United States Africa Command

Public Affairs Office

23 February 2011

USAFRICOM - related news stories

TOP NEWS RELATED TO U.S. AFRICA COMMAND AND AFRICA

Africa Command Makes Steady Progress, Ward Says (American Forces Press Service)
U.S. Africa Command has made steady, understated progress with allies, regional
organizations and international partners on the continent, Army Gen. William E. “Kip”
Ward, Africom’s commander, said in an interview last week.

Africom Leader Cites Growth in Partnerships With Continent's Nations

(America.gov)
The commander of the U.S. military's Africa Command (AFRICOM) says that there has
been positive growth in the partnership between his command and 53 African nations
that work with him in helping to maintain regional stability and preventing civil strife.

US offers to help kick out Gbagbo (Compass Newspaper)

(Nigeria/Cote d'Ivoire) If asked, the African Command of the United States Military
(AFRICOM) may support Nigeria in the proposal to apply force in removing the
defeated President of Cote d’Ivoire Laurent Gbagbo , Empowered Newswire reports.

Libya protests: UN Security Council condemns crackdown (BBC)

(Libya) The UN Security Council has condemned the Libyan authorities for using force
against protesters, calling for those responsible to be held to account.

Obama stays cautious on Libya as Americans await evacuation (McClatchy

Newspaper)
(Libya) With hundreds of U.S. citizens trapped for now in Libya, the Obama
administration is responding cautiously to leader Moammar Gadhafi's brutal attempt to
suppress a rebellion, fearing that the wrong move might bring retaliation against
Americans, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

US Condemns 'Appalling' Violence in Libya (Associated Press)

(Libya) The Obama administration on Tuesday condemned "appalling" violence in
Libya, where security forces unleashed a bloody crackdown on protesters demanding
the ouster of longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Clinton Says Safety of U.S. Citizens in Libya Is Priority Now (Bloomberg)

(Libya) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today the safety of U.S. citizens in Libya,
including embassy employees awaiting evacuation, is the “highest priority” for the
Obama administration.

Countries scramble to evacuate citizens from Libya (AP)

(Libya) Governments scrambled by air and sea to pick up their citizens stranded by
Libya's bloody unrest on Tuesday, with thousands of people crowding the airport and a
stadium to await evacuation and Egyptians gathering at the border to escape the chaos.

Libya: Col Gaddafi threatens to unleash mob rule (The Telegraph)

(Libya) Col Muammar Gaddafi threatened to unleash mob rule on his country on
Tuesday night as he vowed to "cleanse Libya house by house" until he had crushed the
insurrection seeking to sweep him from power.

American couples killed by pirates remembered as fun-loving (USA Today)

(Somalia) People who knew the two American couples killed Tuesday by pirates off the
coast of Oman expressed deep sadness over the incident and remembered them as fun-
loving people and dedicated sailors.

Somali pirates: Do shootings of four Americans point to armed escalation?(Christian

Science Monitor)
(Somalia) Four Americans taken hostage by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean were
killed by their captors early Tuesday while US Navy forces were attempting to
negotiate their release, according to the US military. The tragedy marked the first time
that US citizens have died at the hands of pirates, who in recent years have swarmed
over ships in the region.

Sudan’s President, in Power Since 1989, Won’t Run Again, Spokesman Says (New
York Times)
(Sudan) President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan, who has been in power for more
than 20 years and faces international charges of genocide, will not run for office again
after his current term ends in four years, a Sudanese government spokesman said
Monday.

Fears of War in North, Dozens Killed as Somaliland Retreats (Garowe Online)

(Somalia) Fears of all-out war in erstwhile peaceful northern Somalia grew dramatically
Sunday after Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole warned Somaliland to
"stop the massacre of civilians," Radio Garowe reports

Gun battles erupt in Ivory Coast's main city (Reuters)

(Ivory Coast) Gunfire and explosions shook an area of Abidjan that supports Ivorian
presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara on Tuesday, and at least three soldiers died in
clashes with protesters calling on his rival to step down.
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website
 Ban ‘appalled’ at reported murder of hijacked US yachters by Somali pirates
 Côte d’Ivoire: UN mission deplores excessive use of force against demonstrators
 Guinea-Bissau progresses on path towards stability after last year’s unrest –
Ban
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Thursday, February 24, 2011, 1:00 pm; National Endowment for
Democracy (NED)
WHAT: Liberia, Elections, Corruption, Justice and the Role of the International
Community
WHO: J. Aloysius Toe, former executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights
and Democracy; and Dave Peterson of NED
Info: http://www.ned.org/events

WHEN/WHERE: Thursday, February 24, 2011, 2:00 pm; Heritage Foundation

WHAT: Referendum in Southern Sudan and the Road to Independence
WHO: Jon Temin, Director of the Sudan Program, U.S. Institute for Peace; Ambassador
Richard Williamson, former U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan; Ambassador Ezekiel Lol
Gatkuoth, Head of Mission to the United States, Government of Southern Sudan.
Info: http://www.heritage.org/Events/2011/02/South-Sudan
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULL ARTICLE TEXT

Africa Command Makes Steady Progress, Ward Says (American Forces Press Service)

Washington - U.S. Africa Command has made steady, understated progress with allies,
regional organizations and international partners on the continent, Army Gen. William
E. “Kip” Ward, Africom’s commander, said in an interview last week.

Ward, who took the reins as the first commander of America’s newest geographic
command in 2007, will turn over command to Army Gen. Carter F. Ham next month.

Africom conducts sustained security engagement through military-to-military

programs, military sponsored activities and other military operations. The command’s
aim is to promote a stable and secure environment in support of U.S. foreign policy.

The goals are to help regional allies build security organizations that perform
professionally and with integrity, and that have the will and means to direct, dissuade,
deter and defeat transnational threats. The command also works to strengthen
capabilities to support continental and international peace efforts.
Establishing the command was an uphill battle, Ward said. Critics in the United States
assumed it marked another step in the “militarization” of U.S. foreign policy, he
explained, and some on the continent saw the command as a new colonialist effort.

“Many thought that the command would be the conduit through which all activity of
the U.S. government, continentwide, would pass,” Ward said. “It was never the case,
but that was the impression, and since it was a brand-new command, there was no basis
for comparison.”

Until Africom stood up, three U.S. commands had responsibility for the continent –-
U.S. European Command, U.S. Central Command and U.S. Pacific Command. Africa
Command was to combine the missions those commands were doing in Africa in a
unified and thoughtful purpose.

“Still, the way things were said in the early days lent themselves to misinterpretations”
by critics, the general said.

Allaying the concerns of critics in the United States and, especially, on the continent
were the first missions Ward set for the command.

“I set out with a staff of folks to correct the message,” he said. “Just saying we’re not
going to be in charge of development wasn’t enough. We will be supportive of
governance and development, but we weren’t going to run the programs. We repeated
that message to our friends, and it became what they heard from me, from my deputies,
my directors and from our senior enlisted leaders.”

That message, he added, was followed up by how the command conducted itself.
Members of the command listened more than they spoke –- in Africa and with
interagency partners, he said. Soon, the general added, all could see that the command
was not militarizing foreign policy, but furthering State Department or U.S. Agency for
International Development programs.

“Seen through the lens of the foreign policy perspective, we weren’t leading -– we were,
in fact, supporting the efforts of other U.S. government agencies,” Ward said.

Sustaining engagement in Africa was one reason the new command was formed. The
three commands that had responsibility before had other matters to address, Ward
explained, their attention to the world’s second-largest continent ebbed and flowed.
Now that has changed, he said.

“[Leaders] know our focus is always on the continent of Africa and nowhere else,” the
general said. “It is a huge factor, and they understood that we did care about them and
we were prioritizing our work to concentrate on what concerned them.”
African allies have accepted the command, “and more importantly, it is effective on the
continent,” he said. Africa has many ungoverned or under-governed areas, including
Somalia, Darfur, Sudan and others. Africom covers 53 of the 54 nations on the continent
-- Egypt remained in the U.S. Central Command area of operations -- and the command
is working with many to facilitate peacekeeping operations and humanitarian relief
operations.

The command’s activity is focused on three levels: country-to-country, regional and

continental, Ward said. Africom works with individual countries to build security
capabilities and with regional organizations to strengthen African responses. Finally, it
works with continentwide groups.

