-------------------------Forwarded------------------------- Judy Miriga Diaspora Spokesperson Executive Director Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc., USA http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com M23 rebels call for protection of Tutsis Published on Nov 25, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish Rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo say they are talking face to face with President Joseph Kabila. That's what Kagame wanted building an Empire Hima where Tutsi (Nilotic) control the entire Great Lakes region. That's what M23 want. They know full well that they aren't Congolese but they're trying to force it. I pray for the day that world governments will evolve and reach a higher level of consciousness to stop the bloodshed of innocent people. .... but the U.K and U.S have denounced them O.o'''! DR Congo rebels standing firm in Goma Published on Nov 25, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish DR Congo rebels standing firm in Goma. Al Jazeera's Peter Greste reports from Kampala. bla bla bla , Tutsis are rwandan not congolese, you fucker no this what happens when you force many nations into one Conflict minerals need consistent conflict! Congo-Kinshasa: AU Urges M23 Rebels to End War25 November 2012The African Union has called on M23 rebels occupying a key town in eastern DR Congo to stop fighting, as diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis continue. In a statement released Sunday, the AU echoed a call by regional Heads of State under the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), at a summit on Saturday, for the M23 rebels to stop fighting and withdraw from the regional capital of Goma. It also welcomed a commitment by the DR Congo government to resolve the rebels' grievances. AU chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma "welcomes the commitment of the government of the DRC to listen, evaluate and resolve any legitimate grievances of the M23. She urges the M23 immediately to take the steps expected of it," the AU said in a statement. The summit... outlined a 10-point plan that provides for the immediate withdrawal of the M23 elements from all the locations they recently occupied, as well as the establishment of security arrangements to monitor the situation on the ground. Dlamini Zuma reiterated the "AU's deep concern at the worsening humanitarian situation on the ground and the abuses committed against the civilian populations," the statement added. Reports indicated the political leader of the M23, Jean-Marie Runiga Lugerero, had expected to hold further talks Sunday with DR Congo President Joseph Kabila after reportedly seeing him on Saturday night after the summit of the 11-member International Conference on the Great Lakes. But by press time it was not clear if the two had met. Uncertainty meanwhile hung over the fate of Goma, the capital of the restive province of North Kivu. Leaders at Saturday's summit in Kampala said the rebels should withdraw to positions at least 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of the town, which the guerrillas -- former army soldiers who staged a mutiny in April -- seized on Tuesday. That would mean the rebels returning to the positions they held before launching the assault that claimed Goma. The regional leaders said the pull-out should be done within 48 hours. The M23 was launched by former rebel group [CNDP] who were integrated into the military under a 2009 peace deal that they claim was never fully implemented. In exchange for a pull-out, the DR Congo government said at the summit it was committed to "listen to, evaluate and resolve any legitimate grievances" the M23 has. The M23's advance has displaced tens of thousands of civilians, some fleeing to Rwanda, sparked warnings of humanitarian disaster, and raised fears that a wider conflict could again erupt in the volatile area. Your laptop [and mine] are fueling DR Congo's civil war Mike Davis Published: September 19, 2011Posted in: Consumer issues, Technology, War ![Your laptop [and mine] are fueling DR Congo's civil war](http://www.occasionalplanet.org/wp-content/themes/arras-theme/library/timthumb.php?src=http://www.occasionalplanet.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/congo-war480x225.jpg&w=480&h=225&zc=1 "Your laptop [and mine] are fueling DR Congo's civil war") The device you are reading this on, whether you are a Mac or PC fan, is very likely helping to fuel the ongoing civil war in the Congo. Most of the electronic devices we take for granted use a substance called Columbite-Tantalite, which is commonly shortened to coltan. The great thing about coltan is that this plain looking metallic powder can hold large capacitive charges when refined. This makes coltan a vital ingredient in everything from cell phones to video games. In fact, coltan is credited as being the key component in the current digital revolution, with even the Department of Defense relying on this mineral for the majority of its smart bombs, jet engines and electronic gear crucial to modern warfare. The lion's share of coltan is currently being mined in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) which is experiencing what some refer to as "Africa's First World War". The current conflict has been going on since the 1990s and is actually a source of profit to a number of multinational corporations, which profit from the warfare. Experts estimate that coltan from the DR Congo accounts for between 64% and 84% of the world supply. Income from the trade in DR Congo's precious metals is used to fuel the war, with both sides using the income to buy weapons, employ more soldiers, etc. There is little desire to end the trade in minerals. Many companies stand to lose a fortune, and the miners are desperate for income, with the average Congolese income currently $750 a year. Miners work naked in open pits to bring minerals to the surface, where they are panned in much the same manner used by California's Gold Rush miners. Miners provide their own flashlights with batteries, of questionable worth. working deep in the earth with no protection. Frequently, they are robbed by local army, rebels and police forces. The civil war is technically over, with the different parties having agreed to a common government that would take control. Unsurprisingly, there have been problems with the various groups complying. This situation is aggravated by the interference of Rwanda and Uganda, which support various ethnic groups. Crimes committed during the war are truly horrific, with the use of rape as a war tactic and even cannibalism of indigenous Pygmies who are seen as "subhuman" by many. The belief exists among some that eating the flesh of a Pygmy grants magical powers. The civil war is also severely impacting local populations of mountain gorillas, one of the more endangered mammals on the planet. The gorillas are slaughtered for their meat, which is referred to as "bush meat". There have been efforts to curb some of effects of buying coltran, including registering local smelters and "bag and tag" at the mines themselves. The difficulty with these programs is that corruption is rampant among local officials (thus police robbing miners), making it nearly impossible to be whether compliance programs are substantive convenient fictions. To give a reference to the scale of the problem, when Sony first introduced the Playstation in 2000, the cost of coltan jumped from $49 per pound to $275 per pound, fueling a rush to dig more of the substance out of the ground. Corporations involved in the electronics business (Microsoft, Dell, Apple, Sony, etc.) complain that it is nearly impossible to figure out which is "blood" coltan and which is not. Activists in Europe did attempt a boycott of cell phones using coltan from the DR Congo. But these efforts so far not caught on or had much impact. With so many disturbing features to this story, we should also consider that many of the coltan miners are also minors. The implication is clear: Children of wealthy (by African standards) children receive Xboxes, mp3 players and other electronic gadgets to entertain themselves with, devices that only exist because children in poverty are sent down into hellish mine pits at risk of their lives and health. How many western children would still be asking for the latest ipod, ipad or video game if they knew what torture had been inflicted on children in another part of the world? The trade in "blood diamonds" has been greatly reduced as a result of a public awareness campaign that educated the general public on how the stones had been obtained. Women (and men) of developed nations began to feel guilty about flaunting their precious stones when they could not be sure how they had been obtained. If a move to boycott coltan derived devices were to mean that laptops doubled in price, would the general public be "up" for that? The other option is to pretend to ourselves that we have never read this (or any other article on the subject) article and clack away happily so we can continue to write articles like this one. The ubiquity of electronic devices means that none of us is superior, none are blameless, and no one gets to preach to those too ill-informed to know better than to support a blood soaked industry. Personally, I wrote this on a laptop, with a cell phone in one pocket and an mp3 player in another, while my flat screen TV was on in the background. So the guilt includes me. How Cell Phones Help Fuel the War in CongoBy Michael Arms Congo, or more accurately, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is said to be the Saudi Arabia of precious minerals. Gold, silver, diamonds, copper, uranium, and other minerals are found here in huge quantities. It is this richness in high-priced minerals, along with corruption and racism, that has brought unimaginable suffering to its people. Congo - a 21st century Tragedy Today, Congo is being wracked by a calamitous civil war - a conflict that is said to be the deadliest on the planet after the Second World War. The strife which started in 1996, has already claimed 5.4 million lives, and there's no end in sight. What is fueling this unending war of rape and genocide? The simple answer: the world's hunger for Congo's minerals. The southeastern Congo, where most of the mineral deposits are located, is controlled by dozens of warlords and rebel factions. It is a lawless land where violence is the norm and rape and massacres are effectively used to cow people into abject submission. The warlords control the different quarries and mines in this area - earning millions of dollars in revenue from these "conflict metals" smuggled into neighboring countries like Uganda and Tanzania, and thence to the markets in Dubai and Europe. For as long as the flow and trade of these precious metals continue, the war will continue in unending cycles of violence and misery for the people of Congo. Coltan inside your cell phones Coltan or columbite-tantalite is one of the minerals mined in the DRC by slave labor controlled by these armed factions. It is the mineral used in the production of Tantalum, a highly corrosion resistant metal widely used in capacitors of electronic products like cell phones, DVD players, video game systems and computers. The cell phone you're using right now (or that PC you're reading this article on) could very well contain Tantalum from coltan mined in the Congo. The millions of dollars in revenue from mining and smuggling coltan, gold, and other minerals are used by these armed groups to purchase arms, food, medicine, and ammunition. Armed and well-fed, the militias will keep the war going and will continue to terrorize their slave laborers in those primitive mines. Thus, for as long as there is demand for coltan, and for as long as the trade on Congolese coltan is not prohibited or banned by governments and the electronics industry, there will always be money to enable the different factions to continue waging war. How