Uganda Bombings Highlight Need For Vigilance In Africa, Says Administration Official

Philip Bunnell - Talk Radio News Service

The U.S. must maintain vigilance over the Horn of Africa following an upswing in violence from the Somali terrorist organization Al Shabbab, an Obama administration official told reporters Tuesday.

The briefing came in the wake of Al Shabbab’s July 11 bombings in Kampala, Uganda during a World Cup party.  The official said that this is the first time the terrorist group has carried out attacks outside of Somalia.  

“Al Shabaab has always engaged in domestic terrorism,” said the administration official, “but have now manifested outside of Somalia.”

Al Shabaab has been fighting the weakened Somali transitional government for control, and has hijacked foreign aid and launched attacks against African Union forces assisting the Somali government, of which Uganda is a part of. The official emphasized that “we need other countries in the region to know that the United States stands by them,” and noted that it is imperative to “stabilize the transitional government” in Somalia, and “continue to provide assistance to Uganda, Burundi, and Somali refugees.”  The official also said that the FBI has sent a team to assist Ugandan law enforcement in their investigation, and that there was no advance warning of the attack, saying that the United States is “working very closely with countries in the region.”

The administration official also voiced caution concerning Al Shabaab’s ties to Al Qaeda, noting that “their agenda is similar to Al Qaeda.”

“Ties have always existed… Individuals in Al Shabaab have associations with Al Qaeda in East Africa and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. There is a lot of bundling together of individuals at the top of these organizations,”according to the official.

The official said that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is the most operationally active group and that the administration was concerned about Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen and the Horn of Africa.

The official also touched upon several United States citizens who have travelled to Somalia and joined Al Shabaab, saying that the FBI and law enforcement agencies have watched those citizens “very closely.”  Several Somali-Americans from Minnesota have joined Al Shabaab, including one who participated in a suicide bombing.

Somali Torture Victims Try To Overcome Prime Minister's Immunity Claim

Bashe Abdi Yousuf and four other former Somalis claim they were tortured or had family members murdered by the Somali government in the 1980s. They sued Mohamed Ali Samatar, a former Somali Prime Minister, in US federal court after discovering that Samatar was living in Virginia. In the Supreme Court today, Samatar's lawyers argued that his actions were taken while he was a government official, and thus Samatar should have immunity under the 1976 Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA).

The FSIA says that foreign governments cannot be sued in US courts (with the exception of countries listed by the State Department as state sponsors of terrorism), and Samatar's argument is that, while the statute's terms don't protect government officials from suit, the law would be ineffective if a plaintiff could sue the top officials in that government. The rationale behind the immunity is that US courts should not pass judgment on foreign governments, but that immunity would be worthless if foreign government officials could be threatened with lawsuits over official acts they carried out in their home country.

Justice Stephen Breyer seemed the most receptive to this argument in court today, at one point telling Yousuf's lawyer that if the law doesn't protect officials, "this act is only good as against the bad lawyer." Any clever lawyer, Breyer said, would just sue the officials directly.

The lawyers for the Somalis argued that there were still teeth in FSIA, even if it does not protect officials individually, since any suit that asked for a change in government policy, return of land, or other remedies against a foreign government would be thrown out under FSIA. Further, some actions taken by government officials would still be protected under common-law immunity principles.

The argument that seemed to gain the most support, though, was based on the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA), passed by Congress in 1991. If government officials have immunity, and the TVPA did not change that, then the TVPA served no purpose, several Justices suggested. Lawyers for the Somalis replied that, in some cases, governments waive immunity protection for their officials, so torture prosecutions can proceed.

Overall, the stance of the Justices was unclear, since they were faced with seemingly contradictory statutory language. The case, Samantar v. Yousuf, will be decided by this summer.

UN Addresses War, Piracy In Somalia

New York---The security council adopted a resolution today supporting the extension of the African Union peacekeeping operation in Somalia (AMASOM) for another year. US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice stated that the resolution underscored the importance of support for the transitional federal government and expressed concern about the country’s deteriorating humanitarian situation.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees, over 100 000 Somali’s have been forced out of Mogadishu in the past month due to an escalation in fighting between armed groups, many of which have increasingly targeted civilians and humanitarian organizations. The World Food Program (WFP) was forced to suspend its food distribution earlier this month, and will remain unable to resume service until security conditions are stabilized.

A report released in Geneva earlier today by Dr Shamsul Bari, the UN’s independent expert on human rights in Somalia, highlighted the devastating consequences of the conflict on civilian populations and called on the international community to strengthen its engagement to the country. “ The Islamist forces fighting to topple the TGF (Transitional Government Forces ) are reported to have carried out extrajudicial executions, planted mines, bombs and other explosive devices in civilian areas, and used civilians as human shields.” said Bari, who also warned that the growth of piracy along the Somali coast was an important security threat to the region. The UN Contact Group on piracy off the coast of Somalia also convened today to discuss possible initiatives and solutions to counter the dangers posed by pirates.