“One of our priority objectives is to work with these regional economic communities
and their stand-by forces as best we can,” the general said. “We also know that working
through these organizations is terribly important.”

The command has worked with the Economic Community of West Africa States, the
East African Community and the Southern African Development Community. “As they
mature and as they ask for our support,” Ward said, “we provide it and encourage
them in that regional approach.”

At the continental level, the command works with the African Union. “The first trip I
made to the continent when we stood up the command was to [the Ethiopian capital of]
Addis Ababa, to the African Union headquarters, to reinforce our support to the
Africans’ continental organization,” the general said.

These capabilities have grown, Ward said, adding that he is pleased at the willingness
of these regional organizations to work together.

“We see nations who are now partnering who 10 years ago were enemies,” he said. “I
give them the credit. They have made the decision. We are there to reinforce this and
provide the support they ask for.”

The International Military Education and Training program probably is Africom’s

single most important tool, Ward said.

“I’ve been going to Congress and the Department of State, saying we ought to be doing
all we can to reinforce and to enlarge and enhance our IMET program,” Ward said.
“That is the long-term dividend in our engagement -- when officers, [noncommissioned
officers,] and warrant officers from our partner nations can come to the United States,
sit side by side with our men and women, and in addition to learning about the art of
military science, also understand Americans as humans, the things we value, the role of
a military in a democracy.”
The United States has seen the education and training program pay off in Egypt, Kenya
and Cote d’Ivoire, Ward said.

“This long-term sustained engagement has caused the military to behave in ways that
shows their neutrality, their impartiality and their role as protectors of their people and
not oppressors of their people,” he added.

Ward stressed that the command follows the foreign policy direction of the State
Department, noting that he constructed and staffed the command to mirror that
priority.

“What we wanted to do was have representation of the interagency [relationship] as a

part of the command -– not in the traditional sense of the interagency as members who
sit off by themselves, but integrated members of our staff,” he said. The Africom staff
includes a State Department deputy and representatives from U.S. Agency for
International Development, the Agriculture and Energy departments, and other U.S.
agencies.

“Their involvement in all our activities clearly lent itself to the notion that what we
were doing was off by itself, but was being informed by our foreign policy and the
range of activities that we were involved in -– be it State or the U.S. Agency for
International Development or the Agriculture Department,” he said.

The command’s interagency aspect also serves to inform the agencies’ headquarters in
Washington as the men and women there use their contacts and skills to help the
command, and vice versa, Ward said.

“Having those interagency partners on our team, they could see how we were doing
and were clearly there to help us do our planning and our work,” the general said, “but
they could provide that input back to their departments.”

Challenges exist on the continent, Ward acknowledged. Somalia, al-Qaida in North

Africa’s Mahgreb region and, illegal trafficking of people and drugs and weapons
through porous borders are among the challenges the people of the continent must deal
with, he added.

“It’s reinforced when you have challenges in development in infrastructure and energy
and water, [and] when you have issues with governance,” he said. “All these challenges
have to be looked at in a comprehensive way. This means the international community
also has to play. They have to work together.”

But in addition to the challenges, the general said, Africa also presents vast
opportunities. The continent has seen small but steady economic growth, even through
the downturn in the American and European economies, Ward noted.
“The opportunities are great,” he said. “We are seeing more regional cooperation. With
secure structures operating in more appropriate ways, we take advantage of those
opportunities to reinforce success and we work as a global community on these
challenges.

“How we reinforce and support the African Union mission in Somalia is important,” he
continued. “How we reinforce and support the work being done by regional partners in
East Africa is important.”

The command is “moving out smartly, and at a pace comparable to other geographic
commands,” Ward said.

“But we haven’t been at it very long,” he added. “What we have done is charted a
course where our work is seen as preventive. Our work will prevent a crisis, as opposed
to [having] to respond and react to one. We think that is the best result for our nation --
if a crisis never gets started.”
-----------------------------------
Africom Leader Cites Growth in Partnerships With Continent's Nations
(America.gov)

General William "Kip" Ward, the commander of the U.S. Africa Command, briefed
reporters on current issues in Africa February 18.

The commander of the U.S. military's Africa Command (AFRICOM) says that there has
been positive growth in the partnership between his command and 53 African nations
that work with him in helping to maintain regional stability and preventing civil strife.

"What we do are things that our partners desire of us to do," Army General William
"Kip" Ward said during a February 18 roundtable briefing at the Washington Foreign
Press Center.

"This is an important part of our work. Through our interactive activities, such as
conferences, exercises, training, our familiarization programs, our senior leader visits,
we listen very carefully to our partners, and this is all part of our understanding what
matters most to them," Ward said.

The work of AFRICOM is in the interests of the United States, Ward said, but also in the
interests of the African nations and the global community.

AFRICOM, one of six Defense Department regional military headquarters, became

operational October 1, 2008. The command, with a military-civilian staff of 1,300, is
located at Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany. In fiscal year 2009, the command had a
budget of $310 million and was budgeted for $278 million in fiscal year 2010.
Before the creation of a separate military command for Africa, the United States'
military and security engagements on the continent had been episodic. But after the
command became operational, it has taken an approach focusing on building the
security capacity of its partners, promoting strategic relationships, conducting civilian-
military activities that foster stability and providing crisis response.

Africa Command grew out of the U.S. European Command, which had responsibility
for 92 countries in Europe and Africa. AFRICOM focuses entirely on Africa, with the
one exception of Egypt, which is still under the aegis of the U.S. Central Command.
However, Ward said that Egypt is still very much an African nation and actively
participates in the issues and challenges of the continent. When AFRICOM was created,
Egyptian officials were consulted on the U.S. approach.

Coupled with the military cooperation is the expanded civilian cooperation through the
command with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the State and
Treasury departments and other agencies.

Ward told reporters there are "absolutely no plans now or in the future to move my
headquarters to Africa." Since creation of the command, the question of a headquarters
in Africa has been raised regularly.

Leaders of African nations have repeatedly told AFRICOM that their security priorities
include such things as the development of capable and accountable professional
military forces; the creation of effective, legitimate and professional security institutions
at the national and regional levels; a collective ability to dissuade, deter and defeat
transnational threats from terrorist and extremist organizations; and increased African
leadership and participation in international peacekeeping missions as well as
peacekeeping currently being conducted in Africa, Ward said.

"We conduct a wide range of programs and activities that help our African partners
meet these goals," Ward added.

Ward said his greatest challenge as commander of AFRICOM is providing the things
that African leaders want.

"Our ability to provide support is certainly a factor of our resources that we have
available," Ward said. And that means, he said, that there are times when the command
cannot do all of things it's asked to do.

Helping African nations build professional militaries takes resources and equipment, he
said.
Asked by reporters about instability in the Middle East and in North Africa, Ward said
that instability anywhere causes him concern because there are always those who want
to take advantage of such situations to generate instability in other places.
-----------------------------------
US offers to help kick out Gbagbo (Compass Newspaper)

IF asked, the African Command of the United States Military (AFRICOM) may support
Nigeria in the proposal to apply force in removing the defeated President of Cote
d’Ivoire Laurent Gbagbo , Empowered Newswire reports.

Nigeria is leading the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in

considering a military option in the debacle. The U.S. is, in essence, ready to help instal
the winner of Cote d’Ivoire’s recent presidential polls, Alassane Quattara, the result of
which Gbagbo has refused to honour.

Addressing foreign correspondents from Washington DC at the weekend, the

Commander of AFRICOM, General William Ward said: “Where we’re asked to do
something, it would certainly be looked at through our overall foreign policy lens.”

Empowered Newswire had inquired about what the position of the U.S. government
would be if ECOWAS requested the expertise of AFRICOM regarding the troubled
West African country.

Ward answered thus: “We clearly look to work with the regional organisations as
closely as we can, ECOWAS clearly being one of those.”

He added: “Given the ECOWAS role in the various regional issues that it has, where
we’re asked to do something, it would certainly be looked at through our overall
foreign policy lens, and then given a foreign policy decision that says the United States
of America would support ECOWAS in some particular activity or event, and that
activity had some military equities, some security equities, U.S. AFRICOM would in
fact be ready to follow through on that support.”

An ECOWAS delegation was in Washington DC and New York last month seeking the
support of the US and the United Nations for its plan to use military means to oust
Gbagbo just before the African Union decided to set up another panel of leaders to
convince Gbagbo to step down peacefully.