we can help break this deadly cycle On a larger policy-level scale, governments and industry stakeholders in the US and other countries must work to strictly trace the sources of the metals used in the production of electronic products and prevent African "conflict metals" from getting into the production stream. There is talk among jewelry trade groups and major retailers to enforce a system of tracing the sources of gold in their production - a measure similar to banning so-called "blood diamonds" from the market place. Hopefully, similar measures will also be adopted among electronic manufacturers in sourcing the tantalum used in their products. On the individual level, we can extend the life cycle of our cell phones and other electronic items and recycle cell phones we can no longer use. Recycling just half of the 100 million or so cell phones we discard every year will help limit the demand for fresh production materials like tantalum, thus lowering the demand for coltan. "Recycling old cell phones is a way for people to do something very simple that could reduce the need for additional coltan," says Karen Killmar, associate curator of mammals at the San Diego Zoo, an institution that actively encourages its visitors to recycle cell phones. In our highly interconnected modern world, there is rarely nothing that we do that does not affect something else in other parts of the world. Who would have thought that the simple act of buying and owning a new cell phone every 18 months (our average for replacing old cell phones) actually help fuel a deadly conflict in the heart of Africa. Michael Arms contributes articles about Congo gold and cell phone recycling at the Pacebutler Recycling and Environmental blog. You can sell, donate, or recycle cell phones through Pacebutler Corporation, an Oklahoma-based cell phone recycling and trading company. warehouse for lease in oklahoma city Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3372087 Corruption scandals: Is Museveni digging a political grave for NRM?  By Yasiin Mugerwa Posted Sunday, November 25 2012 at 02:00 In Summary Preparing to hand over power after a decade in office, China's President Hu Jintao warned that corruption could ruin China and called for harsher methods to combat graft. Although China is not Uganda, President Jintao's fear that corruption could prove "fatal" to the Communist Party coincides with analysts' warning that by protecting the corrupt President Museveni is could be digging a political grave for the ruling National Resistance Movement. KAMPALA In a speech that marked the beginning of the end of Hu Jintao's era and formally ushered in new leaders for the coming decade, the Chinese president singled out the suspected [ruling] party members, asking them to be ethical and to rein in their greedy family members, whose trading on their connections for money and lavish displays of wealth have amplified public cynicism about the party. Unlike the case in Uganda and other countries, in China, corruption is a crime that draws capital punishment or the death penalty. President Jintao has relinquished his role at the top of the Communist party for Xi Jinping to take over as the country's paramount leader. While China is not Uganda, President Jintao's fear that corruption could prove "fatal" to the Communist Party and bring down the state if not tackled coincides with the analysts' warning that by protecting the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Mr Pius Bigirimana, who was named in the loss of donor funds, President Museveni is trying to dig his political grave and that of the ruling National Resistance Movement. Because of widespread corruption, Prof William Muhumuza from Makerere University's Political Science cited key challenges Uganda faces today — a rich-poor gap, putrefying public institutions because of patronage — highlighting the imbalanced development between the wealthy politicians and a struggling countryside. Combatting corruption and promoting political integrity, Prof Muhumuza told Sunday Monitor, is a major political issue. However, his analysis is that it is unlikely to lead to the government being voted out because "corruption is mainly a concern of elites". Ignorance of layman "The patronage dispensed through various avenues, the populist government programmes, though of poor quality (e.g. UPE, free healthcare, SACCOs etc) and the influence of the beneficiaries of corruption may instead win more support from unsuspecting ordinary person," Prof Muhumuza said. "The majority ordinary people are yet to link corruption at the national level with the poor quality of service delivery. This consciousness is still lacking at the moment." According to Prof Muhumuza the case of Mr Bigirimana being protected by President Museveni needs to be understood in the context of neo-patrimonial nature of African politics, where regime survival is insured using state resources that are irregularly acquired. That patronage-driven politics thrives on corruption. And public resources are ordinarily stolen to reward "cadres" and regime sycophants. "The patrons and their clients are rewarded and sustained through political appointment (e.g. as presidential advisers, chairpersons and members of commissions, ministers, RDCs etc). These privileges serve as a reward and political investment for the next round of electors. "The point here is that regime supporters or "cadres" in this case, are placed in strategic positions - usually the ones with a lot of resources, so that they can help to syphon them for purposes of building a political base for the regime. This is typical of almost all African regimes. The NRM is not an exception," Prof Muhumuza said. In a "damage control" statement to the donors who have already suspended aid over theft of aid at the OPM, President Museveni took time off to respond to what he called: "politically motivated red-herrings", targeting people he said were trying to give the impression that the problem of corruption in Uganda is because of lack of "political will" to fight that corruption. "Who? Me, Yoweri Museveni, lacking "political will" to fight corruption and criminality when I am stronger now than I was in 1971, when, together with my colleagues, we took the regime of Idi Amin head on, or when in 1981, with 27 guns, we attacked Kabamba? Those who peddle those falsehoods should be treated with the contempt they deserve," Mr Museveni said. While President Museveni brags of putting in place the numerous anti-corruption laws and institutions, by protecting suspects, some of whom are his ministers and close allies, the Executive Director, Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda, Ms Cissy Kagaba, says has killed the impetus in the fight against corruption and promoted impunity in the process. The infamous 2010 Temangalo land scandal involving Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi was the first case that possibly exposed the lack of political will to fight corruption. At the height of this scandal, a caucus meeting was called at State House, Entebbe, where a decision was taken to defeat the Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises report implicating the ministers involved. Again, the ministers who were implicated in the 2007 Chogm scandals survived through the party caucusing and others who, with tainted images, have since been re-appointed in key Cabinet positions. "Even if NRM uses corruption to entrench itself in power, this is unsustainable," Ms Kagaba said. "With time, Ugandans will get tired of those who steal their money and in the end they will get angry and remove their leaders from power. This is what caused the Arab spring. Take the example of OPM scandal; do you expect the people in northern Uganda to be happy when a certain group of people decided to steal their money?" On several occasions, President Museveni has promised to stamp out corruption but no tangible solution to the crisis has been witnessed by the country today. The President is now accused of offering lip-service to the fight against the vice. But in trying to explain what has become of his promises to wipe out corruption in his government, Mr Museveni told the donors that key institutions like the IGG, seem to have been infiltrated by questionable characters. Looking forward, former IGG Augustine Ruzindana said: "Everyone, voters, civil society, religious organisations, business community, international community, political parties and politicians, including those in NRM etc...must appreciate and accept the imperative of regime change and work for its realisation." From the political succession debate viewpoint, Mr Nicholas Opio, an independent analyst said, endless corruption scandals will give President Museveni more arsenals to realign his political cards and purge his numbers of historically connected and ambitious folks viewed as possible power points. More praise-singers coming up According to Mr Opio, corruption will also be nectar for attracting political optimists who will be involved in a rat race to be the loudest political praise singers of the President, his family and corrupt ministers. However, Mr Opio said that will not entrench the Museveni rule. In any event, he said, the NRM government's credibility is being undermined by the increasing cases of corruption. "The regime's smoke screen showmanship in fighting graft is increasingly becoming evident. Little wonder donors are now reacting by cutting aid," he said. With hindsight, Mr Opio thinks, Ugandans are to blame for the corruption we see in government today. "We have not been able to channel a collective outrage for the theft we have seen across government departments and ministries, either because we are beneficiaries of the same (by way of pecks and benefits) or because the people involved in the fight against corruption themselves do not have the moral authority and public support to be able to mobilise a critical mass," Mr Opio said. But on whether corruption will be the vice that would dislodge the President's 26 years of uninterrupted rule, the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Mr Nandala Mafabi, said regime's "cronyism" and "corruption" have a corrosive effect, disadvantaging innocent Ugandan traders and entrenching a regime. "The money for service delivery is always siphoned by corrupt public servants and ministers. President Museveni's government has been turned into a hunting ground and this is the problem," Mr Mafabi said. "Corruption continues to obstruct any kind of reform whether in the political or economic spheres. The poor are poor and the rich are growing fatter. They are buying votes because they have impoverished our people. But the good news is that as poverty comes closer, the people are beginning to see the reality. In the end, people will eat their money and vote out those who steal from the poor." Dr Paul Omach, a senior lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Makerere University, is of the view that the corruption the country is witnessing today cannot be reduced to the actions or roles of individuals, be it Mr Bigirimana or someone else. "These are servants at the service of an establishment that benefits from looting to further its stay in power as well as personal enrichment or primitive accumulation," Dr Omach said. He added: "Looting of public resources is used by the political establishment to finance political activities such as patronage, political financing, (and other not so noble oppressive activities against perceived opponents). Individuals who are used to execute looting of resources from the State, therefore, benefit from some protection from their political bosses. Any punishment meted to them tends to be symbolic (e.g. one may be relieved of duties but will continue to enjoy privileges of office)." In trying to explain why the government is protecting Mr Bigirimana, Lwemiyaga MP Theodore Ssekikubo said: "What's the magic behind Bigirimana who is costing us billions of shillings for our