LONDON — The British Government is considering providing direct military assistance to international troops fighting Islamist insurgents in Somalia.
Senior Foreign Office sources said discussions had taken place about providing help – including air reconnaissance or support – to African Union troops helping Somalia’s weak, American-backed, transitional government.
While the use of ground troops has been explicitly ruled out it is believed there could be some role for Britain following the successful Nato air operation in Libya. As well as air power, SAS and SBS units are stationed with the US-led Horn of Africa Task Force based in Djibouti.
The Somali government, which has been fighting insurgents known as al-Shabaab, has little influence outside the capital Mogadishu.
The number of peacekeeping troops in the country has increased significantly in recent months and British officials are examining how to extend their own influence further. “Certainly in the wake of Libya there are ongoing discussions about what assistance we might be able to provide in Somalia,” said one source. “At this stage, the areas we are looking at are equipment and money.”
Both the US and French have been actively involved in Somali military operations – the Americans carrying out drone strikes from the southern Ethiopian port of Arba Mich, while the French are ferrying in equipment. A French helicopter-gunship crashed at the southern port of Kismayo, while, it is claimed, providing supporting fire for Kenyans flushing out al-Shabaab positions.
A senior British officer said: “There is no appetite for boots on the ground but there are other options. Any military cost needs to be weighed against the costs of propping up a failed state which is being kept a failed state by this insurgency. Also, the African Union forces can’t be there forever, and there may be a role for the UK to train the forces of the TFG [Transitional Federal Government].”
Yesterday the International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell appeared to hint at a greater British involvement. Describing Somalia as a direct threat to the UK’s security because it is one of the “most dysfunctional countries in the world” he said: “It is a place from which emanates piracy, drug running, this weight of people trying to come to a more attractive economic shore.
“There are probably more British passport holders engaged in terrorist training in Somalia than in any other country in the world.”
MONROVIA (Reuters) - Thousands of youths rampaged through Liberia's capital Monrovia on Friday, smashing cars with stones in protest over late payment for "summer vacation jobs" they said they had done for the government.
Security forces fired teargas to disperse the protesters in various parts of the West African state's crumbling seaside city, where main thoroughfares including the road to the airport were blocked and jammed with trapped vehicles.
A Reuters witness said protesters were smashing car windows with rocks and tree branches, and said several United Nations and police vehicles were badly damaged. A protester threw a rock into the side of the Reuters vehicle.
Liberia's government has a summer work program for students, which includes manual jobs such as street cleaning. A government official was not immediately available to comment on the protests or whether payments had been made.
Tensions have been running high in Liberia since a presidential run-off election in November won by incumbent Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, but which her main opposition rival Winston Tubman has rejected as fraudulent.
Liberia is among the poorest countries in the world, and its infrastructure remains in ruins after years of civil war that ended in 2003.
Tripoli - The surviving children of Libya's dead dictator Muammar Gaddafi are determined to destabilise the country, National Transitional Council chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil said on Saturday.
"It is true that Muammar Gaddafi and his children will no longer have a place in the future Libya, but they are still determined to destabilise it and cause many concerns," he said without elaborating.
He was speaking to members of the government and Libyan personalities on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the country's independence, which Libya is celebrating for the first time in 40 years.
Three of the sons of Gaddafi, who was killed on October 20, are also dead.
Only one is in the country - Seif al-Islam, the despot's long-assumed successor, who was captured last month and is being held in Zintan.
Gaddafi's second wife Safiya, daughter Aisha and her brothers Mohammed and Hannibal, have been in Algeria since the end of August along with several other family members, while another son, Saadi, has found refuge in Niger.
At the end of November, Aisha Gaddafi called for the new Libyan government to be overthrown, in an audio message broadcast by the Syria-based television channel Arrai.
In September she had called the new Libyan authorities traitors, prompting a rebuke from Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci who called her comment "unacceptable".
After Gaddafi's downfall, Libya's new rulers organised ceremonies to commemorate December 24 1951, when the country gained independence under former king Idris from the French and British, who had administered the territory following Italy's defeat in WWII.
It was and is not the end for Claude Uwamahore because even as he crawls on the ground propelling himself to wherever the active day takes him, he does so without despair. His is a life of determination in the face of challenges. His life tells a story of hope and perseverance for even if he is limbless he still does more or less everything that you can get done. He is a bee farmer and family man.
This was director Haburugira Valensa and Minani Jean’s winning short film at the Golden Impala Award from Eastern Africa at the climax of the 2011 Amakula Kampala Cinema Caravan Festival at National Theatre last Saturday.