The panel was given another month at the end of January when the AU met in Addis
Ababa. The UN and others in the international community are awaiting the outcome of
the AU initiative. Meanwhile, the situation in Cote d’Ivoire is worsening with Access
Bank of Nigeria being among big businesses in the country that have shut down
operations.
General Ward also commented on the problem of oil theft in Nigeria and why
AFRICOM is not playing a role in dealing with the situation.

According to him, AFRICOM has no role in addressing the problem because it is “an
issue for the Nigerian government.” He added: “Clearly, we have no role in that. That’s
in Nigeria’s sovereign territory. We respect that, and we do not have a role in that.”

But, he added that “if there are requests for some technical assistance in dealing with it,
from patrolling techniques, ways to help better effect and secure their production
facilities, we have been able to offer, from time to time, advice on that. But that is not
something that goes (on) on a continual basis.”

Ward noted that generally AFRICOM only does what it is asked by its African partners
and those requests which are in line with US and global interests.

He said: “It’s reflective of what we get asked to do in support of the nations’ requests to
be a bit more effective enabling them to secure their own waters.”

But he conceded that AFRICOM has challenges of its own on the continent which are in
“getting the resources that would, in fact, be able to be used to satisfy the things that
our Africa partners ask us to do.”

Truly, AFRICOM’s budget has been cut. For instance in 2009, the US Command in
Africa got over $300 million (dollars) but the Barrack Obama administration requested
about $278 million appropriation for the Command, indicating a drop in funding.

The AFRICOM commander explained that “our ability to provide support is certainly a
factor of our resources that we have available. The United States of America is very
busy in many places, and so we’re being asked to do a lot of things.”

He added that AFRICOM “just cannot do all that we’re sometimes asked to do, from
providing equipment to having personnel that could be conducting training exercises
and other things where our soldiers, our sailors, our airmen, our Marines can work
side-by-side with our partner nations as we work together to increase each of our
capacities to understand the environment and to do things in a more secure way.”
------------------
Libya protests: UN Security Council condemns crackdown (BBC)

The UN Security Council has condemned the Libyan authorities for using force against
protesters, calling for those responsible to be held to account.

In a statement, the council demanded an immediate end to the violence and said Libya's
rulers had to "address the legitimate demands of the population".
Nearly 300 people have been killed so far, according to Human Rights Watch.

Earlier, Col Muammar Gaddafi urged his supporters to attack the "cockroaches" and
"rats" protesting against his rule.

Anyone who took up arms against Libya would be executed, he warned.

Interior Minister Abdel Fattah Younes al-Abidi later resigned and called on the armed
forces to "join and heed the people's demands".

'Extremely strong'

The UN Security Council's statement came after a day of debate on the uprising in
Libya, which has seen the state lose control of much of the east of the country, foreign
mercenaries allegedly attacking civilians on the streets and warplanes reportedly
shooting and bombing protesters.

The council's 15 members said the Libyan authorities should "meet its responsibility to
protect its population", act with restraint, and respect human rights and international
humanitarian law.

The Libyan authorities should also hold accountable those people responsible for
attacking civilians, and respect the rights of its citizens to peaceful assembly, freedom of
expression and press freedom, they added.

British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said the statement was "extremely strong" and
indicated further measures were likely in the coming days.

Libya's deputy permanent representative to the UN in New York, Ibrahim Dabbashi,

who on Monday called on Col Gaddafi to step down, said the council's statement was
"not strong enough", but still "a good message to the regime in Libya about stopping the
bloodshed".

His superior, Abdul Rahman Mohammed Shalqam, dissociated himself from the
remarks, calling Libya's ruler "my friend".

The Arab League also condemned the "crimes" against protesters in Libya and said it
would bar the country from League meetings.

'Genocide has started'

But Col Gaddafi was defiant in a rambling 75-minute speech broadcast on state
television, vowing to crush the revolt by "rats and mercenaries".
Standing outside the Bab al-Aziza barracks in Tripoli, which was damaged by a US air
strike in 1986, he vowed: "I am not going to leave this land. I will die here as a martyr. I
shall remain here defiant."

He also called on his supporters to "cleanse Libya house by house" unless the protesters
surrendered.

"All of you who love Muammar Gaddafi, go out on the streets, secure the streets, don't
be afraid of them... Chase them, arrest them, hand them over," he said.

He portrayed the protesters as misguided youths who had been given drugs and
money by a "small, sick group", and blamed "bearded men" - a reference to Islamists -
and Libyans living abroad for fomenting the violence.

"The hour of work is here, the hour of onslaught is here, the hour of victory is here. No
retreat, forward, forward, forward. Revolution, revolution," he shouted at the end of the
speech, pumping both fists in the air.

Shortly after the speech, a BBC correspondent in Tripoli heard the sound of guns being
fired, apparently into the air. She said fireworks were also set off and cars drove
through the city at high speed, their horns blaring.

In the eastern city of Benghazi, people watching the address reportedly threw shoes at
television screens as a sign of their anger.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Col Gaddafi's speech was "very, very
appalling" and "amounted to him declaring war on his own people".

In New York, Mr Dabbashi said he had received information that the Libyan leader's
supporters had started attacking people in all western cities.

"The Gaddafi statement was just code for his collaborators to start the genocide against
the Libyan people. It just started a few hours ago. I hope the information I get is not
accurate but if it is, it will be a real genocide," he told reporters.

Refugees

Earlier in the day, Tripoli was reported to be tense, with almost-empty streets enlivened
only by lines of people queuing for bread and petrol.

In Sabratah, 80km (50 miles) west of the capital, a large number of soldiers were
deployed after protesters destroyed the offices of the security services, the Quryna
newspaper reported.
There were also reports that the western city of Ajdabiya was now controlled by the
opposition. Ajdabiya is situated close to Libya's main oil fields. Government forces have
also been ejected from the cities of Tobruk and Benghazi.

Witnesses in the eastern town of al-Bayda told the Reuters news agency that 26 people
had been shot dead overnight by Gaddafi loyalists.

Refugees also streamed across Libya's eastern border with Egypt. Many said the Libyan
authorities had been using tanks, warplanes and mercenaries.

The BBC's Jon Leyne, in eastern Libya, says the region appears to be wholly under
opposition control and people are deliriously happy. Many of the army and police have
defected and have been accepted by the opposition.

Local people said the government there had collapsed on Thursday after the first
protests. They believe the only people now supporting Col Gaddafi are foreign fighters
in the country.

Our correspondent says there is little doubt that Col Gaddafi's rule is finished, but it is
not clear how long it will take or how bloody it will be.
------------------
Obama stays cautious on Libya as Americans await evacuation (McClatchy
Newspaper)

WASHINGTON - With hundreds of U.S. citizens trapped for now in Libya, the Obama
administration is responding cautiously to leader Moammar Gadhafi's brutal attempt to
suppress a rebellion, fearing that the wrong move might bring retaliation against
Americans, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The fate of about 600 U.S. citizens, along with 35 non-essential Embassy staff, whom the
State Department is trying to evacuate, puts President Barack Obama in an excruciating
diplomatic bind.

Despite the regime's ongoing massacres that have killed hundreds of civilians, and
executions of security personnel who refuse to take part in the atrocities, Obama hasn't
called on Gadhafi to leave. That's a striking difference from his role in easing Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak from power after a much less bloody revolution earlier this
month.

There was mounting pressure Tuesday on the Obama administration to take a tougher
stand.

The chairmen of the House and Senate foreign relations committees called on Obama to
re-impose economic sanctions on Libya that were lifted in 2004.
"While it's true that America has less influence in Tripoli than elsewhere in the region,
we're not without options, particularly in partnership with the broader international
community," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said in a
statement. Kerry called for strong action by the United Nations Security Council.

After meeting to discuss the crisis, the Security Council on Tuesday evening called in a
statement "for an immediate end to the violence." The council's 15 members
"condemned the violence and use of force against civilians, deplored the repression
against peaceful demonstrators, and expressed deep regret at the deaths of hundreds of
civilians," it said.

But there were no immediate plans to impose harsher measures, such as a "no-fly zone"
that could stop Libyan military aircraft from attacking protesters.

The session was preceded by a bizarre rivalry over who would speak for Libya: its U.N.
ambassador, who remains a Gadhafi loyalist, or his deputy, who broke with the regime.
The ambassador spoke, but afterward his deputy appeared before reporters,
denouncing the Libyan leader.