brothers and sisters in northern Uganda and Karamoja?" "By refusing to interdict the PS, it's now clear that this man, Bigirimana, is just a middleman in the scam. It's without any doubt that the biggest office is behind the scam. Bigirimana is just a whipping boy and the big people are hiding behind him." On the proposal to refund the stolen money on behalf of the people they called "thieves", Mr Ssekikubo said: "Let President Museveni sell his cows to cover Bigirimana if he wants and let Mbabazi also sell his mansion in Kanungu and China to cover up Bigirimana." But MP Gerald Karuhanga (Independent Youth Western), one of the anti-corruption crusaders, believes that if President Museveni continues to protect the corrupt, with time Ugandans would get tired and vote his government out. "If the President continues to fight corruption Bigirimana style, Ugandans will eat his money for campaign and vote the opposition. When you critically analyse what is going on today, you will conclude that by failing to stamp out corruption in his government, President Museveni is blindly digging his political grave and that of his party." Presidential Press Secretary Tamale Mirundi has described calls for Mr Bigirimana's removal as act of mob action in the fight against corruption. He said: "President Museveni is the one championing the fight against corruption in the country and not Members of Parliament." Mr Mirundi said the audit report on OPM scam was instituted by the government not donors. Prof Muhumuza said being one of the few privileged "big men" (patrons) from Kisoro District where the NRM regime wins by over 95 per cent, there are all reasons for the President to protect Mr Bigirimana in order "not to annoy his clients." He also said that there could be fear that if he is sacrificed he could spill beans that may expose "more than we currently know". "It is tactical that he be given time to erase evidence that may expose some powerful individuals in the system and limit the blame to the civil servants." The other reason is the fear of embarrassment to the government before donors and the public, given that the OPM is headed by powerful national figures. "If the truth is allowed to come out, it could be detrimental to the regime. Any skillful politician must always try to do damage control," Prof Muhumuza added. But Kibanda MP Sam Otada, who described Ugandans as "chicks" whose "mother-hen" had been eaten by "vultures", asked citizens to rise up and demand accountability from leaders. "The arrogance of our leaders must stop. The notion that you can succeed by not working hard must be defeated," Mr Otada said, adding: "A situation like this is a national disaster and people must take responsibility. This is why President Museveni should stop behaving as if there is nothing happening." The NRM government, according to Dr Omach, has presided over massive inflow of resources from donors, especially since 1992. The economy also registered remarkable growth. And the regime used the liberalisation programme to reward supporters and turned a blind eye to outright pillage of public resources and allowed corruption to flourish. For this, Dr Omach said, it enjoyed "tacit" and "explicit" support and nearly unquestionable loyalty from people who amassed wealth. Elite beneficiaries To answer the question on how corruption will affect Mr Museveni, Dr Omach said: "This is a very corrupt society, and many people, especially the elite have benefited from corruption. The problem now is the shrinking resources from which to loot, and still sustain basic public services that can mollify the general public." Dr Omach sees President Museveni as a leader in a dilemma; if he genuinely tackles corruption, he must change the politics he practices, while at the same time alienating those who have benefited from patronage and lack of accountability to enrich themselves. "Those who were used to execute corrupt activities for the political establishment may end up 'talking' and embarrassing the political establishment. If he ignores it, public service will deteriorate to unsustainable levels (if they have not yet already), donors will further reduce support and the public will be alienated," he added. A special audit report of the Auditor General found that more than Shs50 billion was stolen by officials at the OPM. The money was meant for the Peace, Recovery & Development Plan (PRDP) in northern Uganda and Karamoja sub-region. But Mr Museveni has defended Mr Bigirimana as a "whistleblower", in a scandal that has rocked his government and rattled his relationship with the development partners. COMMENTS:
While Burmese opposition leader Aung Sun Sui Kay and South African Bishop Desmond Tutu addressed the monied crowd this morning at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City, a younger generation of dissidents across town hailed the rise of social media and called upon the United Nations and its… Blackwater's Prince building mercenary force with apartheid-era 'hit squad' officer By Daniel Tencer Thursday, January 20, 2011 20:36 EST The northeast African country of Somalia has been one of the world's most notorious failed states for more than two decades. Its current government has been pushed out of most of the country's territory and now controls a fraction of the capital city, and high-seas piracy off the country's coast has been the scourge of shipping companies for years. But for Erik Prince, founder of the notorious security contractor formerly known as Blackwater, that's not a reason to flee the country — it's a financial opportunity. According to news reports published Thursday, Prince has partnered with an African-based security company, Saracen International, to win security contracts from the Somali government that would see the mercenaries fight the on-land part of the war against Somali high-seas pirates, and would also go after al-Shabab, the Islamist militant group that has the Somali government cornered in parts of Mogadishu, the capital. According to the New York Times' Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt, Saracen's head is Lafras Luitingh, a former officer in South Africa's Civil Cooperation Bureau. During the apartheid era, the CCB acted as a hit squad, killing or attempting to kill anti-apartheid dissidents. After apartheid ended, South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission found the CCB guilty of numerous killings. It has also been alleged that the CCB poisoned the water supply at a Namibian refugee camp, bombed a South African kindergarten, and even attempted to bewitch Bishop Desmond Tutu with a baboon fetus. Luitingh was evidently a major in the CCB, and was in charge of its Zimbabwe operations. An Associated Press investigation found it very difficult to track down Saracen International, with many of the company's addresses proving to be a dead end and uncertainty surrounding even which country the company is registered in.
There is also confusion about the degree of Erik Prince's involvement with the company. According to a report from the African Union, seen by the Times, Prince "is at the top of the management chain of Saracen and provided seed money for the Saracen contract." But Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Prince, said the Blackwater founder had "no financial role" in the Somalia project. According to the AP's sources, Prince is overseeing anti-piracy training. Both the Associated Press and the Times report that the United Arab Emirates has contributed financially to the project. Prince — facing lawsuits and criminal investigations — moved to the UAE last year, and is known to have close ties to the country's ruling family. The idea that Somalia's long-running, chaotic civil war could be "privatized" to the benefit of for-profit security contractors has some critics concerned. "You could see the privatization of war, with very little accountability to the international community," E.J. Hogendoorn, an analyst with the International Crisis Group think tank, told the AP. "Who are these private companies accountable to and what prevents them from changing clients when it's convenient for them?" Hogendoorn suggested Arab countries may be backing the Saracen effort because they have previously donated to the Somali government's efforts to end the civil war, and found the money couldn't be accounted for. Prince severed his relationship with Blackwater — which has been renamed Xe Services — last year, selling off his shares in the company. Blackwater has become an emblem of private contractors' growing roles in military conflict. The company gained notoriety over the 2007 Nisour Square massacre, in which 17 Iraqi civilians were killed when Blackwater mercenaries opened fire in an intersection. A criminal case against five Blackwater agents in that shooting was dismissed last year, when a judge determined the US had promised the accused immunity in exchange for testimony. Blackwater's "Rwanda"May 21, 2012 By 2 Comments  I know we've been hearing about evil Erik Prince and his name-swapping mercenaries for years (Blackwater, Xe, my personal favorite Academi, and the latest, Greystone). But I only recently discovered how close all of this is to my hometown. Hell, from their "idyllic Dutch hamlet" in Holland (Michigan) the Prince family has formed and backed some of the biggest and most powerful militant Christian groups in the world. Just check out this interactive map. Readers of this blog will remember my interest in the sexualized "guilt-based aggression" at the heart of various African-saving campaigns launched this year. Now that I've also started paying attention to Prince's attempts to clean up Blackwater's image, I am fascinated by how often the "Rwanda" is pushed forward in order to win approval for military missions. And this gentleman (in the video), who makes up history, worries about South Africa "becoming another Rwanda." He calls on Blackwater to start up some kibbutzim in the Outlands. It makes sense since Blackwater has already hired men from South Africa's notorious Apartheid-era Special Forces. His video message is long, and he spits or drips a good deal of fluid, so I'll get to the point: "Rwandan Genocide" is the polite way to say "Black Africa." Luckily, our Youtube organizer appeals for calm. To avoid another Rwanda, he is going to go through women: In terms of journalistic and intelligence, gathering women are extremely important, cuz women can breach through the racial divide: because they're less considered a threat, by such terrorist organizations as the ANC youth league I would say. Particularly important I would say would be…African women who are educated, and understand that the Western way of life is actually…is going to provide more material wealth to their children and better survival for their children. There is plenty of guilting in this Blackwater fantasy. Think about those poor Rwandan women who could not save their children. But he's got a lot to learn from Prince. Now he was at his finest on 'Hotel Rwanda' in this 2007 interview: CHARLIE ROSE: So it's a support mission. It wasn't, as someone also said about you, because of how much you love the Navy Seals, that you have dreamed of creating a private army that could be a lightning quick response and deal with circumstances like Rwanda, like Darfur, and perhaps other hot spots, essentially saying "let me take care of it, I can do this. I have the men, I have the skill, I have the training, I have the know-how. Let me take over some of the responsibilities of peacekeeping in the world." ERIK PRINCE: No. That's too far of an assumption. But who can watch the movie "Hotel Rwanda" and not wish it had a different outcome? CHARLIE ROSE: No one. ERIK PRINCE: Who didn't wish that the U.N. would have sent troops or yanked those Belgian commandos back there, to secure that hotel and to provide some safe havens? I mean, you let almost a million people in a country about the size of Maryland get killed by farm tools over four months.
