Conflitos em África

[marcelo l.]

http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/mundo/1071 ... mali.shtml

O grupo independentista tuaregue Movimento Nacional pela Libertação de Azawad (MNLA) anunciou nesta quarta-feira o fim "unilateral das operações militares" a partir desta quinta-feira, em resposta ao pedido do Conselho de Segurança da ONU para deter os ataques no norte de Mali.

"Após a libertação de todo o território de Azawad (norte de Mali) e levando em consideração o pedido do Conselho de Segurança, dos Estados Unidos, da França e dos Estados da região, o MNLA anuncia o fim unilateral das operações militares a partir desta quinta-feira, dia 5", diz o grupo em comunicado divulgado em seu site.

Na breve nota, assinada pelo secretário-geral do grupo, Bilal Ag Chérif, o MNLA "responsabiliza a comunidade internacional pela proteção do povo azawadi no caso de eventual ataque de Mali".

CONDENAÇÃO

O Conselho de Segurança condenou nesta quarta-feira os ataques, saques e a ocupação de território com uso da força perpetrado pelos grupos rebeldes no norte de Mali. Ele pediu o fim imediato das hostilidades e todo tipo de violência.

Os 15 membros do máximo organismo internacional de segurança, presidido neste mês pelos Estados Unidos, pediram as partes envolvidas no conflito de Mali que encontrem uma solução pacífica à situação por meio do diálogo político, ao mesmo tempo em que destacou a importância do respeito à segurança dos civis e dos direitos humanos.

Além disso, ameaçou sobre o perigo que representa para a região Al Qaeda no Magrebe Islâmico, que aumentou sua atividade no norte de Mali, e mostrou seu "apoio aos esforços" da Comunidade Econômica de Estados da África Ocidental (Cedeao) encaminhados a conseguir "o restabelecimento da ordem constitucional" no país.

EMBARGO

A Cedeao decidiu na segunda-feira em Dacar (Senegal) impor embargo total à junta militar de Mali, que tomou o poder em 22 de março, enquanto não se restabeleça plenamente a ordem constitucional.

A rebelião tuaregue, que explodiu em 17 de janeiro, foi o principal detonante do golpe de derrubou o presidente, Amadou Toumani Touré.

O comunicado do MNLA ocorre pouco depois da difusão, também nesta quarta, de outra nota na qual garante que os tuaregues mantêm sob seu controle as principais cidades do norte do país - Kidal, Gao e Tombouctou.

A publicação foi uma resposta ao surgimento de informações que apontam a cada vez maior influência do grupo tuaregue Ansar al Din e do grupo terrorista Al Qaeda no Magrebe Islâmico nas cidades tomadas pelos tuaregues, especialmente na histórica cidade de Timbuctu.

[marcelo l.]

http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/bbc/107274 ... oder.shtml

Os líderes do golpe de Estado no Mali concordaram em deixar o poder e permitir a transição para um governo civil, como parte de um acordo com o bloco regional de nações oeste-africanas (Ecowas).

Em troca, o bloco irá suspender as sanções econômicas e comerciais ao país e conceder a anistia à junta militar que presidiu o país, segundo mediadores.

A manobra aconteceu depois que rebeldes tuaregues no norte declararam a independência do território que chamam de Azawad.

Os rebeldes tomaram o controle da região depois que um golpe de estado mergulhou o país em uma crise política, há duas semanas.

PEDIDO DE INDEPENDÊNCIA

De acordo com os termos do acordo de transição, os líderes militares cederão o poder ao chefe do Parlamento, Diouncounda Traore.

Depois de tomar posse como presidente interino, Traore terá 40 dias para organizar novas eleições.

O acordo, assinado pelo líder do golpe, o capitão Amadou Sanogo, diz que a Ecowas vai se preparar para o fim das sanções, mas não estabeleceu uma data para que Sanogo deixe o poder.

"Será necessário organizar uma transição política levando a eleições livres, democráticas e transparentes em todo o território", diz o documento.

Oficiais do Exército liderados pelo capitão Sanogo tomaram o poder no dia 22 de março, acusando o governo eleito de não fazer o suficiente para acabar com a rebelião no norte do país.

Nesta sexta-feira, a comunidade internacional rejeitou o pedido de reconhecimento de independência dos rebeldes tuaregues para a região que chamam de Azawad.