Senior U.S. officials, some of whom requested anonymity because of the situation's
sensitivity, said Washington is contemplating stronger actions in the days ahead.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday called the violence in Libya "completely
unacceptable." She said, "As we gain a greater understanding of what actually is
happening . . . we will take appropriate steps in line with our policies, our values and
our laws."

"As always, the safety and well-being of Americans has to be our highest priority," she
said. Clinton didn't mention Gadhafi by name.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said 35 U.S. Embassy personnel and families,
who were ordered to leave Libya on Monday, haven't yet been able to depart. "The fact
is today we were not able to move any of our personnel out of the country," he said.

The State Department said late Tuesday that it had chartered a ferry for U.S. citizens
wanting to leave Libya that would depart from Tripoli on Wednesday to the islands of
Malta, across the Mediterranean Sea.

In a "warden message" to U.S. citizens in the country, the Embassy in Tripoli said
travelers would be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis and that the ferry would
depart no later than 3 p.m. local time. It did not say how many passengers the ferry
holds.
The relatively small embassy staff is also helping some of the roughly 600 U.S. citizens
in the country, many of whom work for energy companies, depart.

Concerns that U.S. citizens might get caught up in the chaos grew Tuesday when
Gadhafi gave a defiant, rambling speech in which he appeared to blame the U.S. for the
insurrection that's divided the country.

"We defy America," Gadhafi said at one point.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement that British nationals in
Libya "have encountered significant difficulties" trying to leave.

A Royal Navy Frigate, the HMS Cumberland, was being deployed to the eastern
Mediterranean to help if necessary, Hague said. A U.S. official said no similar action is
currently being considered.

Elliott Abrams, a former deputy national security adviser for President George W. Bush,
said the U.S. should push to freeze Libyan bank accounts; suspend the country from the
U.N. Human Rights Council; seek agreement on a weapons embargo; and send
humanitarian aid to Libyans via Egypt or Tunisia.

Abrams, now at the Council on Foreign Relations, said there also should be
international discussion of imposing a no-fly zone over Libya.

"I cannot see that we have done anything," he said of the Obama administration.
Abrams said he'd heard that the "main constraint" on the administration's public
statements is fear for the safety of U.S. citizens.

Meanwhile, the Arab League announced it's suspending Libya's participation in the 22-
member body.

Arab League Chief Amr Moussa announced the step to reporters in Cairo, saying the
use of heavy weapons and mercenaries against the protesters was a "grave breach of
human rights." He also demanded that Libyan authorities restore communication
channels and urged Arab and international organizations to send humanitarian aid into
the Libya.

Elsewhere, Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief, said the 27-
nation EU was suspending a framework trade agreement it had been negotiating with
Libya, Reuters reported.
------------------
US Condemns 'Appalling' Violence in Libya (Associated Press)
The Obama administration on Tuesday condemned "appalling" violence in Libya,
where security forces unleashed a bloody crackdown on protesters demanding the
ouster of longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi.

"This violence is completely unacceptable," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

said. "We believe that the government of Libya bears responsibility for what is
occurring and must take actions to end the violence."

But as it sought to safely extricate U.S. diplomats and other Americans from the
spreading chaos, Washington stopped short of criticizing Gadhafi personally or
demanding that he step down. U.S. officials who spoke to the matter publicly on
Tuesday, including Clinton, would not mention Gadhafi by name.

Unease over the safety of U.S. citizens intensified after attempts to get some out on
Monday and Tuesday were unsuccessful amid concern about Gadhafi's unpredictable
behavior.

The mercurial Gadhafi — once termed the "mad dog of the Middle East" by President
Ronald Reagan — has long flummoxed U.S. officials. He is notoriously unpredictable
and has been known to fly into rages at real or perceived slights.

The Obama administration did not outline any specific steps to coerce or punish the
Libyan regime, with which the U.S. has built a wary partnership after years of branding
Gadhafi a terrorist sponsor. After decades of hostility, the U.S. and Libya normalized
ties during President George W. Bush's presidency after Gadhafi renounced terrorism
and weapons of mass destruction but relations have been far from fully cordial.

U.S. officials said Washington would join other nations to address Libyan behavior at
the U.N. Security Council. They renewed calls for Gadhafi's government to talk with
opponents, and cast the political unrest there as part of a regional uprising against
political and economic stagnation that must be addressed by the Arab governments of
the Middle East and North Africa.

Carney said the administration was “looking at” Kerry’s call to consider sanctions “but
right now we’re focused on ending the bloodshed” in Libya.

Kerry was among the first prominent U.S. officials to call for Egypt’s President Hosni
Mubarak to leave office earlier this month as demonstrations erupted there.

Gadhafi delivered a defiant speech on national television in which he vowed he will not
step aside. He said he would die a martyr's death fighting those rebelling against his 42-
year-old rule. The address was filled with references to his standing up to the United
States and other world powers and threats to execute protesters.
In addition to the tone, the speech unnerved U.S. officials because it was delivered in
front of the rubble of the Tripoli compound that the U.S. bombed in 1986, killing
Gadhafi's young daughter. As he spoke state-run television repeatedly showed a
courtyard statue of a clenched fist crushing a U.S. fighter jet.

With the potential for Gadhafi to foment anti-American or anti-western sentiment and
Libya teetering on the brink of what some fear will explode into a full-blown civil war,
administration officials repeatedly invoked their primary concern of ensuring the safety
of U.S. citizens there.

"As always, the safety and well-being of Americans has to be our highest priority. We
are in touch with many Libyan officials directly and indirectly and with other
governments in the region to try to influence what is going on inside Libya," Clinton
told reporters at the State Department.

Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said U.S. officials had been assured by Libyan
authorities that embassy workers and families will be able to leave safely. He said the
United States expected those pledges to be honored.

"They've pledged to support us in our evacuation, and we hope that cooperation will be
forthcoming," he said.

Crowley said the department was trying to get 35 nonessential staff and family
members of personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Libya out of the country. The State
Department ordered them to leave on Monday but they have not yet been able to
depart, he said without elaborating on the reason.

The department also believes there are several thousand dual U.S.-Libyan nationals and
about 600 private U.S. citizens in Libya. Crowley said the U.S. was working with other
countries and airlines to increase the capacity of commercial flights and was also
prepared to charter planes if necessary. But he noted that would require Libyan
consent.

In January, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Gene Cretz, was recalled to Washington for
consultations amid concerns that his detailed accounting of Gadhafi's eccentricities in
secret diplomatic cables published by the website WikiLeaks would compromise his
ability to work with the Libyan government. More than a month later, Cretz has yet to
return to Libya.

In 2010, Crowley was forced to apologize for a joking remark he made about Gadhafi's
rambling speech to the U.N. General Assembly a year earlier. Libya had threatened
diplomatic retaliation unless he apologized.

Asked about Gadhafi's fiery speech on Tuesday, Crowley demurred.

"We want to see the bloodshed stopped," he said. "We want to see the government
engage its citizens, rather than attack its citizens."

"This is ultimately and fundamentally an issue between the Libyan government, its
leader and the Libyan people," Crowley said. "They, like others, are standing up and
demanding a greater say in the events of their country. We have grave concerns about
the Libyan response to these protesters."

Earlier, White House spokesman Jay Carney called on Gadhafi's regime to respect the
universal rights of its citizens and allow peaceful protests to take place. Echoing earlier
White House statements about anti-government protests in Egypt, he said the future of
Libya needs to be decided by the Libyan people.

Meanwhile, top lawmakers said the U.S. should consider imposing new sanctions on
the regime and called for foreign energy companies to immediately shut down
operations in the oil-rich North African nation.

Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the violent
crackdown "cowardly" and "beyond despicable." He urged U.S. and international oil
companies to immediately suspend their Libyan operations until attacks on civilians
stop.

The Massachusetts Democrat also called on the Obama administration to consider re-
imposing sanctions against Libya that were lifted by President George W. Bush after
Gadhafi renounced terrorism and abandoned development of chemical, biological and
nuclear weapons.

Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., called for the administration to
support a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent air attacks.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,
also called for the imposition of new sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans
on senior Libyan officials.