COMMENTS: Robbo says: This sort of thing is so frustrating because it cuts both ways. The way I see it our governments should be doing more to ensure everyone "buys in" to the idea of a nation state. This would need to include participation in all aspects of life social, cultural, economic etc. Unfortunately the combination of many factors including the lack of mature political environments, global economics and the reality of having to redress issues resulting from colonialism mean we have quite a way to go down this road yet. Videos like that gentleman's highlight the other side of the problem. What is the point of prescribing solutions to the symptoms without fixing the roots of the issues? As long as there is economic, social and cultural disparity in South Africa the threat of "Rwandan Genocide" will always exist if not in reality then definitely in the minds of those intent on maintaining their privilege and those intent who aspire to attain a similar level of privilege. Membership of these groups will not be based on race, which I am sure will confound many of these talking heads. The rise of the gated community and private security armies across Africa leads me to believe that at least one side has decided how they are going address the issues. Neelika Jayawardane says: well, well, Megan. Your compatriot from idyllic Dutch transplant village in michigan may have had too little genetic variation up there, and perhaps little in the way of roughage (looks a little constipated, no?). In any case, I will find out if there is any 'Rwandan Genocide' on the way when I'm in Cape Town this june, and report back to Mr. Prince. Cape Town tris hard to eliminate the "Rwandan Genocide' but…it keeps on encroaching on the Dutch village… Salim Saleh named in Somali 'mercenary' dealBy John Stephen Katende 31st January 2011
 Gen. Salim Saleh: Is he a suspect? President Yoweri Museveni's young brother Caleb Akandwanaho aka General Salim Saleh may be linked to possible involvement in mercenary activities in war-torn Somalia, Uganda Correspondent can exclusively reveal. The details emerged after Saracen International; a company associated with Gen. Salim Saleh, lost a lucrative contract to undertake some work in Somalia. Our source in Mogadishu said the Transitional Federal Government [TFG] of Somalia declared last week, Thursday 27th January that it had severed its relationship with Saracen International. The decision, we are told, came after a closed door cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed in the capital Mogadishu. Somalia's Deputy Security Minister Ibrahim Mohamed Yarow confirmed that cabinet had indeed cancelled the agreement that the TFG government had signed with Saracen International to train Somali troops and to revive social services including building health facilities in Mogadishu. The decision, he said, was reached after Somalia's TFG government landed on evidence which suggested that Saracen International may have been involved mercenary activities. "…The cabinet has today overwhelmingly voted against Saracen International on the basis of mercenary acts. So the cabinet has revoked the agreement with this company", Ibrahim Mohamed Yarow said. The Deputy Security Minister added that while there is no doubt that his government requires assistance, as government, he said, the TFG will only enter into contractual agreements with distinguished and clean companies. He also said the cabinet's decision on Saracen International was "irrevocable". The TFG's decision to revoke Saracen International's contract follows widespread expression of concern by several foreign governments including the US. Philip J. Crowley, a US State Department Spokesman, said in December that the American government was "…concerned about the lack of transparency" of Saracen's financing and plans. According to a New York Times report of 20th January 2011, "…at least one of Saracen's past forays into training militias drew an international rebuke. Saracen's Uganda subsidiary was implicated in a 2002 United Nations Security Council report for training rebel paramilitary forces in Congo". Is war a lucrative source of business for powerful men? Other than Burundi, Uganda is the only other country in Africa that has contributed thousands of soldiers to the AU's AMISOM peacekeeping mission in Somalia. The same New York Times report identified one of Saracen Uganda's owners as Lt. Gen. Salim Saleh, the retired half-brother of Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni. Salim Saleh's possible conflict of interest also highlights some crucial things in this terribly complex story. One of the things is that the lines that separate government security officials and owners or leaders of private armies have become so fuzzy that you can never really be sure as to the motivations of any individual player. As mercenary forces become more and more prominent in armed conflicts around the world, the profit motive becomes almost impossible to rule out. In other words, it's almost impossible to know the real reasons that fuel the conflicts in which mercenaries play a role. UPC party President Dr. Olara Otunnu for example, has accused some UPDF soldiers of having had vested interests in prolonging the Kony war in northern Uganda. The UPDF of course denied Otunnu's claims. But the New York Times report also accused General Saleh and other top Ugandan army officers of using their ties to paramilitaries to plunder Congolese diamonds, gold and timber. But what exactly is Saracen International? Who really owns it? Our efforts to get a comment from Saracen International were futile by press time. So for the time being, it may be fair to say that no one really knows for sure what Saracen International is, and who owns it. What one can say however is that Saracen International is definitely a murky trade name that is shared by a number of private security companies across Africa, Europe, the Middle East and North America. Whether that is a coincidence or not, no one really knows. What we can confirm without fear of contradiction is that Saracen International is fully established in Uganda; see http://saracen.co.ug/index.php. Most of the other companies however deny or downplay any financial or managerial relationships between them. A few have however been linked to the infamous South African mercenary firm called Executive Outcomes; the same company that allegedly tried to send mercenaries to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea in order to tap into the country's oil and mineral wealth. Saracen International has also been linked to a certain Erik Prince; the man whose company Blackwater is allegedly financing a "Counter-Piracy" mercenary squad in Somalia. Both the New York Times and Associated Press have carried similar allegations against Saracen International on the strength of "confidential" reports leaked from the African Union. Somalia has been without a proper central government since 1991 when President Siad Barre was overthrown by armed warlords. That incident effectively condemned Somalia to decades of civil war. END. Please log into www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.
SALIM SALEH
Salim Saleh is Hoading Food Products
This thug , is the brother of the Uganda Tyrant, Yoweri Museveni, and also the Godfather(Patron) of terrorists groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo and an international fraudster-both money laundering and cocaine trafficking. The criminal family owns most of the land in Uganda, with the intention to grow food using slave labour and later use it as a weapon of blackmail against Ugandans. Today its well-known that 80% of land in Luwero has been fraudulently acquired by these thugs-most of the modern farming tools donated to Ugandans, is diverted to those farms. Thus Ugandans are being scammed left and right. Why do you think the criminal is always in Arua? Very simple, to micro manage the smuggling of your food to Southern Sudan and blood-minerals plus Militias from Congo Democratic Republic. You can discover the crime, but you cannot remove the criminality tendencies from a criminal such as, Salim Saleh. The so called war against LRA wasn't about Kony,etc. but land and a base to commit crimes against humanity.
Subject; RETHINK
As you've read from the above Memo by the godfather of criminals-the mission has been accomplished with a genocide committed and land grabbed. The criminal family now owns most of the land in acholi and Karamoja,while the people have been murdered in cold blood, abused, humiliated,displaced, etc.. and then left to live with no dignity in their ancestral land. The Memo is very authentic and we have the copy of the original, that was sent to the Hague to be attached with other documents, in their files of genocide and crimes against Humanity.
