Possível intervenção militar no Mali

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS may send troops to Mali with or without the member state's consent in order to arrest the deteriorating situation in the northern part of the country, where separatist armed groups have continued to commit acts of rape, looting, robbery, killing and destruction of cultural sites. Though the deployment of the ECOWAS Stand-by force to Mali has long been approved by the region's leaders, the estimated 3,000 troops have yet to be deployed because the 15-member bloc has been waiting for a formal invitation from the Malian authorities. However, that may change soon, as an ECOWAS Consultative Meeting on the situation in Mali has urged the current Chairpersons of ECOWAS and the African Union, Presidents Alassane Ouattara of Cote d'Ivoire and Yayi Boni of Benin respectively, to seek the approval of the UN Security Council for the deployment of troops under Chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter, ''with a view to taking all necessary measures for the restoration of the territorial integrity of Mali, if the need be, by the use of force''. PANA reports that Chapter 7 of the UN charter allows for sanctions, including economic measures and an arms embargo, as well as military force, to maintain peace. The decision on the possible use of Chaper 7 deployment followed the briefing made to the Consultative Meeting, which was held on the margins of this week's UEMOA Summit in Lome, Togo, by the ECOWAS Mediator on the Mali crisis, President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso. The presentation highlighted the ''flagrant violation of human rights, the serious humanitarian situation and its consequences on regional and international peace and security'', according to a communique issued after the meeting. The regional leaders who attended the meeting also urged the Mediator to pursue his negotiations with the stakeholders with the exception of terrorist groups. They reiterated ECOWAS’ non-recognition of the CNRDRE formed by the military junta that seized power in Mali in March, as well as any status of Head of State or former Head of State bestowed on the junta leader, Capt. Amadou Sanogo. Meanwhile, West African military chiefs are due to meet in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, 16 June to deliberate on the structure of the Stand-by force being prepared for the Mali mission, PANA has learnt. The meeting is a follow-up to the mission planning conference held in Abuja, Nigeria, earlier.

O petróleo de Angola

Angola is Africa’s third largest oil producer behind Nigeria and Libya and, in January 2007, became the 12th member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). According to the 2011 BP Statistical Energy Survey, Angola had proved oil reserves of 13.5 billion barrels at the end of 2010, equivalent to 19.9 years of current production and 0.97 % of the world's reserves. Angola produced an average of 1851 thousand barrels of crude oil per day in 2010, 2.31% of the world and a change of 3.7 % compared to 2009. Angola exports more than 90% of its crude oil primarily to China and the US. Angola's oil and oil derivatives industry accounts for 91.92% of total exports. Petroleum and petroleum products generated nearly $9.7 billion in State revenues in 2004. Angola is a key player in Africa's oil industry as both a major producer and exporter. Offshore Angola is recognised as a world-class area for oil exploration and production. Angola produces crude oils that have an API gravity ranging from 32 degrees to 39.5 degrees and a sulphur content of 1.12% to 0.14%. Angola currently flares the majority of its natural gas but plans are underway to convert natural gas into liquefied natural gas (LNG). Angola's economy is highly dependent on the oil sector, which accounts for 40% of GDP and 80% of government revenues. Sonangol was established in 1976 and manages all fuel production and distribution in Angola. The majority of the country's crude oil is produced offshore in Block Zero, located in the northern Cabinda province. Crude reserves also are located onshore around the city of Soyo, offshore in the Kwanza Basin north of Luanda, and offshore of the northern coast. Significant discoveries have been made in Blocks 14, 15, 17 and 18 since the mid 1990’s. Companies are focussing on ways to reduce the costs and improve the cost-efficiency of producing from the high risk deep-water areas. The top foreign oil companies operating in Angola are US-based ChevronTexaco and ExxonMobil, France’s Total, UK ’s BP, UK /Dutch Shell, and Italian Agip/Eni Oil Company. MBendi