O grupo secularista Movimento Nacional para a Liberação de Azawad (MNLA) é um dos dois grupos principais que realizam a rebelião no norte.

Ansar Dine, um grupo islâmico, também fez avanços e começou a impor a sharia, lei islâmica, em algumas cidades.

A ONG Anistia Internacional alertou para a possibilidade de um grande desastre humanitário em consequência da rebelião.

A Ecowas anunciou que está preparando uma força de 3 mil soldados que podem ser mobilizados para barrar o avanço rebelde.

O povo tuaregue - vive no deserto do Saara, no norte do Mali, e em diversos países vizinhos - combateu em uma série de rebeliões com o passar dos anos.

Eles dizem ter sido ignorados pelas autoridades na capital malinesa, Bamako.

[marcelo l.]

http://www.aljazeera.com/video/africa/2 ... 64383.html

[marcelo l.]

http://allafrica.com/stories/201204090653.html

Uganda's expenditure on arms surpassed Kenya's for the first in 2011, a new global arms expert report shows. Uganda spent US$1.02 billion; about double Kenya's US$735 million.

Details show that Uganda spent US$270 million on its usual defense budget items (food, salaries etc) and US$ 750 million on jets pushing its officially disclosed expenditure to US$1.02 billion.

Uganda's acquisition of 6 Su-30MK Russian jets elevated its air force to one of the most advanced combat aircraft squadrons in East and Central Africa, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, an international institute that carries out research into conflict and arms control notes.

In its recent report, Trends in international arms transfers, 2011, SIPRI notes that the purchase of the fighter jets and other arms increased Uganda's military expenditure by 300 percent dwarfing Africa's 9 and the world's 24 percent expenditure on arms.

The revelation comes amidst reports that Uganda has this year ordered a new batch of weapons--tanks and ant-tank missiles.

When asked about the new order, Army Spokesman Felix Kulayigye refused to either confirm or deny it. This is not unusual because defense purchases of this nature are classified security information. The purchase of the fighter jets, for example, was only confirmed in Uganda after Russian and North African media reported it.

Why all these weapons?

Competition for regional military superiority with especially Kenya, the threat of spill-over from any feared war between Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan, and its operation in Somalia against al Shabaab and against Joseph Kony rebels in the DR Congo are quoted as incentives from Uganda's ballooning military expenditure.

Of the small arms and light Weapons; assault rifles and submachine guns, transferred in Sub-Saharan Africa estimated in the last four years Uganda received 17% and Kenya, which remains the biggest military spender in the region took 23%.

In actual numbers estimated to be at least 220 000, Uganda is reported to have procured 38, 000 and Kenya 51, 500 of the arms amongst other countries, the Arms Flow to Sub-Saharan Africa report notes.

Joseph Dube, the Africa coordinator for the International Action Network on Small Arms, says that the increase in global arms trade is driven by governments facing opposition that arm themselves in preparation to attack citizens.

"For you to be seen as a power, it is determined by your defence and the budget that you put on defence... We are powerful, we are able to defend, engage not only on South Africa soil but in peace missions on the continent," Dube said of South Africa. Despite being peaceful for decades, it accounts for 70% of the continent's arms imports.

In Uganda's case, Museveni has always wanted to be seen as the military giant of the region. He has wanted a strong well-equipped army ever since his government formulated its security policy in 2001.

Experts have questioned such heavy military expenditure considering that Uganda has been relatively peaceful and most importantly in economic doldrums, too unfavorable for such expenditure.

New oil mania

Critics say that Uganda's arms appetite has been whetted by its oil discovery with the world's weapon manufacturers increasingly seeing it as a potential buyer and Uganda not disappointing them.

High military spending is synonymous with Africa's top oil producers from Angola, Libya, Algeria, Nigeria and even mineral rich South Africa which despite not having any wars, is Africa's biggest military spender.

Lack of constitutional checks in terms of having parliament scrutinise military expenditure, they say, explains why President Museveni has been able to build his arsenal unimpeded.

But Kulaigye says those who complain about Uganda's military expenditure want Uganda to keep weak and easy to over-run.

President Yoweri Museveni in August last year defended the purchase of the jets saying they would ease fighting insurgents especially the Lord's Resistance Army. He said Uganda had paid heavily for delaying to acquire high quality fighting equipment.