Salim Saleh 'committed crimes against humanity in DRC'Written by: str8talk on 27th December 2010  Arua Bishop Sabino Ocan Odoki sat silently through a Museveni speech that used abusive language against northerners. The Museveni Memo on Northern Uganda. Today we continue with Prof Todd Whitmore's analysis on the Museveni memo on northern Uganda. In today's piece, Prof Whitmore asks why the UN has stopped short of indicting Yoweri Museveni and his brother Caleb Akandwanaho with crimes against humanity for what they have done in Northern Uganda and in the DRC. Here is his report: The case of Uganda's presence in the DRC is important because it helps to establish a documented pattern of behavior whereby economic greed and politico-military power join and issue forth in repeated atrocity. The conclusion of the 2010 UN report is unstinting. The political and economic agenda of the Ugandan government caused "massive and widespread violations of human rights and international law." The authors of the report are clear that they constitute a fact-finding rather than a judicial body; still, they do not hesitate to place these violations under the descriptions of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The only difference between NRM/UPDF behavior in the DRC and that in northern Uganda is that in the former the greed is for precious gems and minerals and in the latter it is for arable land. The outcome for the resident civilians has been the same. In the meantime, President Museveni [had] promoted his brother Saleh to full General and [had] recently made [him] the Minister of State for Microfinance. This, despite the fact that Saleh has been implicated several times in schemes where he uses his military position, granted by his brother Yoweri Museveni, for personal financial gain. Early allegations of corruption led to Saleh being dismissed as Army Commander, but Museveni reappointed him as Senior Presidential Advisor on Defense and Security. Saleh had to leave this latter post because of a bank scandal and an arrangement where he gained $800,000 from the sale of junk helicopters to the army. Still, he continued to be promoted in rank. Now there is the UN evidence of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and possibly genocide in the DRC. It is clear, then, that the aim of Museveni and Saleh has not been that of security and peace in either the DRC or northern Uganda. Rather, it has been the accumulation of wealth, whether in the form of precious gems and minerals or arable land. Moreover, as documented in the UN mapping report, they have demonstrated in the case of the DRC that they are hardly averse to "reducing the population" where the presence of civilians is an obstacle to the accumulation of wealth. Together, Museveni and Saleh function as the political and economic wings of the Museveni family regime, now going on twenty-five years. The connecting link between the political and economic wings is a military designed and trained to meet the objectives precisely as Museveni and Saleh have constructed them. Neopatrimonialism: The Link Connecting NRM Actions in Acholiland and the DRC The above facts fall into place when we understand Museveni's regime as a form of rule that political scientists call "neopatrimonialism." A political order constitutes a neopatrimonial regime when political authority is personalized in the relationships between the primary leader—in this case Museveni—and his clients, often family members—in this case Salim Saleh—who people the bureaucracy. Michael Bratton describes such a regime this way: "Corruption, clientelism, and 'Big Man' presidentialism—all dimensions of neopatrimonial rule—tend to go together as a package." Rune Hjalmar Espeland and Stina Petersen take neopatrimonial analysis and use it to assess the military in Uganda. They note that, as a practice, neopatrimonial rulers use their personal authority to bypass formal and merit-based structures of military advancement. Such rulers "often prefer their own ethnic group for prominent military positions, or else long-term political allies or family members." Saleh is all three—clan member, political ally, and brother. Espeland and Petersen go on to point out that neopatrimonial rulers "often encourage corrupt, yet individually benefitting business practices within the military." The aim of such an arrangement is to keep the members of the military loyal. Disloyalty results, minimally, in loss of income for the officers. This explains why, despite multiple instances of being caught in corrupt practices, Saleh continues to be promoted and given added powers. In fact, when an embezzlement scandal broke regarding illicit payments to "ghost soldiers" —one way officers pad their income is to list non-existent soldiers on their payroll—Museveni placed the corrupt Saleh on the committee to investigate the situation. Espeland and Petersen's article demonstrates that the loyalty- and income-producing purpose of the military in neopatrimonial regimes results in an unprofessional military. The authors cite the neopatrimonial structure of the Musveni regime as a key reason for the inability of the NRA/UPDF to defeat the LRA. Despite the President's repeated fervent claim to have the desire to defeat the LRA, maintaining client relationships with those in the military—relationships that allow and even encourage individual enterprise on the part of the officers at the expense of the local population as part of the agreed-upon arrangement with the officers—is more important than developing a level of military professionalism that is capable of victory in the conventional sense. For instance, strategic planning does not take into account that high numbers of the armed forces are "ghost soldiers" padding the officers' income; when it is time to go to battle, these officers cannot say that the soldiers do not exist without implicating themselves, and so they enter engagements with far fewer personnel than planned. It is not by accident, then, that NRA/UPDF soldiers have been proficient at terrorizing the local populace but muddling in their ability to fight the LRA. It is important to note, however, that "unprofessional" does not in all instances mean "haphazard." In fact, as we will see further below, the NRA/UPDF have often been brutally efficient in pursuing their purpose: to repress civilian populations and exploit local resources for personal wealth and gain. The issue is not whether the NRA/UPDF have been organized or not, but rather what they have been organized for. In addition to fleeing at the sight or even rumor of LRA being in the vicinity, the NRA/UPDF, according to multiple reports, committed its own acts of violence and even atrocity. The results for the populace in northern Uganda have been disastrous. Espeland and Petersen state: "As a military strategy, the regime failed to defeat the LRA but politically they controlled most of the civilian population for two decades." As we have seen, this has been the plan all along: control of the people—and land—in the North. The authors conclude that the humanitarian crisis that followed was a "direct outcome of the military approach to the region pursued by President Museveni." As we will see in more detail in the next section, the Acholi people, according to Museveni, are not people at all. Given the present lull in the NRM-LRA conflict, at least within Uganda, Museveni and Saleh can no longer use military force, at least not in the same way as before, as a means to cause and take advantage of social disruption in order to procure wealth. They must at least appear to be taking normal political channels, and this Museveni and others in the NRM have tried to do. Starting in 2007, Museveni sought to allocate 40,000 hectares of land in the North to the Madhvani Group for a sugar cane plantation, a number that he reduced to 20,000 hectares when faced with opposition. If such a deal goes through, the central government will have a forty percent stake in the plantation. Another case occurred when the central government gave one billion Ugandan shillings to twenty army officers and government officials to take land in the North that was already under customary tenure, resulting in the eviction of families from their land. A case of local officials getting in on the act occurred when the members of the Amuru District Land Board applied for 85,000 hectares of land for themselves, an application that, if successful, would have evicted—that is, again, displaced—10,000 people from their land. More recently, Museveni, Saleh, and Museveni's son, Lt. Col. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, have been cited by the anti-corruption NGO Global Witness for arranging "security" for newly found oil deposits in ways that enhance themselves financially. Although the dynamics are still neopatrimonial in these more recent cases, accessing the natural resource of land is more difficult because there is no longer the social disruption of armed conflict to act as a screen for forced displacement and military rule in northern Uganda. Museveni must at least appear to be following the rule of law in order to continue to receive the high rate of foreign aid to which he has become accustomed. To his advantage is the fact that, for the geopolitical reasons indicated earlier, U.S. officials want and need to interpret Uganda's politics not as neopatrimonial but as democratic and law-abiding. Until this structural situation of mutually reinforcing interests changes, the de facto burden of public proof will always be on those who interpret Ugandan government's polity as something other than democratic, even when such interpreters have the far greater evidence in their favor. The memo I received is one more—and one more significant—piece of that evidence. The Language of the Memo: The Acholi as "Backward," "Chimpanzees" and "Monkeys" So far, we have seen that the memo is consistent with both the earlier and later policies of Museveni and Saleh towards northern Uganda. As we have also seen, whenever domestic persons or organizations—whether members of the media, ministers of parliament, or NGO representatives—have spoken out about the arrangement and situation just described, Museveni has used his plenary political power to silence the critics. This is a large part of why, even given the evidence presented above, the actions of Museveni and his military, according to Espeland and Petersen, "have received much less attention by scholars than the atrocities of the LRA." However, Museveni has gone well beyond merely suppressing these accounts and has gone on to provide and justify his own. It is at this point that the language of the memo is important. The author of the memo refers to "the backward northerners." This language of backwardness and, its analogue, primitiveness is consistent with Museveni's own public and documented statements. Indeed, statements from the President to this effect bookend the conflict in northern Uganda. As early as 1987, in reference to the fight with the Holy Spirit Movement—the Acholi precursor to Kony's LRA—Museveni claimed, "This is a conflict between modernity and primitivity." As late as 2006, at the installation of Sabino Odoki as Auxiliary Bishop of Gulu, and just a month before the ceasefire with the LRA, Museveni declared, "We shall transform the people in the north from material and spiritual backwardness to modernity." Thus from the beginning of the conflict up to the ceasefire agreement, Museveni has drawn upon the lexicon of backward/primitive versus civilized/modern to frame the situation. His making such statements at the installation of an Acholi bishop indicates that he is hardly ashamed of such language. It is noteworthy that his use of these terms bridges his switch from Maoist/Marxist guerilla to World Bank neo-liberal. The one constant is his affirmation of what anthropologists describe as a unilinear view of social evolution. Museveni makes clear in his autobiography that, in his words, "the laws of social evolution" drive his policies. The use in the memo, then, of the terms "Chimpanzees" and "Monkeys" is a consistent continuation of his frequent usage of the words "primitive" and "backward" to denote the Acholi. The link between the two is the language of evolution as a means of distinguishing peoples—again, it is a language much more basic to Museveni's lexicon than the differences between Marxism and neo-liberalism. Primitive versus modern is simply the social evolutionary articulation of the biological evolutionary distinction of monkey versus human. In other words, chimpanzee = monkey = primitive = backward; human = civilized = modern. Sometimes Museveni describes the Acholi as primitive not-yet-humans; at other times he describes them as animals incapable of ever becoming human. The underpinning language of unilinear evolution is the same, and the violent policies and acts they are used to justify on behalf of "civilized" and "modern" humanity are little different.