Bissau: Lá se vai Angola

BISSAU (Reuters) - Angola began withdrawing its troops and military equipment from Guinea-Bissau on Wednesday, officials said, ending a year-long mission in the West African country aimed at reforming the army but which instead helped trigger a coup. An Angolan ship, the Rio Mbridge, began loading up men and equipment at the port of Bissau, and airplanes were deployed to pick up remaining troops who had been headquartered in a hotel in the seaside capital. "The withdrawal is ongoing and unfolding normally," said Fernando Vaz, a spokesman for Guinea-Bissau's transitional government, in place since mid-May after the ruling military junta ceded power back to civilians after an April coup. An Angolan military officer confirmed the withdrawal. The removal of the roughly 270-strong force could ease tensions in the country after Bissau soldiers seized power on April 12 and accused Angola of having had a secret pact with the ousted government to destroy its military. The Angolan mission had been in Guinea-Bissau since early 2011 and was charged with helping reform the country's military after a string of coups and army uprisings since independence from Portugal in 1974. Angola had announced it would withdraw its force days before the April coup that derailed an election process and forced the poll's front-runner, former Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior, and some of his allies to flee the country. The junta said Gomes Junior, a vocal supporter of efforts to reform the military and combat cartels using the tiny country as a cocaine transhipment point, had a deal with Luanda to "annihilate Guinea-Bissau's armed forces". West African regional bloc ECOWAS mediated a deal with Guinea-Bissau's junta that paved the way for a civilian transitional government to take back power in mid-May and for a 600-strong ECOWAS force to replace the Angolan mission. The CPLP grouping of Portuguese-speaking countries, the United Nations, and the European Union have expressed frustration over the ECOWAS deal, saying it does not adhere to a 'zero tolerance' policy for military coups. The EU said last week it does not recognize the Guinea-Bissau transitional government, headed by parliament speaker and interim president Manuel Sherifo Nhamadjo, in part because it appears to still be taking orders from the army. Western diplomatic sources said the ECOWAS deal rewarded the coup leaders with the removal of would-be president Gomes Junior, and added the row may also reflect a rivalry between Angola and Nigeria for influence in the tiny country, which has rich bauxite deposits and possible offshore oil. Guinea-Bissau is a hub for narcotics trafficking between South America and Europe, and the United States has named two of its top military officials 'drugs kingpins'. (Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Michael Roddy) -- Tal como antes a União Europeia, também agora Angola não conseguiu reestruturar as empedernidas Forças Armadas da Guiné-Bissau, que têm mais efectivos do que deviam e que se sobrepôem às estruturas civis. São um autêntico cancro, a minar a vida do país.

Bissau: sanções, nada mais que sanções

Some Council members have shown interest in expanding the list of those sanctioned in Guinea-Bissau, as well as imposing additional measures, including an embargo on arms and asset freezes. It seems these Council members were waiting for the EU, which in April imposed targeted sanctions against five members of the Military Command, to expand its list of those it had sanctioned, with the idea that the Council would likely list the same individuals. On 1 June, the EU strengthened its sanctions, imposing an asset freeze and visa ban on a further 15 people associated with the Guinea-Bissau junta. However, the Sanctions Committee created by resolution 2048, which could recommend the additional listing, has not been constituted nor has a chairperson been chosen. (P5 discussions are ongoing and it seems likely that the chair is to come from one of the five elected members who came into the Council in January 2012.) Following the briefing, Council members seem set to hold an interactive dialogue session with key stakeholders including former Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Júnior and representatives from the AU, Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), ECOWAS and the Chair of the PBC Guinea-Bissau Configuration (Brazil). This session came about as a result of a request from the Guinea-Bissau mission in New York on 31 May to the President of the Council for June, China, for former Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Júnior to speak as the “legitimate Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau” under Rule 37 of the Provisional Rules of Procedure. While Rule 37 provides for a member to participate in discussions where its interests are affected, this situation is somewhat complicated by Gomes being a former Prime Minister. (Kosovo, following its unilateral declaration of independence, speaks at Council meetings under Rule 39, which allows the Council to invite someone to provide it with information.) It seems Togo was particularly uncomfortable with Gomes addressing the Council as it believed that this would undermine ECOWAS which is backing the transitional government. (ECOWAS has brokered an agreement in which a transitional government would rule the country until elections are held in a year’s time.) As a compromise Council members agreed to have Gomes speak together with the other interested parties in an interactive dialogue format. A decision also appears to have been made to not have any name plate for Gomes during the interactive debate session. (This is not the first time Gomes has used the designation of Prime Minister, even after he had resigned the position on 10 February, to participate in the aborted presidential elections and name the Minister of the Presidency and Social Communications Maria Adjiatu Djalo Nandigna, to replace him as Prime Minister. He signed off as Prime Minister in a 9 April letter (S/2012/254) warning the Secretary-General that Guinea-Bissau “could come to face a new cycle of internal political instability, owing to the non-acceptance of the electoral results” by his rivals.) What's in Blue

