dissuade the people and channel their energies into a multi-party political electoral campaign in 2015 that will not provide solutions to the massive unemployment, poverty and repression characteristic of neocolonialism in Africa. Popular organizations which championed the legacy of Sankara during the Oct. rebellion must consolidate their forces into a revolutionary alliance of political parties and worker organization to seize power in the name of the people.

Throughout the West Africa region, strikes have taken place over the recent period. In Ghana, public sector, educational and healthcare workers walked off the job during 2014 demanding better conditions of employment, the securing of their pensions and salary increases to guard against the social impact of the decline of the cedi, the national currency.

Also in Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone, workers have struck and protested in the similar sectors as in Ghana. Many of these states where strikes and rebellions have occurred are being labelled as examples of phenomenal economic growth in Africa. Nonetheless, the profits accrued as a result of the foreign direct investment driven policies are not being shared with the masses.

In Nigeria, which is now designated as having the largest economy on the continent, has not been able to effectively contain and eradicate the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast. The kidnapping of hundreds of high school girls in Chibok was indicative of the breakdown of the dysfunctional post-colonial political dispensation with regional divisions in the body politic that are reflected within the military and security forces.

All of these struggles aimed at winning a decent standard of living for workers, youth and farmers; the ideological and political campaigns to battle reactionary ideas and movements; the quest for genuine all-African unity; and the revolutionary imperative for the empowerment of the majority of the people within society, should be at the top of the agenda of all progressive forces on the continent and their supporters internationally.

With the decline in commodity prices on the global markets, many African states are already feeling the impact of this looming crisis. These post-colonial governments and the national bourgeoisies in these countries are more vulnerable than ever since they are largely dependent on the foreign exchange earnings from exports to ensure their dominance within these societies.

It is quite obvious that the neo-liberal agenda in operation for the last three decades is running its course. The only real solution to the crisis is socialist reconstruction and planning within a continental and global Pan-African framework. 

Pan-African Journal: Worldwide Radio Broadcast Hosted by Abayomi Azikiwe for Jan. 3, 2015

Listen to this edition of the Pan-African Journal hosted by Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire.

To listen to this broadcast airing originally from 1:00-4:00pm EST on Sat. Jan. 3, 2015, and afterwards on podcast, just click on the website below:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/panafricanjournal/2015/01/03/pan-african-journal-worldwide-radio-broadcast

This program will present our regular PANW reports dealing with events in the Central African Republic, Libya, Sudan, the anti-racist struggle in the United States and other issues.

In the second hour we continue our Voices from History segment examining the life and times of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. coming up on the 86th anniversary of his birth Jan. 15.

The federally-recognized holiday is being held on Mon. Jan. 19, where in Detroit, the location we are broadcasting from, the MLK Committee will host the 12th Annual MLK Day Rally & March starting at Noon at Central United Methodist Church located on Woodward avenue and East Adams in downtown Detroit.

The event draws on the social justice and anti-war legacy of Dr. King and is the largest gathering of progressive forces in southeastern Michigan at the beginning of every year.

Nigeria Agricultural Sector Still Dominated by Peasant Farmers –NACCIMA

by ABOLAJI ADEBAYO
Nigerian Mirror
Dec 26, 2014

The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agricultue, NACCIMA, has bemoaned the pace at which the agricultural sector is growing considering the economic status of the country.

Speaking during the courtesy visit to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development recently, the President of the association, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar said, “Given the position that agriculture holds to our national development as a source of food security; job creation; raw materials production for industrial growth; generation of foreign exchange for the country amongst other. The sector is yet to achieve its full potential.

While we are not unaware of the enormity of the challenges which impedes the full realisation of the foregoing, the Association is of the view that the Federal Government should not rest on its oars until we achieve the full realisation of the country’s agricultural potentials.

“As part of our advocacy on issues that will grow the development of trade and investment in particular and the economy in general, the NACCIMA has organised a One-Day Dialogue Session programme tagged, “National Dialogue On Agricultural Value Chain”, with the theme: “Enhancing Agricultural Export Through Adequate Financing”.

The programme was planned, with a view to getting stakeholders in Agribusiness to brainstorm on how to improve on Agriculture production towards self-sustenance and food sufficiency as well as Exports in Nigeria.