"We suffered a lot fighting the LRA because of poor equipment. The UPDF was on foot just like the rebels and it became hard to flush them out easily, Museveni said, "The jets are meant for bad elements in the country that would surface to destabilise the peace in Uganda."

But his former Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Mugisha Muntu, who has since joined the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) says combat wars like that against the LRA in the Congo jungles, does not require aircrafts but well equipped soldiers who are defensible.

He refused to speculate on Museveni's arms purchases. One needs to be sure, for instance, that the US$750m was actually spent on the Russian fighter jets. He says of the earmarked money, only 50% might have been spent on the army and the rest "diverted into other things".

"It is after we have answered that that one can make an argument on whether this should have been spent on other critical areas like ensuring that soldiers have good health care, insurance, good accommodation and are well equipped during the war so as to ensure that the army is well off," Muntu says.

Muntu says that Uganda's potential threats both external and internal do not even correlate with the kind of expenditure that is being made.

"Uganda's potential threats have been the al Shabaab and possibly Khartoum but when the SPLA took over South Sudan, the dynamics changed," Muntu says, "and for the al Shaabab, Uganda does not need aircraft and tanks but other strengths like well trained soldiers and high intelligence expertise."

For Muntu, the frenzy in buying arms has largely to do with regime longevity and creating fear "to show that look we can do anything if you get in our way". He says this is not the solution to the country's threats given the economic conditions.

Somalia

Uganda's engagement in Somalia reinvigorated it as Uganda sought to show the region and the world that it is a military force to reckon with.

Since then, Uganda's military has proved to be double-blessing for Museveni; it keeps him as a strategic ally of the U.S in the war against terrorism and earns him dollars. For instance, 17.3% of Uganda's defense budget is from donor partners on the Somalia mission.

Under the United Nations and African Union peacekeeping agreements, troop-contributing countries are reimbursed if they deploy with their own equipment, both lethal and non-lethal under an arrangement named reimbursement of Contingent Own Equipment (COE).

Sources say Uganda has been raking in millions because it has tanks in Somalia, while Burundi, the only other partner before Kenyan joined, had only a few light arms.

Some estimates say last year Uganda was reimbursed up to US $7million compared to Burundi's US$100,000.

A military analyst told The Independent, unlike before when Uganda was the sole force, donors are increasingly seeing a partner in Kenya in case Uganda falters.

Uganda's position appears to be that for the war in Somalia to end, pirates in the Indian Ocean have to be dealt with because they furnish the al shaabab with supplies. Army Kulayigye agrees with this view and Uganda's Second Deputy Prime Minister, Eriya Kategaya, has been pushing it in summits. Kenya has also increased its defense expenditure to deal with the Shaabab and al Qaeda.

Regional hotspots

Dr. Fredrick Gooloba Muteebi, an independent researcher on regional issues, says ever since the South broke off from Sudan, there has been a likelihood of war and Uganda knows that the moment it breaks, it is likely to be sucked into it.

He says that there is likelihood that with Kony still out there, Sudan could use him in a proxy war against Uganda.

Recently, Sudan President Omar Bashir's advisor, Mustafa Osman Ismail, was quoted saying that Khartoum would not stand idle while Kampala and Juba continue to backing rebels in Darfur. Uganda has rubbished these claims saying that it is a signatory to the Great Lakes security Pact that prohibits such behaviour.

Military experts say that this gives Museveni reason to arm especially knowing Sudan is reputed to have one of the strongest aircrafts in Africa. In African Military ranks, Sudan ranks among the top 5 ahead of Uganda in 7th position.

Recently, army officials from South Sudan arrested six Ugandan MPs that had gone on a fact finding mission on March 1 over parts of Moyo district that South Sudan claims.

Security Minister Muruli Mukasa says the Presidents of the two countries have talks planned. The situation is explosive, experts say.

In the DR Congo where the central government is not in control of the whole country, Uganda military sources have been reporting that militia groups opposed to Museveni, like the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), are regrouping.

In mid-March, Uganda's Chief of Defence Forces Aronda Nyakairima rerpotedly travelled to DRC to talk to his counterpart there about the possibility of jointly dealing with ADF, a rebel group that caused havoc in Kampala with bomb attacks in the 1990s.