"The Libyan regime's widespread attacks on the Libyan people are deplorable, and all
responsible for these attacks must be held to account," she said in a statement.
--------------------------

Clinton Says Safety of U.S. Citizens in Libya Is Priority Now (Bloomberg)

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today the safety of U.S. citizens in Libya,
including embassy employees awaiting evacuation, is the “highest priority” for the
Obama administration.
Clinton said the U.S. joins the international community in “strongly condemning”
Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s violent crackdown on a week-long uprising that,
according to the New York-based monitoring group Human Rights Watch, has left
more than 200 dead.

The intensifying violence has driven oil prices to the highest level in more than two
years on concern the unrest may disrupt Libyan oil production. Crude for March
delivery rose as much as 9.6 percent to $94.49 a barrel before paring gains to settle at
$93.57.

While deploring the bloodshed in Libya, U.S. officials said the administration must
focus first on the safety of embassy personnel before taking any further actions.

“Now, as always, the safety and wellbeing of Americans has to be our highest priority,”
Clinton told reporters at the State Department in Washington.

State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said that the government is trying to
evacuate U.S. personnel in the next few days. All non-emergency personnel who have
been ordered by the U.S. government to leave.

Embassy Evacuation
The U.S. has 35 non-emergency embassy employees and family members who are
affected by order, Crowley said. Although they were not moved out today, “we will do
our best, working with Libyan authorities, to move them out as quickly as we can,” he
said.

Crowley said there are several thousand U.S. citizens in Libya, many of them dual
nationals. Of the approximately 600 who have only U.S. citizenship, he said, many work
for energy companies and are “shutting down their operations and making their way
out of the country today.”

Clinton said “the government of Libya bears responsibility for what is occurring and
must take actions to end the violence,” adding that the U.S. is “in touch with many
Libyan officials directly and indirectly and with other governments in the region to try
to influence what is going on inside Libya.”

The United Nations Security Council is meeting in New York to determine whether
there will be an international response.

“As we gain a greater understanding of what actually is happening,” Clinton said, “we
will take appropriate steps in line with our policies, our values and our laws. But we’re
going to have to work in concert with the international community.”
“Appalling” Attacks

President Barack Obama’s spokesman called the violence by government forces against
Libyan citizens “appalling” and said the U.S. is monitoring the impact of the crisis on
oil prices.

“We offer our condolences to the families of the victims in Libya of this appalling
violence,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters traveling with the
president aboard Air Force One. “We call on the governments in the region to listen to
and respect the wishes and aspirations of their people” for democratic changes.

Carney said that while the administration is watching the effect on the price of crude oil
from the turmoil in Libya, which has the largest reserves in Africa, he “would not
speculate on where oil prices will go in the future.”

Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called on the
administration to consider reimposing sanctions on Libya that were lifted under former
President George W. Bush in 2004.

Libya’s Oil
Kerry also urged U.S. and international oil companies to cease operations there. Among
the U.S. companies that do business in Libya are Marathon Oil Corp., ConocoPhillips,
and Halliburton Co. all based in Houston, New York-based Hess Corp. and Los
Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corp.

Libya is Africa’s third-largest oil producer after Nigeria and Angola. In terms of proven
oil reserves, Libya’s 44.3 billion barrels is the largest deposit in Africa and 3.3 percent of
the world’s total, according to BP Plc’s Statistical Review of World Energy.

Most of the 1.6 million barrels a day pumped by Libya is exported to Europe, according
to Bloomberg estimates. It isn’t among the top 15 importers to the U.S., according to the
Department of Energy.

Call for Sanctions

Kerry also said in his statement that the UN Security Council should “condemn the
violence and explore temporary sanctions, including an arms embargo and protection
for Libyan civilian centers.”

The Massachusetts Democrat called on the UN to “immediately remove Libya from the
Human Rights Commission, appoint a special rapporteur on human rights conditions
in Libya, and authorize the distribution of emergency humanitarian supplies.”
------------------
Countries scramble to evacuate citizens from Libya (AP)
ANKARA, Turkey - Governments scrambled by air and sea to pick up their citizens
stranded by Libya's bloody unrest on Tuesday, with thousands of people crowding the
airport and a stadium to await evacuation and Egyptians gathering at the border to
escape the chaos.

"The airport was mobbed, you wouldn't believe the number of people," said Kathleen
Burnett, of Baltimore, Ohio, as she stepped off an Austrian Airlines flight from Tripoli
to Vienna on Tuesday.

"It was total chaos. Everybody was being checked out by the police but everyone was
very obedient."

At least two airlines, British Airways and Emirates, the Middle East's largest, said they
were canceling flights to Tripoli, as reports spread that bodies of protesters littered the
streets of neighborhoods in the capital.

Britain said it was redeploying a warship, the HMS Cumberland, off the Libyan coast in
readiness for a possible sea-borne evacuation of British citizens stuck in the north
African country. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said his country was also
seeking to send a charter flight to Libya but the plane had yet to receive the necessary
permission to land.

Two civilian ferries from Turkey arrived in the hard-hit eastern city of Benghazi late
Tuesday to evacuate about 3,000 Turkish citizens, the Anatolia news agency reported.
The ferries were expected to set sail back for Turkey as soon as the evacuees had
boarded. Turkey sent the ferries and another military vessel after the country was
unable to get permission to land at the city's airport.

Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek said Turkish ferries could help evacuate
up to 6,000 people per day, if Libyan authorities allow the vessels to dock at Benghazi.

Meanwhile, about 5,000 Egyptians have returned home from Libya by land and about
10,000 more are waiting to cross the Libya-Egypt border, an Egyptian security official
said. Egypt says it will also send six commercial and two military planes to repatriate
thousands more caught in the revolt against Moammar Gadhafi's regime.

Some people were still getting out on regularly scheduled flights, but many countries
were sending planes to fetch their citizens, with Serbia, Russia, the Netherlands and
France reporting they had permission to land in Tripoli, a process made more difficult
by the uncertainty about who is in charge.

"The situation is very variable and our basic issue is who is in control of what in the
country so that our landing and overflight requests are answered," Greek Deputy
Foreign Minister Dimitris Dollis said.
Greek officials later said the country was ready to evacuate 15,000 Chinese nationals by
transferring them by merchant ships to the Greek island of Crete.

Libya is one of the world's biggest oil producers, and many oil companies were also
evacuating their expat workers and their families.

Turkey has a huge presence in Libya, with about 25,000 citizens in the country and
more than 200 Turkish companies involved in construction projects worth more than
$15 billion. Some of the construction sites came under attack by protesters but no
Turkish citizen has been harmed, authorities said.

Turkey has so far, evacuated more than 2,000 of its citizens, the Foreign Ministry said.
On Tuesday, a Turkish Airlines plane flew back about 250 Turks — who crossed into
Egypt by land — from the Egyptian city of Alexandria.

One passenger told Turkey's NTV television at Istanbul airport the journey between the
Libyan city of Tobrus and the Egyptian border was "frightening because of the gangs
armed with guns and machines guns who are roaming the streets."

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said 10 other countries have also asked for help
from Turkey to evacuate their citizens, though he did not identify them.

"Our priority is to evacuate our citizens. We call on Libyan authorities to be sensitive

toward the safety of foreigners," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, urging the
authorities not to use violence.

In Egypt, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit accused Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam of
inciting violence against Egyptians by suggesting they joined the protests against his
father.

The Egyptian security official said troops have beefed up their presence on the border
with Libya and set up a field hospital there. He did not give details and spoke on
condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to share such information.

Italians who returned to Rome from Tripoli on a regularly scheduled Alitalia flight said
the situation in the Libyan capital appeared relatively calm Tuesday, but that they
expected it would degenerate.

"There are no big troubles in Tripoli, we heard some shots and gunfights, nothing
special, and above all we didn't see any airplanes," said Marco Albi as he arrived at
Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport, brandishing a poster of Libyan leader Moammar
Gadhafi.
Another Alitalia flight landed later Tuesday with 172 Italians on board.

In addition to the continuing commercial Alitalia flights, Italy was prepared to mobilize
four to five C-130 aircraft, navy ships and if necessary even military troops to help with
any possible evacuation of Italians, Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa said.

The Italian navy destroyer Franceso Mimbelli, which has a crew of 400 people and is
based in Taranto, in southern Italy, has been mobilized but its itinerary wasn't
announced.

