Somalia's neighbours seek right to intervene /quote/ ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Somalia's neighbours on Friday sought to remove obstacles to a possible intervention to support the ailing government in Mogadishu during a regional summit in Addis Ababa.
The six-member Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) held talks in the Ethiopian capital to reiterate its support for the transitional federal government (TFG) led by Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
"There is ... a need to facilitate conditions that will make it possible for the neighbouring countries to avail their support to the TFG more effectively and in a more helpful way," Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin said. ... IGAD's special envoy to Somalia, Kipruto arap Kirwa, argued that the UN resolution should be amended to authorise countries such as Kenya and Djibouti to send troops and beef up the 4,300 Burundians and Ugandans already deployed.
"The UN by continuing to have this resolution in place is indirectly supporting the terrorists as it is not taking bold measures to address challenges facing the TFG," he said.
Djibouti has already pledged a full battalion of 450 soldiers to be deployed as soon as the UN resolution is modified. /endquote/
Sat Marks the Spot, Uncovers Pirate Weapons Haul /quote/ Back in September, Somali pirates boosted the MV Faina, a Ukrainian cargo ship laden with rocket-propelled grenades, anti-aircraft guns, and T-72 tanks. The pirates then scored a major ransom in return for the arms and the vessel.
But one mystery lingered: the true destination of the Faina’s cargo. Kenya’s government said the weapons and munitions were for its military, but observers speculated that they were intended for the breakaway government of South Sudan.
With the aid of some satellite analysis, Jane’s Defence Weekly has the answer: The weapons were part of a series of weapons shipments bound for South Sudan. JDW Middle East/Africa editor Lauren Gelfand and Jane’s imagery analyst Allison Puccioni drew on extensive satellite imagery to track the movement of the T-72s from the port of Mombasa, Kenya; while Jane’s does not conclude definitively that the tanks from the Faina ended up in South Sudan, the analysis does show a pattern of tanks making their way north to Sudan. Jane’s also confirmed previous arms shipments from Ukraine. /endquote/
Amid Arms Race, U.S. Trains Up South Sudan Army /quote/ The State Department last year awarded a contract to security firm USIS to send training and advisory teams to Juba, the capital of South Sudan, Danger Room has learned. The teams will provide training and mentoring to Sudan People’s Liberation Army soldiers and senior officers, teaching them how to shoot, move and communicate like a conventional military.
In a recent interview with Danger Room, a State Department official said the purpose of this program — the price tag of which has not been disclosed — is “take them [the SPLA] out of the bush, basically, within the construct of the CPA – as a force that can come together in a unity government. Or if in 2011, the south secedes, that force could become the element of a South Sudan that’s sovereign.”
In support of the peace deal, the Department of State is helping transform the SPLA from a guerrilla force to a regular military. Depending on the outcome of the referendum, that force will either become the standing army of an independent South Sudan or become part of Sudan’s national army. /endquote/
5 comments:
Somalia's neighbours seek right to intervene
/quote/
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Somalia's neighbours on Friday sought to remove obstacles to a possible intervention to support the ailing government in Mogadishu during a regional summit in Addis Ababa.
The six-member Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) held talks in the Ethiopian capital to reiterate its support for the transitional federal government (TFG) led by Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
"There is ... a need to facilitate conditions that will make it possible for the neighbouring countries to avail their support to the TFG more effectively and in a more helpful way," Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin said.
...
IGAD's special envoy to Somalia, Kipruto arap Kirwa, argued that the UN resolution should be amended to authorise countries such as Kenya and Djibouti to send troops and beef up the 4,300 Burundians and Ugandans already deployed.
"The UN by continuing to have this resolution in place is indirectly supporting the terrorists as it is not taking bold measures to address challenges facing the TFG," he said.
Djibouti has already pledged a full battalion of 450 soldiers to be deployed as soon as the UN resolution is modified.
/endquote/
test
Just visiting, but looking forward to returning often
The next U.S. induced war in Africa
Sat Marks the Spot, Uncovers Pirate Weapons Haul
/quote/
Back in September, Somali pirates boosted the MV Faina, a Ukrainian cargo ship laden with rocket-propelled grenades, anti-aircraft guns, and T-72 tanks. The pirates then scored a major ransom in return for the arms and the vessel.
But one mystery lingered: the true destination of the Faina’s cargo. Kenya’s government said the weapons and munitions were for its military, but observers speculated that they were intended for the breakaway government of South Sudan.
With the aid of some satellite analysis, Jane’s Defence Weekly has the answer: The weapons were part of a series of weapons shipments bound for South Sudan. JDW Middle East/Africa editor Lauren Gelfand and Jane’s imagery analyst Allison Puccioni drew on extensive satellite imagery to track the movement of the T-72s from the port of Mombasa, Kenya; while Jane’s does not conclude definitively that the tanks from the Faina ended up in South Sudan, the analysis does show a pattern of tanks making their way north to Sudan. Jane’s also confirmed previous arms shipments from Ukraine.
/endquote/
Amid Arms Race, U.S. Trains Up South Sudan Army
/quote/
The State Department last year awarded a contract to security firm USIS to send training and advisory teams to Juba, the capital of South Sudan, Danger Room has learned. The teams will provide training and mentoring to Sudan People’s Liberation Army soldiers and senior officers, teaching them how to shoot, move and communicate like a conventional military.
In a recent interview with Danger Room, a State Department official said the purpose of this program — the price tag of which has not been disclosed — is “take them [the SPLA] out of the bush, basically, within the construct of the CPA – as a force that can come together in a unity government. Or if in 2011, the south secedes, that force could become the element of a South Sudan that’s sovereign.”
In support of the peace deal, the Department of State is helping transform the SPLA from a guerrilla force to a regular military. Depending on the outcome of the referendum, that force will either become the standing army of an independent South Sudan or become part of Sudan’s national army.
/endquote/
thanks hokl & b
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