SARACEN INTERNATIONAL IN SOMALIA WHAT IS NEXT? By Said Dualeh 24 dec 2010 (Mareeg.com) The TFG of Somalia is not achieving anything for the people of Somalia, it is only adding to the miseries of the people of Somalia proper. I have been a supporter of all types of governments in Somalia from The collapse of the Siad Barre regime1991 to the present. In my previous articles I have defended Sheikh Sharif and the parliamentary warlord Sharif Hassan thinking that they had a little interest in their heart for our people the people of Somalia who unfortunately do not know their rights as citizens of Somalia. We need a bill of rights for Somalia to get out of this corrupt and failed state status. We as Somalis can be successful in business, education and professions any other country in the world as proven by the Somali Diaspora except on our own country-Somalia, why? Go figure the answer and you may have solved the Somali Dilemma. The Somali people do not know that they do not have to put up with corrupt leaders, leaders who associate themselves with the enemies of the people of Somalia, they do not need to put up with un educated and unenlightened religious leaders who hide behind veils and brain washed youngsters who never grew up as people with rights and never seen a just government who cares about its people and their welfare. Somalis do not need to put up with International organizations and Non governmental agencies who live off destruction, mayhem and underdevelopment in less fortunate countries like Somalia where they can test their new medicines and unorthodox, untested theories of development and peacekeepers who look after their own interest. At First in Somalia after 1991 it was unstable government getting in contract with companies that dumped Nuclear Waste on our shores and contracting with companies who took every piece of metal out of the country and sold it as Salvage waste to Asian counties. We have seen Ambassadors trying to sell off Somali government properties overseas, and then we have seen presidents, prime ministers and regional authorities printing illegal currencies in a clandestine ways that made people wonder if this poor country had anyone who cares about it. We have seen where lack of transparency and accountability can lead to misunderstanding of MOU's memorandum of understanding which did not reference to the law of the sea- regulations spearheaded by the United Nations. We have seen Ethiopia trying to destroy Somalia using the old colonial adage (Divide them then Rule them). If anyone ever thought Ethiopia wants to see a unified Somalia or a strong Somalia think again as you may be living in a wonderland. The same goes for all of our neighbors and our Arab brethren. We have seen how corrupt the current Somali government officials are they sold the .SO protocol bestowed to Somalia as a nation among 192 others. The same people have contracted with Saracen International- one of the new private military companies(PMC's) such Executive Outcomes(EO), Sandline Co, Strategic Consulting International(SCI), KBR, Heritage Oil and Gas Co. The name and their symbol of Saracen International looks like a middle ages Templar Knight on horseback trying to show the "light"(Christianity) to heathens in sub-Saharan Africa. The company is run by shady characters from the former SADF- South African Defense Force and former employees of the now infamous but defunct Executive Outcomes. The current TFG Finance minister stated that the agreement was signed by Sheikh Sharif- through his trusted then chief of Cabinet Abdulkarim Jama, the current Minister of information and Post & Communication. On the other side it was signed by Lafras Luitingh aka Louis Yssel- member of the notorious Former South African law enforcement agency Civil Cooperation Bureau(CCB)- in some pulished reports the finger was pointed to him during the truth commission hearings in the new South Africa that he killed Dr. David Webster and Anton Lubowski (ANC Activists in the former South africa).Lafras Luitingh aka Louis Yssel has a checkered past that will scare anyone who reads about world intelligence reports. He had dealing with characters such as Tim Spicer, Tony Buckingham, Eeben Barlow and the late Former South Africa skin head chief of police Henrick Van der Bergh, the creator B.OS.S and later the CCB where Lafras Luitingh got his training in sabotage, political assassinations, and intelligence gathering on dissidents. He was later recruited by (Executive Outcomes) EO for their Angola, Mozambique, Malawi jobs and later Sierra Leone. The plane currently held in Hargeisa is the type used by these private armies especially Saracen and they buy their weapons from the former Soviet satellite countries. The two South Africans on the plane in Hargeisa were released as fake Journalist but they were Saracen International employees. They have connections with the British Foreign Office who called the Somaliland foreign minister. Why did they not allow pictures to be taken or invited the media to the kangaroo trail held in Hargeisa. South African intelligence has some clout over Hargeisa for different a reason, that is where the late Somaliland President Egal died in a hospital in South Africa. The contact is Mohamed Ibrahim Egal's former wife Edna who was at one time Foreign Minister of Somaliland and who owns a hospital that received assistance from South Africa. Soon there will be another mock trial in Hargeisa, Somalia Saracen will give the weapons on the plane to the Somaliland administration formatting it as confiscation by their court and they will release the plane and the crew intact. Saracen will once again continue the operations they were hired for. Sheikh Sharif of the TFG , Museveni of Uganda, Farole of Puntland, & Sharif's Ala Shiekh group led by Abdulkarim Jama( former VA mosques bookkeeper) and his prime minister (Formaggio) and his defense minister(Fiqi) (2 former Somali embassy bookkeepers from Washington) the Finance minister (Halane)& The Foreign Minister (Omaar) have no clue who they are dealing with at Saracen International. Museveni's half brother is just a cover up. This project is the deep throat of Somalia and we need transparency in these dealings with select members of the Somali parliament. Saracen guys and their friends have helped countries overthrew elected officials and everything they do is for money. These guys were so powerful at one time that they had The British navy servicing their Antonov and soviet type helicopters near the coast of Africa. If a country like Somalia does not have money these private military companies barter for oil and fishing rights and sell those rights at a premium to the highest bidder. They have close relationship with the leadership in the Emirates and even a stronger one with current Sultan of Oman whom they assisted in overthrowing his father off the throne. Both the UN and the OAU despise these private military companies because they want to put them out of business. Amisom is a cash cow for Uganda who does not want the current situation to end and they sustain a weak TFG government whose diplomatic failures include a drug dealing former Ambassador in China and they keep recycling former diplomats to the UN mission in NY who have publicly stated that he will join his clansmen back home to kill people and destabilize peaceful areas. TFG are not bringing to justice the ambassador who sold embassy property in Kenya. Will this government survive without peace keepers? I do not think so. Saracen International is a rented military company mostly comprised of former special forces, formerly known as "dogs of war", mercenaries and now they are known as security trainers and consultants (their sanitized PR name). Their specialty is to loot poor African countries who are led by corrupt individuals with no integrity. The Somali people have a choice to change their leadership, or else if they want to stand on the sidelines as always thinking that someone is going to come to rescue them or should we as Somalis get our hands dirty and come together and resolve our clannish divisions once and for all since we have seen that no clan in Somalia is able to subjugate the others and live in peace or wait for our destiny to be decided by organizations or private military companies who follow their interest.. Best Regards, Thank You, Said Hersi Dualeh *Freelance journalist* Anaheim, California- USA Erik Prince and Saracen International Doing Death's Business in Somalia
Secret Desert Force Set Up by Blackwater's Founder Adam Ferguson/VII Network Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, has a new project. By MARK MAZZETTI and EMILY B. HAGERPublished: May 14, 2011ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Late one night last November, a plane carrying dozens of Colombian men touched down in this glittering seaside capital. Whisked through customs by an Emirati intelligence officer, the group boarded an unmarked bus and drove roughly 20 miles to a windswept military complex in the desert sand. The Colombians had entered the United Arab Emirates posing as construction workers. In fact, they were soldiers for a secret American-led mercenary army being built by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of Blackwater Worldwide, with $529 million from the oil-soaked sheikdom. Mr. Prince, who resettled here last year after his security business faced mounting legal problems in the United States, was hired by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi to put together an 800-member battalion of foreign troops for the U.A.E., according to former employees on the project, American officials and corporate documents obtained by The New York Times. The force is intended to conduct special operations missions inside and outside the country, defend oil pipelines and skyscrapers from terrorist attacks and put down internal revolts, the documents show. Such troops could be deployed if the Emirates faced unrest in their crowded labor camps or were challenged by pro-democracy protests like those sweeping the Arab world this year. The U.A.E.'s rulers, viewing their own military as inadequate, also hope that the troops could blunt the regional aggression of Iran, the country's biggest foe, the former employees said. The training camp, located on a sprawling Emirati base called Zayed Military City, is hidden behind concrete walls laced with barbed wire. Photographs show rows of identical yellow temporary buildings, used for barracks and mess halls, and a motor pool, which houses Humvees and fuel trucks. The Colombians, along with South African and other foreign troops, are trained by retired American soldiers and veterans of the German and British special operations units and the French Foreign Legion, according to the former employees and American officials. In outsourcing critical parts of their defense to mercenaries — the soldiers of choice for medieval kings, Italian Renaissance dukes and African dictators — the Emiratis have begun a new era in the boom in wartime contracting that began after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. And by relying on a force largely created by Americans, they have introduced a volatile element in an already combustible region where the United States is widely viewed with suspicion. The United Arab Emirates — an autocracy with the sheen of a progressive, modern state — are closely allied with the United States, and American officials