In an attempt to set up safe transport corridors for commercial vessels and protect WFP food shipments into Mogadishu, the European Union has been conducting naval operations (EUNAVFOR) along the Somali coast since late 2008. According to EUNAVFOR Chief of Staff Captain Paul Chivers, the total number of attacks has continued to increase, although the number of successful ones has diminished. There are currently 9 ships being held by pirates off the coast of Somalia.

Notes From Clinton Global Initiative Opening Session On Women

Former President Bill Clinton today kicked off the Clinton Global Initiative Plenary Session on Women. He entered to Also sprach Zarathustra, the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey. He started by giving some facts and figures about Sub-Saharan Africa and HIV, saying that getting HIV is like walking along and then suddenly having a concrete block dropped on you. He said these girls and young women are the best ambassadors because even though they have been sexually abused they refuse to live their lives as victims.

Clinton said that women do 66% of world’s work, but they produce 10% of the world’s income and own only 1% of the world’s property. 40% of the three billion people who work are women and 70% of agricultural labor is performed by women, but women lack independence. He also said that investing in women’s health could increase productivity in Africa by fifteen billion dollars per year.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a commitment to Rwanda and talked about how women have been active there. Bloomberg said he is involved in Southern Sudan and Congo, working with an organization called Women for Women. It is an attempt to get women to contribute to their countries.

President Barack Obama's Ambassador At-Large for Global Women's Issues, Melanne Verveer, said that empowering women combats extremism.

Ambassador Robert Zoellick said that he is trying to help with the Adolescent Girls Initiative, an organization that hopes to work with 3,000 girls and mentor them to make sure that education is connected to a job.

Zainab Salbi talked about wars and children. She said 80% of refugees in the world are women and children. Even after rape these women succeed because they have children. They are the ones who are keeping the children going to school. The only group of people who are keeping a society going are women, and they do not have a seat at the table and they are not being heard.

Rex Tillerson from Exxon Mobil talked about technologies. He said low technologies can impact on a local level. He said they are working on what types of technologies work.

Edna Ismail was the first nurse practitioner in Somalia. She said they do not even need advanced technology. The age that a woman marries and nutrition are important to overall health. Genital cutting information is not reaching the grandmothers and people who have kept this tradition. Senegal has passed a law outlawing this, but a law does not change behavior on a village level.

Diane Sawyer asked what the biggest failure was, and Zainab Salbi asked said it was a challenge. But girls at the age of nine get cows as a dowry. She said you must be able to educate women so that there is incentive for women to be educated so they are more valuable to the family than cows.

There are a million young women in the sex trade. The United States passed one of the first laws to prevent human trafficking. It is hopeful because the business community is getting involved. One cent of every development dollar goes to girls.

Some programs make the payments directly to women, such as incentives to go to school. Must turn incentives so that the legal structure reflects the situation.

DOD Official: Sailors Should Fight Somali Pirates Themselves

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico - Talk Radio News Service

The most effective way to deal with piracy off of the Somali coast is for the sailors to defend themselves, according to a Defense Department representative testifying to the Senate Armed Services Committee today.

Michele Flournoy, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, said that of the recent pirate attacks in Somalia the most effective means of fending off the pirates came from actions taken by the crews themselves.

“The single most effective short-term response to piracy will be working with merchant shipping lines to ensure that vessels in the region take appropriate security measures themselves,” Flournoy said. She continued that it is not possible for the U.S. military to prevent or intervene in every pirate attack, but if crews take appropriate measures, “the vast majority of pirate attacks can be thwarted without any need for military intervention.”

There were 122 attempted pirate attacks in 2008, of which only 42 resulted in crewmembers becoming captured. Of the unsuccessful attacks, 78 percent of them were stopped by the crews actions, with the others being stopped by military intervention, according to Flournoy.

Flournoy divided crew countermeasures into two categories: passive and active defense measures. Passive measures are those which don’t necessarily require direct confrontation with the pirates, and can include physical obstructions to boarding points, avoiding high-risk waters, creating fortified “safe rooms” in the ship, posting lookouts at all times, and maintaining contact with maritime security forces. Active defense measures can include using fire hoses and small arms to repel pirates and a military presence on the boat. Both of these defensive measures are important for crews to talk to defend themselves, Flournoy said.

She believes that the complexity of this situation necessitates a multifaceted approach, which is why the aforementioned measures should be combined with greater military patrols and economic development. Additionally, the Defense Department would like to see more states willing to prosecute the pirates. Presently, Kenya is one of the only nations to actually place Somali pirates on trial.

According to Flournoy, since August 2008 36 pirate vessels have been destroyed or confiscated, small arms have been seized, and 146 pirates have been turned over to law enforcement officers.