Bissau: palavras do golpista Indjai

O Chefe do Estado-Maior General das Forças Armadas da Guiné-Bissau, António Indjai, afirmou hoje que pretende reformar-se dentro de três anos para se dedicar à política no PAIGC, partido que diz ser "dos veteranos de guerra" como ele. António Indjai falava hoje na sede do parlamento para cerca de uma centena e meia de veteranos de guerra por ele convocados para uma explicação sobre os "verdadeiros motivos" do golpe de Estado de 12 de abril passado que ele próprio liderou. "Toda gente sabia o que se passava no regime do `Cadogo` [primeiro-ministro deposto, Carlos Gomes Júnior], mas muita gente que está no PAIGC [Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde, no poder até ao golpe] não dizia nada. Ficava tudo calado porque recebiam dinheiro dele. Acham normal que um antigo combatente (veterano de guerra) ganhe uma pensão mensal de 14 mil francos CFA (21 euros) enquanto governantes ganhem um subsídio de milhões?", questionou Indjai. Em quase uma hora de intervenção, o general António Indjai criticou duramente a governação de Carlos Gomes Júnior, a quem acusou de nepotismo, corrupção, e clientelismo no seio do PAIGC de que "Cadogo" é líder, e fez uma retrospetiva da Missang (Missão técnica angolana para o apoio a reforma do setor militar guineense) ao país. "`Cadogo assinou um acordo secreto com os angolanos para que estes possam atacar as nossas Forças Armadas. Não podíamos ficar de braços cruzados", defendeu António Indjai. Sobre o histórico partido, António Indjai disse que "atualmente foi comprado por `Cadogo` e já não representa os verdadeiros combatentes da liberdade da pátria". "Os que atualmente estão no PAIGC têm que sair de lá. Deixem-nos o nosso partido em paz. Já não querem saber dos verdadeiros combatentes da liberdade da pátria. É por isso que digo que desta vez vamos arrumar o problema dos combatentes de uma vez por todas", vincou António Indjai, recebendo palmas dos veteranos. "Mesmo que venhamos a ter um governo saído das eleições, tem que assinar um documento em que diz claramente como vai resolver o problema dos combatentes da liberdade da pátria", avisou o chefe das forças armadas. "Em relação à minha pessoa, posso-vos garantir que não tenciono ficar nas Forças Armadas mais do que os próximos três anos. Vou para a reforma e aí volto para o PAIGC. O verdadeiro PAIGC de Amílcar Cabral", acrescentou. Amílcar Cabral foi o fundador do PAIGC e "pai" das independências da Guiné e Cabo-Verde. É tido como referência moral e política dos veteranos de guerra de libertação do poder colonial português.

Possível tensão social em Moçambique

The IMF last week highlighted Mozambique as a country where the poor benefit less from growth, and warned of possible social tension. It added that the government is "particularly concerned". Speaking at a meeting in London, Roger Nord, IMF Deputy Director for Africa, said that in Mozambique the poor "have benefitted less" than average from the rapid growth of the past decades. "It is an issue because it raises social tension. And it is an issue because if the poor don't benefit enough it is going to be very difficult for growth to be sustained. And it is certainly a topic we [IMF] are discussing in depth, for example in Mozambique, where the authorities are particularly concerned to make sure that the poor benefit as much as the rest of the country." Nord was speaking at an ODI (Overseas Development Institute) meeting on 31 May to launch the IMF's 2012 Regional Economic Outlook: Sub-Saharan Africa. The report has a a large section on current and future natural resource exporters, including Mozambique. And he says a key question is "what are countries going to do to avoid being the Nigerias and Angolas of the next generation?" He argues that the biggest difference is that countries including "Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique over the last 10 to 20 years have built more robust democratic institutions [which are] more robust institutions than the early oil producers had." The report warns that the capital intensive nature of the industry means that "much of the income generated by resource extraction accrues to foreigners" and that "the design of an appropriate licensing and taxation framework is of central importance if countries are to maximize the benefits they receive from their endowment of natural resources". The report also suggests that some resources be left in the ground to be "transferred to future generations". Finally the IMF report warns that natural resource income often does not improve social indicators and that often "low productivity sectors (such as agriculture and many services) remain largely untransformed." Indeed, it notes that it is "striking" that several African natural resource exporters have not used the money to raise the "very low productivity" of agriculture. IMF report: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/reo/2012/afr/eng/sreo0412.htm JOSEPH HANLON