indicated that the battalion program had some support in Washington. "The gulf countries, and the U.A.E. in particular, don't have a lot of military experience. It would make sense if they looked outside their borders for help," said one Obama administration official who knew of the operation. "They might want to show that they are not to be messed with." Still, it is not clear whether the project has the United States' official blessing. Legal experts and government officials said some of those involved with the battalion might be breaking federal laws that prohibit American citizens from training foreign troops if they did not secure a license from the State Department. Mark C. Toner, a spokesman for the department, would not confirm whether Mr. Prince's company had obtained such a license, but he said the department was investigating to see if the training effort was in violation of American laws. Mr. Toner pointed out that Blackwater (which renamed itself Xe Services ) paid $42 million in fines last year for training foreign troops in Jordan and other countries over the years. The U.A.E.'s ambassador to Washington, Yousef al-Otaiba, declined to comment for this article. A spokesman for Mr. Prince also did not comment. For Mr. Prince, the foreign battalion is a bold attempt at reinvention. He is hoping to build an empire in the desert, far from the trial lawyers, Congressional investigators and Justice Department officials he is convinced worked in league to portray Blackwater as reckless. He sold the company last year, but in April, a federal appeals court reopened the case against four Blackwater guards accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007. To help fulfill his ambitions, Mr. Prince's new company, Reflex Responses, obtained another multimillion-dollar contract to protect a string of planned nuclear power plants and to provide cybersecurity. He hopes to earn billions more, the former employees said, by assembling additional battalions of Latin American troops for the Emiratis and opening a giant complex where his company can train troops for other governments. Knowing that his ventures are magnets for controversy, Mr. Prince has masked his involvement with the mercenary battalion. His name is not included on contracts and most other corporate documents, and company insiders have at times tried to hide his identity by referring to him by the code name "Kingfish." But three former employees, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of confidentiality agreements, and two people involved in security contracting described Mr. Prince's central role. The former employees said that in recruiting the Colombians and others from halfway around the world, Mr. Prince's subordinates were following his strict rule: hire no Muslims. Muslim soldiers, Mr. Prince warned, could not be counted on to kill fellow Muslims. A Lucrative Deal Last spring, as waiters in the lobby of the Park Arjaan by Rotana Hotel passed by carrying cups of Turkish coffee, a small team of Blackwater and American military veterans huddled over plans for the foreign battalion. Armed with a black suitcase stuffed with several hundred thousand dollars' worth of dirhams, the local currency, they began paying the first bills. The company, often called R2, was licensed last March with 51 percent local ownership, a typical arrangement in the Emirates. It received about $21 million in start-up capital from the U.A.E., the former employees said. Mr. Prince made the deal with Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates. The two men had known each other for several years, and it was the prince's idea to build a foreign commando force for his country. Savvy and pro-Western, the prince was educated at the Sandhurst military academy in Britain and formed close ties with American military officials. He is also one of the region's staunchest hawks on Iran and is skeptical that his giant neighbor across the Strait of Hormuz will give up its nuclear program. "He sees the logic of war dominating the region, and this thinking explains his near-obsessive efforts to build up his armed forces," said a November 2009 cable from the American Embassy in Abu Dhabi that was obtained by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. For Mr. Prince, a 41-year-old former member of the Navy Seals, the battalion was an opportunity to turn vision into reality. At Blackwater, which had collected billions of dollars in security contracts from the United States government, he had hoped to build an army for hire that could be deployed to crisis zones in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. He even had proposed that the Central Intelligence Agency use his company for special operations missions around the globe, but to no avail. In Abu Dhabi, which he praised in an Emirati newspaper interview last year for its "pro-business" climate, he got another chance. Mr. Prince's exploits, both real and rumored, are the subject of fevered discussions in the private security world. He has worked with the Emirati government on various ventures in the past year, including an operation using South African mercenaries to train Somalis to fight pirates. There was talk, too, that he was hatching a scheme last year to cap the Icelandic volcano then spewing ash across Northern Europe. The team in the hotel lobby was led by Ricky Chambers, known as C. T., a former agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation who had worked for Mr. Prince for years; most recently, he had run a program training Afghan troops for a Blackwater subsidiary called Paravant. He was among the half-dozen or so Americans who would serve as top managers of the project, receiving nearly $300,000 in annual compensation. Mr. Chambers and Mr. Prince soon began quietly luring American contractors from Afghanistan, Iraq and other danger spots with pay packages that topped out at more than $200,000 a year, according to a budget document. Many of those who signed on as trainers — which eventually included more than 40 veteran American, European and South African commandos — did not know of Mr. Prince's involvement, the former employees said. Mr. Chambers did not respond to requests for comment. He and Mr. Prince also began looking for soldiers. They lined up Thor Global Enterprises, a company on the Caribbean island of Tortola specializing in "placing foreign servicemen in private security positions overseas," according to a contract signed last May. The recruits would be paid about $150 a day. Within months, large tracts of desert were bulldozed and barracks constructed. The Emirates were to provide weapons and equipment for the mercenary force, supplying everything from M-16 rifles to mortars, Leatherman knives to Land Rovers. They agreed to buy parachutes, motorcycles, rucksacks — and 24,000 pairs of socks. To keep a low profile, Mr. Prince rarely visited the camp or a cluster of luxury villas near the Abu Dhabi airport, where R2 executives and Emirati military officers fine-tune the training schedules and arrange weapons deliveries for the battalion, former employees said. He would show up, they said, in an office suite at the DAS Tower — a skyscraper just steps from Abu Dhabi's Corniche beach, where sunbathers lounge as cigarette boats and water scooters whiz by. Staff members there manage a number of companies that the former employees say are carrying out secret work for the Emirati government. Emirati law prohibits disclosure of incorporation records for businesses, which typically list company officers, but it does require them to post company names on offices and storefronts. Over the past year, the sign outside the suite has changed at least twice — it now says Assurance Management Consulting. While the documents — including contracts, budget sheets and blueprints — obtained by The Times do not mention Mr. Prince, the former employees said he negotiated the U.A.E. deal. Corporate documents describe the battalion's possible tasks: intelligence gathering, urban combat, the securing of nuclear and radioactive materials, humanitarian missions and special operations "to destroy enemy personnel and equipment." One document describes "crowd-control operations" where the crowd "is not armed with firearms but does pose a risk using improvised weapons (clubs and stones)." People involved in the project and American officials said that the Emiratis were interested in deploying the battalion to respond to terrorist attacks and put down uprisings inside the country's sprawling labor camps, which house the Pakistanis, Filipinos and other foreigners who make up the bulk of the country's work force. The foreign military force was planned months before the so-called Arab Spring revolts that many experts believe are unlikely to spread to the U.A.E. Iran was a particular concern. An Eye on Iran Although there was no expectation that the mercenary troops would be used for a stealth attack on Iran, Emirati officials talked of using them for a possible maritime and air assault to reclaim a chain of islands, mostly uninhabited, in the Persian Gulf that are the subject of a dispute between Iran and the U.A.E., the former employees said. Iran has sent military forces to at least one of the islands, Abu Musa, and Emirati officials have long been eager to retake the islands and tap their potential oil reserves. The Emirates have a small military that includes army, air force and naval units as well as a small special operations contingent, which served in Afghanistan, but over all, their forces are considered inexperienced. In recent years, the Emirati government has showered American defense companies with billions of dollars to help strengthen the country's security. A company run by Richard A. Clarke, a former counterterrorism adviser during the Clinton and Bush administrations, has won several lucrative contracts to advise the U.A.E. on how to protect its infrastructure. Some security consultants believe that Mr. Prince's efforts to bolster the Emirates' defenses against an Iranian threat might yield some benefits for the American government, which shares the U.A.E.'s concern about creeping Iranian influence in the region. "As much as Erik Prince is a pariah in the United States, he may be just what the doctor ordered in the U.A.E.," said an American security consultant with knowledge of R2's work. The contract includes a one-paragraph legal and ethics policy noting that R2 should institute accountability and disciplinary procedures. "The overall goal," the contract states, "is to ensure that the team members supporting this effort continuously cast the program in a professional and moral light that will hold up to a level of media scrutiny." But former employees said that R2's leaders never directly grappled with some fundamental questions about the operation. International laws governing private armies and mercenaries are murky, but would the Americans overseeing the training of a foreign army on foreign soil be breaking United States law? Susan Kovarovics, an international trade lawyer who advises companies about export controls, said that because Reflex Responses was an Emirati company it might not need State Department authorization for its activities. But she said that any Americans working on the project might run legal risks if they did not get government approval to participate in training the foreign troops. Basic operational issues, too, were not addressed, the former