It was also used to expose participants to the Federal Government’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda, ATA. Arising from the programme, a communiqué was issued and has been forwarded to your good office for consideration.

During the dialogue, the association had identified peasant farmers domination of the sector as the reason for underutilization of the potential of agricultural sector.

It stated that the high interest rate, which constitutes a major impediment to financing the sector, has not been addressed.

The association also regretted an underdevelopment of agriculture value chain, which has resulted in exportation of agricultural raw materials to the developed countries. Abubakar stated that low investment in infrastructure defined the reason for the underdevelopment of the value chain.

He explained that value chain is the main aspect where Nigeria has comparative advantage, while advocating for urgent private sector initiative and intervention to complement Government efforts.

He decried the low support for seeds and fertilizer to farmers under the Growth Enhancement Scheme, GES, of the Federal Government.

According to him, in the GES arrangement, the governments should provide 50 per cent (Federal- 25 per cent, State-25 per cent) support for seeds and fertilizer to farmers directly and not through the general price subsidy.

Abubakar also stated the need for farmers to be insured so that bank loans can be guaranteed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

As contained in the communiqué presented to the minister, the association stated that the Agriculture ministry should be encouraged to reduce the number of peasant farmers through aggressive empowerment.

It urged the government to increase the budget for agricultural to at least 10 per cent of the national budget, while canvassing for discontinuation of double digits interest rate on agricultural loans.

It further stated, “The Bank of Agriculture should be given same level plain of operation by raising up her paid up share capital to N500bn as did to BOI. At least N500bn intervention funds should go to Bank of Agriculture (BoA) as soon as possible.

“The Research Institutes such as RMRDC and FIIRO should be empowered to research more on how agricultural value chain could be developed and sustained.

Also, Research and Development arm of Private Sector should be able to access Research Grants to fast track R & Ds at all levels.

“Return on Investment in the Agricultural sector is low; government should help farmers with incentives that would enhance return on investment on agriculture “Government should provide incentives on imported farm tools and equipment to reduce their cost.

Also, importation of agricultural equipment and machinery should be zero duty and investment guaranteed; also insured by both investors and the government.

In addition, all agricultural products for export must be guaranteed and risk insured while finance-friendly banks underwritten by the NEXIM bank and or the CBN.

“Special arrangement needs to be made for women by the Bank of Agriculture, BOA, to aid their easy access to agricultural loan.

“Policy frame work that would encourage commercial farming should be formulated in order to have an easy transition from peasant farming to commercial farming.

“Government should encourage farmers by buying the farm produce from farmers while buyers buy directly from the government.”

Abubakar, who reemphasized the association’s readiness to continue partnering government towards the revitalization of agricultural sector, said, “With all of us working as partners in progress, we will be able to achieve food sufficiency for consumption, raw materials for industrial growth and boost our exports potentials in a manner that will make the country achieve the target of being among the first 20 agriculturally developed nations by the year 2020.

Boko Haram Will Soon Be History —Northern Governors

Jide Orintunsin Minna
Nigerian Nation

The Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) and Governor of Niger State, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, yesterday predicted that the activities of the dreaded Boko Haram in the region would soon be history.

He said the terrorists group would soon meet their waterloo as government had maintained sporadic attacks on their hideouts.

Aliyu’s prediction was contained in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Israel A. Ebije, to the entire Ummah in the country in commemoration of Eid-el- Maulud – the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

The NSGF chair reiterated that Boko Haram insurgents were neither representing Islam nor carrying out the teachings and lifestyles of Prophet Muhammad.

He then congratulated Muslim Ummah in the country for the celebration of the Eid-el- Maulud and urged them to use the occasion to reflect on the teachings and exemplary life of the Holy Prophet for the overall development of the country.

“Let me join all Muslim Ummah in celebrating the messenger of Allah through whom the Holy Qur’an was revealed to mankind. Indeed, the life the Prophet lived should always serve as an inspiration to the faithful and his pious life as a model for all of us.”

Aliyu said Prophet Muhammad and indeed Islam generally preached peace, tolerance, unity and cohesion, stressing that it was only on those platforms that the society could progress and not through killing and maiming of innocent citizens.

The NSGF chair also reminded Nigerians on the need to obtain their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), insisting it  was the only instrument they could use to exercise their constitutional right in electing leaders of their choice.