A Dutch air force transport plane landed in Tripoli to pick up about 100 Dutch citizens.
It was expected to arrive back in The Netherlands on Tuesday night, but the Foreign
Ministry warned potential evacuees that they must be prepared to spend the night at
Tripoli's airport. Two German military planes also landed in Tripoli, with the aim of
taking off later in the day.

The first of four planes Russia dispatched to evacuate employees of Russian companies,
including Russian Railways and Gazprom, also landed at Tripoli on Tuesday. A total of
405 Russian nationals, as well as hundreds of Turkish and Serbian nationals working for
the Russian Railways, would be evacuated, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said.

Ukraine was planning to send a defense ministry plane and the Bulgarian foreign
ministry said a government plane was ready to take off from Sofia airport as soon as it
had permission to land in Tripoli to pick up 180 people.

In Poland, the Foreign Ministry said it would send a government plane to Tripoli
Wednesday to evacuate at least 70 Poles. It urged its citizens in the eastern parts of
Libya not to leave homes, warning of "gangs that are carrying out beatings and attacks
on property."

Spain said it is sending a plane late Tuesday. The country's foreign ministry said earlier
that about 60 Spaniards were trying to get out of Libya and that 160 had already left the
country on commercial flights. The ministry said about 80 Spaniards who settled in
Libya after marrying Libyans want to stay.

The French Foreign Ministry said two French military planes had arrived in Tripoli,
where French citizens had begun to board them.

Dozens of French citizens arrived at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport on Tuesday on a

commercial flight from Tripoli, expressing relief to be home.

One French man who did not provide his name as a scrum of reporters huddled around
him said foreigners were not being targeted. "It's an internal conflict," he said.
------------------
Libya: Col Gaddafi threatens to unleash mob rule (The Telegraph)

Cairo - Col Muammar Gaddafi threatened to unleash mob rule on his country on
Tuesday night as he vowed to "cleanse Libya house by house" until he had crushed the
insurrection seeking to sweep him from power.

With hundreds dead and violence spreading across the country, including the capital
Tripoli, European states scrambled to evacuate thousands of their citizens left stranded
by the turmoil.

Britain announced it would provide an airlift for nationals and a Royal Navy frigate
was ordered to Libyan waters for added protection.

William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said a chartered plane would arrive in Tripoli
within 48 hours.

"The safety of British nationals in Libya is of paramount concern to us," Mr Hague said.
"In light of the fluid and dangerous situation, we are urgently reinforcing our team on
the ground with specialist personnel to provide help and assistance to British
nationals."

Heedless of the growing international outrage prompted by his bloody repression of the
protests against him, Mr Gaddafi took to the airwaves to deliver the most chilling
speech of his 42 years in power.

In a diatribe that lasted an hour-an-a-quarter, the Libyan leader threatened death

sentences against anyone who challenged his authority and declared that he had more
justification to use force that the Chinese authorities who ordered the massacre in
Tiananmen Square.

Other Arab leaders facing the wrath of their people in recent weeks have sought to
strike a conciliatory tone in television addresses. Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's fallen
president, sounded defensive but tried to offer concessions; Bahrain's crown prince
announced that he was "terribly sorry" about the deaths of protesters in his island
kingdom.

Speaking in the ruins of a building destroyed by US air raids in 1986 that killed his
adopted daughter Hanna, Mr Gaddafi made no effort to sound accommodating and, for
the moment at least, there seemed to be little immediate prospect of his being
persuaded voluntarily to go into exile.

"I will fight to the last drop of my blood," he said. "Muammar Gadaffi is not a normal
person that you can poison or lead a revolution against. He is the leader of the
revolution. He has nothing to lose."
As he spoke, renewed gunfire echoed through the streets of Tripoli for a third day. On
its eastern border with Egypt, hundreds streamed east to seek refuge from the violence,
bringing with them graphic evidence of brutality.

Prime Minister David Cameron used a speech to mark the 20th anniversary of the Gulf
war in Kuwait to concede that the West had fostered instability in the Middle East by
tolerating repression by its allies. Such an approach was both wrong and
counterproductive.

"For decades, some have argued that stability required highly controlling regimes, and
that reform and openness would put that stability at risk. So, the argument went,
countries like Britain faced a choice between our interests and our values," he said.
"And to be honest, we should acknowledge that sometimes we have made such
calculations in the past. But I say that is a false choice.
----------------------
American couples killed by pirates remembered as fun-loving (USA Today)

People who knew the two American couples killed Tuesday by pirates off the coast of
Oman expressed deep sadness over the incident and remembered them as fun-loving
people and dedicated sailors.

"It's a very hard day," said Richard Bolt, director of Blue Water Rallies, a group based
on the Isle of Wight, England, that organizes sailors on yachts traveling together around
the world.

"We are totally shocked, shattered and devastated. They were good friends," Bolt said
Tuesday.

Bolt referred to Scott Adam, 70, and Jean Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., and Phyllis
Macay, 59, and Bob Riggle, 67, of Seattle. The Adams lived on the S/V Quest and had
been traveling the world since 2004, handing out Bibles that had been packed onto the
boat. Riggle and Macay had recently joined the couple. Bolt met with the four in Sri
Lanka last month.

"Our hearts are broken," Savage, a businessman who lives in Jacksonville, Ore., said
Tuesday in an e-mail to USA TODAY. "Jean and Scott were taken from us in the worst
possible way. While we want to grieve in private, we wish to extend our deepest
gratitude to the brave men and women of the Navy and other military braches who
risked their lives for our loved ones. God bless each and every one of you."

Savage said he last spoke with his ex-wife in December and expressed fears about her
and Scott Adam traveling through dangerous waters.
"Jean said, 'All I can say is that Scott and I are living our dream delivering Bibles to
remote corners of the world. If something happens, pray for us,' " Savage recalled.

The Adams' minister, Pastor Lloyd Torgerson, denounced the seeming senselessness of
their deaths and said he admired the couple. They didn't move into a retirement home
but instead "wanted to engage the end of their lives and not kick back," said Torgerson
of St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica, Calif.

The Adams, Macay and Riggle departed Feb. 15 from Mumbai, India, and were headed
to Salalah, Oman, when the pirates hijacked the Quest on Friday. U.S. warships and
drones shadowed the vessel's movements until Tuesday, when a rocket-propelled
grenade was fired from the Quest at a U.S. guided-missile destroyer. U.S. forces rushed
the Quest and found the four Americans fatally wounded. Thirteen pirates were
detained and two killed in the incident.

Condolences and promises to prevent such recurrences poured from all corners.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called the killings a "deplorable act" that
underscores the need for confronting piracy in the waters off the Horn of Africa.

"Our deepest sympathies go out to the victims' families at this time," Clinton said. "We
will honor their memory by continuing to strengthen international partnerships in
order to bring these maritime criminals to justice."

Scott and Jean Adam, a retired dentist, met at a sailing club. Scott was Jean's second
husband, Bill Savage and his brother, Mark, said. People in non-English-speaking
countries who received Bibles from them used the books to teach English in their
communities, Mark Savage said. When they stopped at some islands in the South
Pacific, they also left clothing and fuel, he said.

"Some islanders hadn't had a supply ship arrive in six months," Mark Savage explained.

Bolt said he first met Macay and Riggle when they joined a Blue Water Rally at the
Pacific Ocean end of the Panama Canal in February 2008. Macay and Riggle sailed with
the rally on Riggle's 35-foot yacht, the Gaia, until they reached the Mediterranean in
May 2009, Bolt said.

Other sailors in the group thought they were husband and wife, though they weren't,
Bolt said. They met in a singles club in Seattle and "decided they were compatible,"
according to Bolt.

Riggle was the kind of person who was "calm, collected and pensive," Bolt recalled. "He
had to get everything right, which was good for a sailor."
Riggle's relatively small yacht "wasn't as luxurious as other boats" and got "tossed
around" more than the larger vessels when the rally ran into bad weather, Bolt said.
This experience proved Riggle and Macay were "tough cookies," Bolt said.

The rally director described Macay as a fun person. "She was great with kids on the
rally and other kids we met around the world," Bolt said. "Phyllis loved to be with
people and have a good time."

Riggle and Macay were members of the Seattle Singles Yacht Club. Member Joe Grande
remembered them as "great sailors, good people. They were doing what they wanted to
do, but that's small comfort in the face of this."

When the rally visited Tonga, a group of islands in the South Pacific, local children
danced at a party for the participants, Bolt said. Macay joined them in the dance and
seemed to have a good time, Bolt recalled.