Uganda also almost exchanged fire at the border with DR Congo forces a few years ago over the oil Albertine oil fields and experts say it remains a potential cause for conflict between the two. Military experts have attributed the buying of jets to need to protect the oil fields.

Friction with Kenya over the Migingo Island almost sparked a military confrontation between Kenya and Uganda.

In final efforts to wipe out the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), including the group's leader, Joseph Kony who has terrorised the region with frequent attacks over the past two decades, Uganda, Central African Republic, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo have put together a 5000--strong force backed by the UN and AU.

Of all these, Uganda is the big boy on the battle front having fought a number of wars and some of them especially South Sudan and CAR have the weakest of armies in the region, therefore Uganda needs its hardware if its foot is to be felt.

To compile details of the arms purchases, SIPRI's senior researcher, Pieter Wezeman told Aljazeera that the organisation gets information from several open sources and focuses on major arms deals. He admitted that the information is not complete and that there are deals that they missed.

"It is likely that more weapons and ammunition have been imported into the region from countries that do not report on their arms exports in sufficient detail or at all," a SIPRI report notes.

But Kulayigye said the report findings are "skewed and not balanced". Unless whatever new arms have been acquired, however, they will only be money well spent if they are used soon. As Dr. Fredrick Golooba Mutebi warned, weapons easily become obsolete. Apart from the Kalishnokovs, all the guns that were manufactured in the 60's are no longer in use and Russia stopped manufacturing them in 2011.

[marcelo l.]

O que pode piorar piora.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/ ... MB20120409

Residents in Timbuktu said the new group, known as the Azawad National Liberation Front, or FLNA, was essentially made up of members of an Arab militia that had been established to defend the town during an advance by Tuareg-led rebels.

After several months of fighting, the rebels - some of whom want independence for the north while others seek to impose sharia, Islamic law - swept through Mali's north last week, taking advantage of a coup in the distant capital which caused the front line to implode.

The rebels have an uneasy relationship, having coordinated attacks against government forces but now finding themselves vying for control of the zones they jointly seized.

Mohamed Lamine Sidad, FLNA's secretary general, told Reuters that the group sought neither independence nor sharia.

"We have our own interests to defend - a return to peace and economic activity," Sidad said by telephone, highlighting the economic clout the Arab trading community enjoys in Timbuktu, one of three northern regions seized by rebels.

Sidad, who said the group sought a peaceful resolution to Mali's crisis, refused to say how many fighters the group had.

Residents said the militia had several hundred members before the rebel advance but were unlikely to match the firepower of either the separatist MNLA rebel group or Ansar Dine, which experts say has links with local al Qaeda factions.

Timbuktu is largely in the hands of Ansar Dine, though the MNLA have retained control of the airport and the Arab militia withdrew to the town's outskirts without putting up a fight when the rebels entered last week, residents say.

The formal establishment of the Timbuktu group comes after Ganda Iso, a local pro-government militia in and around Gao, another town seized, failed to fend off the rebel advance there.

As armed groups jostle for position in the north, West African mediators are nudging Mali's leaders in Bamako towards resolving the crisis caused by the coup.

Ousted President Amadou Toumani toure resigned on Sunday, paving the way for the military to hand power to the president of the National Assembly, as required by the constitution.

On Monday, junta leader Amadou Sanogo met Diouncounda Traore, the president of the National Assembly, who is due to take over as president of Mali, but no statements were made.

A return to constitutional order was demanded by Mali's neighbors to ease sanctions and raise the prospects of regional group ECOWAS coming to the aid of Malian forces in the north.

"We are starting to recuperate the state. This is important," Baba Haidara, member of parliament for Timbuktu, told Reuters on Monday.

However, Haidara said the emergence of FLNA highlighted the fluidity of a zone where regional and Western powers fear al Qaeda will extend its reach in the chaos.

"It is total confusion. We don't know what is all about."

With Mali's military in tatters, outsiders - from ECOWAS as well as desert neighbors Algeria and Mauritania, who are not part of the bloc - are being looked to try to restore a semblance of government control in the north.

But it will take both time and further negotiation to get boots on the ground given the differences between the nations and practicalities of raising a force to fight in the desert.

Mohamed Cisse, president of Timbuktu's regional assembly, said the Arab community was likely to be positioning itself for talks due to be held as a first effort to end the crisis.