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“It was a unique story that was well told. It shows that disability is not inability. In a very short time we get a real sense of the subject’s whole life, full of dignity and hard work as he uses his unique skills, while his inner and outer strengths, pride and love for his family are beautifully evoked,” the jury said in its citation. The jury consisted of Doreen Baingana, a lead Uganda writer and author, Charles Asiba from the Kenya Film Commission and Peter Mbwago, a Tanzanian filmmaker.
Beating others
“I do not want to worry because if I worry my children will worry too and lose hope,” Uwamahore shares in the short documentary. The film’s producer Papy Jamaica picked the award.
The 26-minute movie beat five movies, including Ugandan filmmaker Carol Kamya’s Firefly which scooped the runner-up position to the award.
Kamya’s story successfully portrayed this year’s theme; translating experiences, where she portrays a boy out to rediscover his environs while in China. She was applauded for her technical accomplishment and transcending the usual scope of African cinema by having a Chinese setting, characters and themes.
“This gesture is emblematic of the festival’s theme: translating experience,” the jury cited.
The other movies were Noah Pink’s Zed Crew from Zambia, Isabel Noronha and Vivian Altman’s Salani from Mozambique and Michael Ialko’s Boxer from Kenya.
These were the five nominated movies from Eastern Africa for 14 countries that run along the rift valley from Mozambique to Eritrea at the seventh edition of the Golden Impala Award.
The Amakula Cinema Caravan Festival took place between September and December between which workshops were held. The caravan traversed through Kampala, Jinja, Masaka and Lira and back to Kampala for the award night.
The acid attack on Apostle Umar Mulinde that left his eye damaged, was a terrorism act, leaders of born again Christians said yesterday. They said the government should be seen to take tough action on acid and other dangerous chemical use in the country.
The acid attack left Mr Mulinde’s right eye damaged and his face disfigured. Apparently, the attacker approached Apostle Mulinde appearing to seek help but when the man of God moved closer to listen to him, he was splashed with the caustic acid before he could recognise the assailant.
Ball in police’s court
Addressing journalists yesterday, the leaders under the National Fellowship of Born Again Pentecostal Churches (NFBPC), said they could seek their own ways of getting at Mr Mulinde’s attackers but that they have left the police and other security agencies to do their part and bring the culprits to book. “This is a terrorism act that government should take seriously,” said Bishop David Kiganda, the Kampala regional head of NFBPC.
Bishop Kiganda, also said they were still monitoring Mr Mulinde to consider flying him to South Africa to have his face rehabilitated. Mr Mulinde told the media from his hospital bed that his attack was heavily linked to his preaching and interpretation of the Quran.
By yesterday, the Man of God was still hospitalised at Kampala International Hospital. Following the attack which happened close to midnight when Mr Mulinde was leaving his Gospel Life Church at Namasuba in Kampala, police said they arrested one suspect.
Kampala Metropolitan Spokesman Ibin Ssenkumbi said: “The suspect has given us good leads which we are now following. There are suspects we are looking for whom we haven’t arrested yet.” Yesterday morning, Namasuba residents arrested another man they claimed to have seen in the area at the time the acid attack took place and handed him to Katwe Police Station. But Mr Ssenkumbi said he was later released without any charge because their investigations revealed that he was innocent.
Pastor Michael Kimuli of Christian Discipleship Ministries said there should be a policy on acid because many people have been attacked and nothing is being done. “People who attack others with acid should be taken like armed robbers. Government should formulate a policy on acid sellers, buyers and those who distribute it,” he said.
LONDON — The British Government is considering providing direct military assistance to international troops fighting Islamist insurgents in Somalia.
MONROVIA (Reuters) - Thousands of youths rampaged through Liberia's capital Monrovia on Friday, smashing cars with stones in protest over late payment for "summer vacation jobs" they said they had done for the government.
Tripoli - The surviving children of Libya's dead dictator
It was and is not the end for Claude Uwamahore because even as he crawls on the ground propelling himself to wherever the active day takes him, he does so without despair. His is a life of determination in the face of challenges. His life tells a story of hope and perseverance for even if he is limbless he still does more or less everything that you can get done. He is a bee farmer and family man.
The acid attack on Apostle Umar Mulinde that left his eye damaged, was a terrorism act, leaders of born again Christians said yesterday. They said the government should be seen to take tough action on acid and other dangerous chemical use in the country.
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