He, therefore, urged those who have not seen their PVCs as well as those who just attained the age of 18 to register, adding that it was also an opportunity for those who lost their Temporary Voters’ Card (TVCs) to go and re-register in order not to be disenfranchised.

The governor, who noted that the 2015 general election was just a few weeks away, called on politicians and the electorate to play according to the rules of the game to ensure peaceful conduct of the exercise and a smooth transition.

11 Killed in Cameroon Bus Attack

Our Reporter
Nigerian Nation

Eleven people were killed in Cameroon after suspected Boko Haram militants attacked a bus in Far-North Region bordering Nigeria, an army source said yesterday.

All the victims of the Thursday’s attack were male and the attacked bus was taken away by the militants. “There were women in the bus but they were spared the ill fate,” the source told Xinhua over phone.

More than one dozen truck drivers were killed in Mora in Far-North Region of Cameroon by suspected Boko Haram militants Tuesday.

Boko Haram militants, who are active in the north of Cameroon, often attack on villages, pillage properties of the villagers and sometimes take foreign and local people as hostages.

The Cameroonian government has strengthened the military might by sending more troops in the north to fight against the militants since 2014.

Chibok Girls’ Parents Take Case to UN

Our Reporter
Nigerian Nation

Parents of the  200 Chibok  schoolgirls kidnapped last  April by Boko Haram members in Borno State  have taken their case to the United Nations (UN) after losing hope that the federal  government would rescue them.

A group lobbying for government action on behalf of the parents met with UN Women, the head of the UN representation in Nigeria  and officials of the UN Office for West Africa last month.

The group has also appealed to UNICEF, campaign spokeswoman Bukola Shonibare said.
UN officials were not immediately available for comment.

“If the government cannot take action, we are asking for the UN to come in and help and if they reject, we just don’t know what to do,” Reverend Enoch Mark, leader of the parents, told Reuters.

Two of his daughters were kidnapped.

It is not clear what any UN agency could do without Nigerian government approval.

More than eight months since the abduction of the girls from Chibok, in Borno State, parents say they are still in the dark about what the government is doing.

A presidential spokesman said efforts to free them continue, but that details of the missions are too sensitive to publish.

“The Chibok community is pained, we cannot take this anymore,” Dauda Iliya, spokesman for the Chibok community in Abuja, said at a New Year’s Day rally of parents, adding that they had written to the United Nations to “protest this neglect and nonchalance by the government.”

President Goodluck Jonathan says the government is trying to free the girls, but a botched rescue mission would endanger them.

Dozens, possibly hundreds, have been kidnapped since the Chibok attack.

Two weeks ago, gunmen abducted 172 women and children from Gumsuri, 24 kilometres from Chibok.

Gunmen Abduct 40 Youths in Borno Village

Published on Saturday, 03 January 2015 05:00
Written by Yahaya Ibrahim, Maiduguri
Nigerian Daily Trust

Gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram insurgents have abducted 40 youths at Malari village in Damboa local government area of Borno State, Weekly Trust gathered yesterday. Our correspondent gathered that the incident happen on New Year eve but report about the abduction was disclosed to reporters in Maiduguri by some fleeing villagers yesterday.

Weekly Trust gathered that some youths between the ages of three and 23 years were taken away from the village which is about 20 kilometres away from the infamous Sambisa Forest.

A fleeing villager, Malam Bulama told newsmen that the incident happen at about 8:00 pm on Wednesday night, adding that the insurgents gathered males in the village and started preaching to them after which they forcefully went away with over 40 of them.

“They gathered us in front of the village head’s house for preaching after which they took over 40 males between the ages of 10 to 23 and move towards the Sambisa Forest,” Bulama said.

“Two of my sons and three sons of my relatives were among the youths taken away. They said they are not going to kill anybody but we have all fled the village in fear of our lives because we did not believe them,” he added.

A villager from the neighboring village of  Mulgwi, Garba Lawan, who also fled to Maiduguri said he also fled on hearing the report of the abduction.

The insurgents had in recent time being abducting and forcefully conscripting youths from villages and towns in Borno State.

There was no immediate confirmation on the latest abduction from either the police or the military as at the time of filing this report.