Bissau: os guerrilheiros de Casamansa

« Atika », la branche armée du Mouvement des forces démocratiques de la Casamance (Mfdc) est courtisée dans une sous région en feu. On veut coûte que coûte enrôler ses membres, même ceux qui ne sont plus en activité « militaire » depuis longtemps pour renverser des tendances politico-militaires ou consolider celles qui sont nouvellement créées. De sources proches du maquis casamançais, de passage au Sénégal, des Guinéens de Conakry de la diaspora ont pris contact avec certaines figures de proue de la rébellion casamançaise dans le souci de les « embaucher » avec leurs hommes. Pour renverser le régime d’Alpha Conde ? Des « recruteurs » qui se disent proches du capitaine malien ont fait de même. Ils veulent des mercenaires pour aller faire la guerre aux Touaregs « partionnistes ». Tout comme les narcotrafiquants bissau-guinéens et leurs hommes liges veulent d’Atika pour perpétrer leur règne menacé par l’arrivée des forces d’intervention ? Crise ouverte au Mali et en Guinée Bissau. Sortie de crise laborieuse en Guinée Conakry, en latence en Côte d’Ivoire et au Burkina Faso. La sous-région ouest-africaine n’est assurément pas un havre de paix pour l’heure. Et si on y ajoute la crise casamançaise au Sénégal qui dure depuis 30 ans maintenant et sa « farquisation » qui se dessine de plus en plus, les menaces réelles sur la Mauritanie, éventuelles, voire probables contre le Sénégal que fait peser l’Aqmi qui s’est emparé du Nord du Mali, la boucle d’une sous région en feu est bouclée. L’armée sénégalaise sollicitée comme d’autres de la Communauté économiques des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (Cedeao) pour ramener l’ordre républicain en Guinée Bissau et au Mali, risque cependant d’avoir en face d’elle et/ou à ses côtés,-ce qui serait une belle curiosité-,le Mfdc aussi bien en Guinée Bissau qu’au Mali. On apprend en effet de sources concordantes, proche du Mfdc que des sergents-recruteurs bissau-guinéens comme maliens ont approché récemment certaines factions du mouvement irrédentiste casamançais qui croissent à la mode paramécie pour les enrôler dans leur «guerre». Les narcotrafiquants bissau-guinéens et leurs homme-liges veulent comme feu le général Amsoumana Mané s’appuyer sur Atika pour perpétrer leur main mise en Guinée-Bissau. La force d’intervention de la CEDEAO qui a commencé à se déployer dans ce pays risque de faire face aux rebelles casamançais, si ces derniers cèdent aux avances de leurs recruteurs bissau-guinéens. Pour l’heure ; selon les mêmes sources, on hésiterait beaucoup du coté d’Atika. Chat échaudé craint l’eau froide. Salif Sadio et ses hommes n’avaient pas tiré que bénéfice de leur soutien à Amsouma Mané dans sa mutinerie de juin 1998 à mai 1999 contre Nino Viera. Non seulement, ils avaient perdu plusieurs éléments notamment, des jeunes recrues âgées entre 12 et 20 ans à qui on avait fait croire qu’elles étaient invincibles. La majeure partie de ces enfants-soldats était tombée dans le piège du rideau défensif des sapeurs-mineurs des hommes du Colonel Koné. Mais également, ils n’avaient reçu le tribut d’armements escomptés. Pis, ce sont les hommes du feu le général Tag mé Naway qui ont délogé Salif Sadio de son état major situé à Baraka Mandiouka à la lisière de la frontière avec la Guinée-Bissau et l’ont poussé à se réfugier en Gambie. Des hommes qui se disent proches du Capitaine putschiste malien se sont rapprochés aussi des mêmes factions casamançaise en vue de les recruter pour les amener faire la guerre au nord du Mali. Certaines de leurs cibles casamançaises ont eu même droit à une conversation téléphonique avec le nouvel homme fort malien. En plus d’argent et d’armement promis, il leur a été aussi promis un soutien dans leur lutte en Casamance. Sud online, do Senegal