Bolt said he first met Jean and Scott Adam in December when they joined a Blue Water
Rally in Phuket, Thailand, and traveled with other yachts to Mumbai, India. "They were
very independent, very keen on their Bible mission and good sailors," he said.

Mark Savage said the two couples met in Thailand. "Both Scott and Jean were excited to
have highly experienced sailors making the trip with them," Savage said.

Blue Water Rallies posted a statement on its website Tuesday expressing shock and
devastation at the news and remembering the four Americans as "brave adventurers."

"Ironically, after more than six years of roaming the globe together, they joined our rally
for the added security we could offer through the Gulf of Aden," the statement read.
"Sadly, they did not get that far as the pirate activity has spread out across the Indian
Ocean at an alarming rate over the past few months."

The statement explained that despite being discouraged from navigating through the
area, sailors sometimes opt to take their chances to avoid sailing around the stormy seas
off South Africa, placing a yacht on an expensive cargo ship or sailing back across the
Pacific.

The statement ended: "To all the lovely friends and families that we have been speaking
to since the Quest was captured, we extend our deep heartfelt sympathies and share
with you the pain of their passing. God bless you all."
----------------------
Somali pirates: Do shootings of four Americans point to armed escalation? (Christian
Science Monitor)
Washington - Four Americans taken hostage by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean
were killed by their captors early Tuesday while US Navy forces were attempting to
negotiate their release, according to the US military.

The tragedy marked the first time that US citizens have died at the hands of pirates,
who in recent years have swarmed over ships in the region. It occurred only days after a
US federal judge sentenced a captured Somali pirate to 34 years in prison – a stiff
penalty meant to deter armed maritime attacks.

It’s unclear exactly why the pirates would have shot their hostages, since US forces
were so close, says Jennifer Cooke, head of the Africa program at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington. In essence, the four captured
US boaters were all that stood between the Somalis and US guns.

In the past, pirates have been very reluctant to harm captives. The hostages are their
perceived ticket to wealth, after all.

“The pirates’ interest to date has been keeping the hostages safe and making money,”
says Ms. Cooke. “This isn’t an ideological battle. It’s a matter of cash.”

In general, however, recent months have seen more reports of rough pirate tactics, in
terms of beating up ship crew and passengers, Cooke says. The Somalis are also
carrying more weapons.

This may be a response to the fact that ships plying the waters off Somalia are
increasingly armed and ready to repel invaders.

“So you do see a kind of escalation of defense and offensive tactics that may lead to
more hostage deaths,” says the CSIS Africa expert.

In the latest case, a US special-operations team quickly boarded the hijacked yacht after
it heard gunfire, but it was too late to save the hostages. Two pirates died in the ensuing
fight and 13 were captured, said Vice Adm. Mark Fox, commander of naval forces for
US Central Command, in a televised briefing.

The killings came only days after a Somali pirate received a prison term of nearly 34
years in a New York courtroom.

The pirate, Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, was one of four who seized the cargo ship MV
Maersk Alabama and its crew of 20 off the Somali coast in 2009. After several days,
during which ship captain Richard Phillips was held hostage in a lifeboat, Navy SEAL
snipers killed the other three pirates.
While the United States hopes the stiff sentence might make young Somalis think twice
about hefting a gun and setting out on the high seas, the pirates themselves are very
low in the piracy hierarchy. The lion’s share of hostage ransom money is kept by
ringleaders – financiers and organizers who never venture far from share.

In Somalia, it is likely that there are still many young men whose personal situation is
so dire that the risk of seizing ships at sea looks small compared with the possible
reward.

The Americans slain Tuesday were identified by military officials as Jean and Scott
Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., and Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle of Seattle.

US forces had been monitoring the Americans’ hijacked yacht, the Quest, since shortly
after it was seized by pirates last Friday. Four Navy ships were involved, including the
USS Enterprise.

Negotiations were under way onboard a US vessel for the hostages’ release when
pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade from the Quest toward the USS Sterett, a
guided-missile destroyer. This missed. Then gunfire erupted on the Quest.

Fox of Central Command said he had no details of the nature of the hostage
negotiations.

Besides the two pirates who died after US forces boarded the Quest, US military
personnel discovered the bodies of two pirates onboard the vessel. It was unclear if the
pirates had fought among themselves.

According to White House spokesman Jay Carney, President Obama had authorized
the use of force against the pirates if the lives of the hostages appeared to be in
imminent danger.

“We express our deepest condolences for the innocent lives callously lost aboard the
Quest,” said Gen. James Mattis, commander of US Central Command.
-------------------
Sudan’s President, in Power Since 1989, Won’t Run Again, Spokesman Says (New
York Times)

Nairobi, Kenya - President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan, who has been in power for
more than 20 years and faces international charges of genocide, will not run for office
again after his current term ends in four years, a Sudanese government spokesman said
Monday.
Mr. Bashir seized power in 1989 in a military coup and has ruled with an iron fist ever
since, crushing or trying to crush numerous rebellions across Sudan. But now, Mr.
Bashir “has no will to be a president again,” said the spokesman, Rabie A. Atti.

“He said the chance should be given to the next generation,” Mr. Rabie said. “He will
work to establish a real democratic system in our country.”

Mr. Rabie said the decision — and timing — had “nothing, nothing at all” to do with
the popular revolts against longstanding autocrats now erupting across the Arab world,
which have inspired relatively small but spirited protests in Sudan as well.

“In Egypt, there was a gap between the rulers and the people, but not in our country,”
Mr. Rabie said. In Sudan, he said, the rulers “live with the people.”

Many Sudanese would disagree with that claim. Mouysar Hassan, a 22-year-old student
who had joined recent demonstrations, dismissed the announcement as “just an attempt
to anesthetize the street.”

Mr. Bashir won a presidential election last year that outside observers said was tainted
by fraud, intimidation and bribery, and his term expires in 2015.

He has been a lightning rod of a leader, lionized by some within his country for
delivering a modicum of development to certain parts of northern Sudan but vilified by
Western leaders and human rights groups — and many of his own people — for
devising repressive and often brutal policies, including the counterinsurgency
campaign in Darfur.

The International Criminal Court has charged Mr. Bashir with crimes against humanity
and genocide in connection with the bloodshed in Darfur, a sprawling desert region on
Sudan’s western flank.

Al-Tayeb Zein al-Abideen, a political science professor at the University of Khartoum,

said that despite the denials from the Sudanese government, this announcement is “an
immediate response to what is happening in the region.”

The professor had his doubts about whether Mr. Bashir was even serious about
stepping down, saying that if Mr. Bashir really intended to give up power, he or
someone else close to him would make a major address, not task a government
spokesman to deliver such news.

“In the Arab world, we have become accustomed to rulers staying in power until they
die,” he said.
Many analysts consider Mr. Bashir a wily pragmatist. Last month, when it was clear
that the people in southern Sudan would vote overwhelmingly to separate from the
northern part of the country in a historic independence referendum, Mr. Bashir got on
board, vowing to help the south, even though he had waged an intense war against
southern rebels for years — and would stand to lose billions of dollars in oil profits if
the south split off.

It is not clear who will succeed him. Some seasoned Sudanese opposition leaders have
voiced fears of trying to force him out abruptly, saying the country could fragment into
a violent, Somalia-like situation if his government suddenly fell.

Still, thousands of young Sudanese, inspired by the events in other parts of the Arab
world, have been calling for his departure. In the past month, protests have broken out
across northern Sudan, many organized through Facebook, much like the movements in
Egypt and Tunisia that drove out the leaders of those countries. Scores of Sudanese
students have been beaten by the police or arrested — one student was killed — and
now some opposition parties seem to want to push it further.

“We have the rich experience of two popular uprisings,” said Faruq Abu Issa, a
spokesman for a coalition of opposition parties, referring to popular uprisings in Sudan
in 1964 and 1985, which brought down the governments of their day. He said his
colleagues were “preparing ourselves, like Tunisia and Egypt.”
-------------------
Fears of War in North, Dozens Killed as Somaliland Retreats (Garowe Online)

Fears of all-out war in erstwhile peaceful northern Somalia grew dramatically Sunday
after Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole warned Somaliland to "stop the
massacre of civilians," Radio Garowe reports.