employees said. What were the battalion's rules of engagement? What if civilians were killed during an operation? And could a Latin American commando force deployed in the Middle East really be kept a secret? Imported Soldiers The first waves of mercenaries began arriving last summer. Among them was a 13-year veteran of Colombia's National Police force named Calixto Rincón, 42, who joined the operation with hopes of providing for his family and seeing a new part of the world. "We were practically an army for the Emirates," Mr. Rincón, now back in Bogotá, Colombia, said in an interview. "They wanted people who had a lot of experience in countries with conflicts, like Colombia." Mr. Rincón's visa carried a special stamp from the U.A.E. military intelligence branch, which is overseeing the entire project, that allowed him to move through customs and immigration without being questioned. He soon found himself in the midst of the camp's daily routines, which mirrored those of American military training. "We would get up at 5 a.m. and we would start physical exercises," Mr. Rincón said. His assignment included manual labor at the expanding complex, he said. Other former employees said the troops — outfitted in Emirati military uniforms — were split into companies to work on basic infantry maneuvers, learn navigation skills and practice sniper training. R2 spends roughly $9 million per month maintaining the battalion, which includes expenditures for employee salaries, ammunition and wages for dozens of domestic workers who cook meals, wash clothes and clean the camp, a former employee said. Mr. Rincón said that he and his companions never wanted for anything, and that their American leaders even arranged to have a chef travel from Colombia to make traditional soups. But the secrecy of the project has sometimes created a prisonlike environment. "We didn't have permission to even look through the door," Mr. Rincón said. "We were only allowed outside for our morning jog, and all we could see was sand everywhere." The Emirates wanted the troops to be ready to deploy just weeks after stepping off the plane, but it quickly became clear that the Colombians' military skills fell far below expectations. "Some of these kids couldn't hit the broad side of a barn," said a former employee. Other recruits admitted to never having fired a weapon. Rethinking Roles As a result, the veteran American and foreign commandos training the battalion have had to rethink their roles. They had planned to act only as "advisers" during missions — meaning they would not fire weapons — but over time, they realized that they would have to fight side by side with their troops, former officials said. Making matters worse, the recruitment pipeline began drying up. Former employees said that Thor struggled to sign up, and keep, enough men on the ground. Mr. Rincón developed a hernia and was forced to return to Colombia, while others were dismissed from the program for drug use or poor conduct. And R2's own corporate leadership has also been in flux. Mr. Chambers, who helped develop the project, left after several months. A handful of other top executives, some of them former Blackwater employees, have been hired, then fired within weeks. To bolster the force, R2 recruited a platoon of South African mercenaries, including some veterans of Executive Outcomes, a South African company notorious for suppressing rebellions against African strongmen in the 1990s. The platoon was to function as a quick-reaction force, American officials and former employees said, and began training for a practice mission: a terrorist attack on the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai, the world's tallest building. They would secure the situation before quietly handing over control to Emirati troops. But by last November, the battalion was officially behind schedule. The original goal was for the 800-man force to be ready by March 31; recently, former employees said, the battalion's size was reduced to about 580 men. Emirati military officials had promised that if this first battalion was a success, they would pay for an entire brigade of several thousand men. The new contracts would be worth billions, and would help with Mr. Prince's next big project: a desert training complex for foreign troops patterned after Blackwater's compound in Moyock, N.C. But before moving ahead, U.A.E. military officials have insisted that the battalion prove itself in a "real world mission." That has yet to happen. So far, the Latin American troops have been taken off the base only to shop and for occasional entertainment. On a recent spring night though, after months stationed in the desert, they boarded an unmarked bus and were driven to hotels in central Dubai, a former employee said. There, some R2 executives had arranged for them to spend the evening with prostitutes. This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: Correction: May 19, 2011 An article on Sunday about the creation of a mercenary battalion in the United Arab Emirates misstated the past work of Executive Outcomes, a former South African mercenary firm whose veterans have been recruited for the new battalion. Executive Outcomes was hired by several African governments during the 1990s to put down rebellions and protect oil and diamond reserves; it did not stage coup attempts. (Some former Executive Outcomes employees participated in a 2004 coup attempt against the government of Equatorial Guinea, several years after the company itself shut down.) Correction: June 7, 2011 An article on May 15 about efforts to build a battalion of foreign mercenary troops in the United Arab Emirates referred imprecisely to the role played by Erik Prince, the founder of the security firm Blackwater Worldwide. He worked to oversee the effort and recruit troops. But Mr. Prince does not run or own the company Reflex Responses, which has a contract with the government of the U.A.E. to train and deliver the troops, according to the company president, Michael Roumi. An article on May 16 repeated the error. BLACKWATER'S ERIK PRINCE AND AFRICANovember 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Only if you have not been following the excesses of the U.S. military in awarding contracts to unscrupulous companies would you be forgiven for asking, 'So what's wrong with foreign companies going to Africa to invest?' Already, the name of his company, 'Frontier Resources Group', evokes one of those sci-fi movies where swashbuckling individuals (normally whites) are dispatched to outposts to 'explore' and conquer the inhabitants. Just thinking of who Prince is and what he is capable of, invokes a reminder of what happened in 2004 when Simon Mann, with funding from former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's son, Mark Thatcher, attempted to overthrow the Equatorial Guinea's President Obiang Nguema. Mann had purchased 20 machine guns, 61 AK-47 assault rifles, 150 hand grenades, 10 rocket-propelled grenade launchers (and 100 RPG shells), and 75,000 rounds of ammunition, and was trying to transport them to Equatorial Guinea before he was caught and detained by Zimbabwean authorities. Wherever Blackwater's (newly renamed 'Xe=') Erik Prince rears his head, there is always a tremor of uncertainty about his presence, what kind of mischief he is about to foment. So, it came as no surprise that a lot of ink is being expended on Erik Prince, after the Christian Science Monitor reported, in an article headlined "Prince of Blackwater Heads to Africa." The article written by Dan Martin of the Science Monitor, states
Only if you have not been following the excesses of the U.S. military in awarding contracts to unscrupulous companies would you be forgiven for asking, 'So what's wrong with foreign companies going to Africa to invest?' Already, the name of his company, 'Frontier Resources Group', evokes one of those sci-fi movies where swashbuckling individuals (normally whites) are dispatched to outposts to 'explore' and conquer the inhabitants. Just thinking of who Prince is and what he is capable of, invokes a reminder of what happened in 2004 when Simon Mann, with funding from former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's son, Mark Thatcher, attempted to overthrow the Equatorial Guinea's President Obiang Nguema. Mann had purchased 20 machine guns, 61 AK-47 assault rifles, 150 hand grenades, 10 rocket-propelled grenade launchers (and 100 RPG shells), and 75,000 rounds of ammunition, and was trying to transport them to Equatorial Guinea before he was caught and detained by Zimbabwean authorities. As was noted above, Prince made tons of money contracting for the U.S. military which spent hundreds of billions of dollars in Iraq and which had contracted Blackwater to provide private security to its many units. He made billions to add to the billion he was already worth after selling his late father's company for $1.3 billion and had the funds to buy more than 800 acres of land to begin his security training company, Blackwater Worldwide. Despite his own money, he attributes his being a former SEALs for his entrepreneurial zeal and success. Blackwater was blamed for a lot of excess in Iraq, including accusation of its men killing 17 civilians in Iraq, which prompted Iraqi authorities to force the company out of the country. With investigations by the US Congress into its activities, Erik Prince changed the name of his company, Blackwater, to 'Xe" and then sold it to investors. Some people might say that our suspicions are not founded just based on an individual, with Erik Prince's background, to invest in Africa, especially when coupled with the Chinese who are already very active in Africa. But we should be suspicious of an individual who has already attempted to destabilized the continent with a mercenary force not approved by the African Union or the United Nations, but funded by Arab countries. The New York Times has detailed how a private army formed to fight Somali pirates left troubled legacy. The idea, according to the Times, was to "create a sophisticated, highly trained fighting force that could finally defeat the pirates terrorizing the shipping lanes off the Somali coast" The article went on to say,
The idea of a man with Mr. Erik Prince's background and known activities should pose great challenges for Africa and its leaders. After the downfall of Libyan leader Muammar Khadaffi, Tuaregs mercenaries were allowed to return to Mali armed with modern weapons. They proceeded to move with lightning speed in taking over Northern Mali, which has resulted in many Timbuktu historical sites and archives being destroyed by Islamist jihardists. It is okay to welcome all kinds of investors to Africa, but as one Ambassador recently told an audience of African-American activists and intellectuals, African governments need to think through some of these Trojan horses being presented to Africa. The African Union Commission should take immediate action to examine whether Mr. Prince's investment meets its criteria of a needed investment in the continent, and if it doesn't, should dissuade any country that is encouraging a welcome mat to the Frontier Resource Group. And the Chinese must be warned that it could not team up with unsavoury characters to engage in exploiting the natural resources of the continent to the detriment of continental stability. Forewarned it forearmed. |
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