The MNLA, which was boosted by men and weapons from Libya's conflict, have received little support for their declaration of independence, partly as the Tuareg are just one of many communities in the northern desert zones.

Underscoring the potential for the ethnic dimension of the conflict to deepen, a member of the FLNA said: "We, the Arabs of Timbuktu, will never be ruled by a Tuareg from Kidal," he said, referring to the most northern of the three seized regions, which is largely seen as a Tuareg homeland.

[marcelo l.]

http://www.areamilitar.net/noticias/not ... nrnot=1181

Ainda ninguém sabe quem deu golpe de estado
13.04.2012

A situação continua confusa na capital guineense, Bissau, à medida que continuam e evoluir dentro da cidade e arredores várias formações militares.
A 24 horas do inicio da campanha eleitoral, rajadas de tiros e militares na rua

Até ao momento, passadas quase 24 horas desde que começaram as movimentações militares, não há uma «cara» para o movimento revoltoso e não se sabem mesmo com um grau reduzido de certeza, quem controla a cidade de Bissau.

De entre as especulações que mais correm nas ruas e que foram já transmitidas por televisões internacionais, existe a possibilidade de os militares revoltosos serem na sua maioria de etnia Balanta, e de alguma forma conectados com o candidato presidencial Kumba-Ialá (daquela étnia) e que ficou em 2º lugar na 1ª volta da eleição presidencial com 23% dos votos.

Kumba Ialá seria contrário à reestruturação das forças armadas e já tinha feito declarações no sentido de dar a entender que não haveria segunda volta das eleições presidenciais, porque as boicotaria.

País isolado, embaixada de Portugal cercada

A Guiné Bissau encontra-se isolada, todas as emissoras de rádio e a emissora local de televisão foram tomadas pelos revoltosos e a maior estação de rádio limitou-se a indicar que se tratava de uma ação contrária à possível intervenção angolana.

Sabe-se também que foi estabelecido um cordão em volta do quarteirão onde se encontra a embaixada de Portugal. Não é conhecido da embaixada portuguesa, qual a função daquele cordão de segurança, não sendo sabido se se destina a defender a embaixada ou a impedir fugas de políticos para território internacional.

cont.

[EDSON]

http://www.aljazeera.com/video/africa/2 ... 64383.html

HHaaa viva os Tuaregues .

Eu torço para eles terem uma nação só sua um povo bravo e forte.

Avante Tuaregues.

[marcelo l.]

Notícias ruins..prisão de um jornalista português, fala-se em um golpe dentro golpe agora com pequenos combates, e uma força rápida portuguesa que pelo visto estas a passar pela Madeira.

É uma enrascada sem fim que os Tugas estão se metendo..já o Itamaraty deu uma nota condenando

[BrasileiroBR]

Portugal e Brasil devem invadir Guiné Bissau para restabelecer a ordem!

[jumentodonordeste]

Infelizmente não temos condições disso, mas se tivéssemos, concordaria.

[tflash]

Invadir só por que fizeram um golpe de estado? Que desperdício de dinheiro e de homens! É tirar de lá os nacionais e eles que comam droga e Ak 47. Volta não volta estou a pagar dos meus impostos para que reconstruam coisas que rebentaram no último golpe. " Enquanto houver "mama", vão continuar a fazer e dizer que Portugal é um país muito mau porque estão a morrer criancinhas num hospital rebentado e nós não damos dinheiro!!!

[marcelo l.]

http://www.areamilitar.net/noticias/not ... NrNot=1189

Não há como entrar na Guiné


Em meio a declarações bombásticas por parte de vários políticos portugueses e de outros países, e das afirmações na sede das Nações Unidas em que se pede a volta da legalidade constitucional e do processo eleitoral na Guiné-Bissau, uma realidade é neste momento aparente e realçada por vários analistas:

Os militares guineenses são uma força militar controlada pelo narco-tráfico, mas a CPLP e os seus países constituintes não tem capacidade para os enfrentar e defender o estado de direito democrático.

cont.

[marcelo l.]

[cassiosemasas]

fala sério!!!

[marcelo l.]

GUINÉ-BISSAU 2012 & TIMOR-LESTE 1999

http://www.operacional.pt/guine-bissau- ... este-1999/