During a Sunday interview, President Farole told the BBC Somali Service that
Puntland's government "will not remain on the sidelines" if Somaliland continues the
violence.

"We [Puntland] wish to live in this region peacefully. We wish that the two stable states
of Somalia [Puntland and Somaliland] co-exist in peace and we hoped that a new
administration in Somaliland would withdraw its forces from Las Anod," President
Farole said, adding: "But if the situation is now at a point where our citizens are being
massacred and Somaliland wants to seize Buhodle, then Somaliland must take
responsibility for initiating this war."

He blamed Somaliland President Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo for the violence, saying that
Silanyo's words "encouraged clan hostilities." Furthermore, President Farole said a
dialogue process mediated by the regional bloc IGAD between Puntland and
Somaliland was now in question, due to Somaliland's "war of aggression" against
civilians.

President Farole's strong words to Somaliland come after day-long battles erupted
along three villages in Buhodle district, where local clans have been fighting against
Somaliland's violent aggression.

Upwards of 50 people were killed on both sides, with local sources confirming that local
clan fighters remain in control of all three villages where the fighting took place.

Somaliland troops retreated from the battle zones, the reports added.

Sunday's fighting comes two weeks after Somaliland troops attempted to seize Buhodle
district, but were repulsed by local clans.

Somaliland: Supporting terrorism

Puntland government forces are not directly involved in the fighting, but President
Farole's warning let much room for speculation that Puntland might soon join the war.

"This is a continuation of Somaliland massacring our civilians. We condemn this and we

will defend our civilians strongly," Puntland's leader said.

He went on to condemn Somaliland's "land expansion" and "baseless claims of

ownership" over Sool and Sanaag regions, saying: "Supporting terrorists in Golis
mountains [of Sanaag region] or massacring civilians in Buhodle [district] will not get
Somaliland international recognition."

Somaliland has been accused of funding, arming and providing safe havens for Al
Shabaab terrorists fleeing Galgala hills after losing a three-month war against Puntland
troops. More than 96 Al Shabaab fighters were killed during the military offensive.

Reports say the Al Shabaab leader in Galgala, Mr. Mohamed Said Atom, resides in
Burao, a major town controlled by Somaliland.

Land ownership

President Farole stated that Somalia's collapse in 1991, the country disintegrated and
the clans regained control over their own territories.

"Land ownership is divided among the clans. If the issue is a farm, then each man owns
his farm. But if the issue is land, then each clan owns its land," President Farole said.
There are two fighting forces in the Buhodle conflict. On one side, there is the
Somaliland army dominated by Isaaq clan of Hargeisa area.

On the other side, there is the Dhulbahante clan of Puntland defending its territory
from Somaliland's land expansion and separatist policy.

But Somaliland's leadership claims ownership over Dhulbahante clan territory based
on defunct colonial-era boundaries drawn up by long-departed British colonialists,
while Puntland claims ownership based on kinship, which existed centuries before the
advent of European colonialism in Africa.

President Farole said the people of Puntland and Somaliland have "normal business
relations," but stressed that the "solution lies in Somaliland stopping the war of
aggression [against Buhodle] and Somaliland withdrawing forces from Las Anod."

Somaliland 'victim card'

Furthermore, Somaliland's separatist rulers have declared independence from the rest
of Somalia in 1991 with no international recognition to-date, but non-Isaaq clans who
live in northwestern Somalia do not want to join a separatist Somaliland.

President Farole of Puntland told the BBC: "Those who blame the former military
regime [of Gen. Siyad Barre] for civilian massacres are today committing civilian
massacres themselves. As we all know, those people are even pursuing court cases as
far as the U.S.A. against former Barre officials namely Gen. Mohamed Ali Samatar."

The aging Gen. Samatar, who resides in Virginia, was a former senior official during
Barre's 21-year military dictatorship, which collapsed with the eruption of the Somali
civil war in 1991.

Gen. Samatar's accusers belong to the Isaaq clan that has pursued similar court cases
against former Barre regime officials.

Puntland and Somaliland, located in northern Somalia, have been largely stable since
1991. But the two sub-states are ideologically opposed, with Puntland supporting a
united Somalia under federal system and Somaliland rejecting to be part of a united
Somalia.

Southern Somalia, including Mogadishu, has been crippled by chronic armed conflict
since 1991, with an anti-government insurgency raging in Mogadishu since early 2007.
-----------------------
Gun battles erupt in Ivory Coast's main city (Reuters)
ABIDJAN - Gunfire and explosions shook an area of Abidjan that supports Ivorian
presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara on Tuesday, and at least three soldiers died in
clashes with protesters calling on his rival to step down.

The clashes carried on most of the day in Abobo, residents and the military said, while
African presidents met with Ouattara on a trip aiming to end his violent post-election
power struggle with incumbent Laurent Gbagbo.

The election that was meant to heal the wounds of a 2002-3 civil war and years of
economic stagnation since, but looks increasingly likely to reignite the conflict.

A day earlier the delegation -- the presidents of South Africa, Chad, Mauritania and
Tanzania -- met Gbagbo, who has defied international sanctions and pressure to yield to
the results of a November 28 poll that showed he lost to Ouattara.

The military that supports him has crushed dissent in a series of bloody crackdowns,
but military officials say they have been provoked because some Ouattara supporters
are armed.

"Since this morning, there has been constant shooting between the military and the
people here," said Abobo market trader Sephora Konate, who said she heard explosions
and machinegun fire, but that later in the night it calmed.

"Everyone is terrified. Children are crying but there's nothing we can say to comfort
them."

A commander at army headquarters who could not be named said three soldiers were
confirmed killed in the clashes, but thought there were up to five dead. The military
rarely gives civilian casualties, but previous clampdowns have left a trail of dead.

More than 300 people have been killed since the poll and the turmoil has driven cocoa
futures to their highest level in more than three decades.

Ivory Coast is the world's biggest cocoa producer, and a spokesman for Ouattara said
he would extend the ban he had ordered on cocoa exports to March 15.

MEDIATION ONGOING

Before a meeting with Ouattara in a lagoon-side Golf Hotel, where he is besieged by

Ivorian troops, South African President Jacob Zuma was mobbed by angry pro-
Ouattara youths.
The African Union officially recognizes Ouattara's victory, but is divided between
nations with a tough line on Gbagbo, especially West African ones like Nigeria, and a
handful which like South Africa do not unequivocally back his rival's win.

South Africa has tentatively backed Gbagbo's call for a recount of the U.N.-certified
poll.

More than two dozen pro-Ouattara youths surrounded Zuma's car as he pulled into the
hotel and South African security forces had to physically stop them pushing toward
him.

"Zuma, Zuma, tell the truth," the youths shouted.

West Africa's regional body ECOWAS had said it would not come as planned due to
threats by Gbagbo supporters, though ECOWAS commission chief James Victor Gbeho
later arrived. Such threats kept Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore from coming.

A source close to the talks said the panel would make no public statement until
everyone has left.

At least six people trying to protest against Gbagbo were killed by the security forces on
Monday, witnesses said. Ouattara's camp said the toll was double that, including three
of his supporters killed by a rocket-propelled grenade.

In a further sign that Gbagbo is digging in, and with February salaries due soon, his
government said it would open two nationalized French banks later this week.

Gbagbo's camp has earmarked the Ivorian branches of Societe Generale and BNP
Paribas, two of many foreign banks to have suspended operations, for nationalization.

"The government will take all measures necessary to put these banks back to work,"
Gbagbo's inspector general of finance Bernadin Yapi told journalists. "This will show
the whole world that the state can take its responsibilities."
-----------------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website

Ban ‘appalled’ at reported murder of hijacked US yachters by Somali pirates

22 February – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today voiced horror at the reported
killing of four United States hostages on a yacht held by pirates off the coast of Somalia.

Côte d’Ivoire: UN mission deplores excessive use of force against demonstrators

22 February – The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Côte d’Ivoire today
deplored the excessive use of force against demonstrators in the city of Abidjan and
surrounding areas over the past couple of days, saying the violence had left dozens of
people dead or wounded.

Guinea-Bissau progresses on path towards stability after last year’s unrest – Ban
22 February – Guinea-Bissau is countering the effects of last year’s unrest, and the
United Nations is helping to promote security sector reform in a country that has been
dogged by war, coups and assassinations in recent years, Secretary-General Ban Ki-
moon says in his latest report.