GENERAL NEWS

As Obama becomes first US leader to address African Union, the agenda in Ethiopia, including 'third-termism'

NEWS STORY

Source: Mail & Guardian Africa

Since the 1990s, 34 African nations have provided for two-term limits, but only in 20% of these have term limits been complied with.

27 July 2015 - US president Barack Obama arrived in Ethiopia Sunday for a two day visit where he will become the first American leader to address either the African Union, the 54-member continental bloc, or its predecessor the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).

AU Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said it would be an “historic visit” and be a “concrete step to broaden and deepen the relationship between the AU and the US.”

Ahead of Obama’s visit the Addis Ababa University’s Institute for Peace and Security Studies outlined five key areas (abridged) that may inform his historic address.

1: The way forward for South Sudan

National Security Advisor Susan Rice has confirmed this issue would be on the agenda, as the AU mulls sending troops to South Sudan. The conflict, which started in 2013, has raged for 19 months now without a peace agreement in sight. Regional bloc IGAD has tried to mediate between the two factions led by incumbent president Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar, but the process has not yielded tangible results so far.

The US is a major actor in the peace process, with the new country one of the largest recipients of American bilateral aid in sub-Saharan Africa. Washington was also instrumental in helping the young country gain independence and form its troubled government.

Many analysts believe that the international community could have done more in preventing the civil war, and now after the fact, in cutting a deal. The visit by Obama could help exert more pressure on both Kiir and Machar to end the conflict that has cost tens of thousands of lives and displaced hundreds of thousands.

2: Dealing with terrorist groups

Obama’s visit to the AU is also expected to focus on combating terrorist groups across the continent. In addition, some of these terrorist groups, such as Boko Haram and al-Shabaab, have pledged their allegiance to Al Qaeda and ISIS, further underlining the international nature of their activities.

In Nairobi, Obama declared that his government would strongly stand with Kenya in the fight against extremism, “however long it took”.

3: The US role in peace support operations in Africa

The relationship between the US and the AU peace support operations so far been complementary, in which the US assists with finance, training, logistics, and at times direct military action. Since 2009, the US has committed nearly $900 million to develop African peacekeeping capacity and strengthen African institutions. It has trained and equipped more than a quarter-million African troops and police for service in UN and AU peacekeeping.

The US also announced during the US-Africa Leaders Summit in 2014 the African Peacekeeping Rapid Response Partnership (APRRP), a new investment of $110 million per year for 3-5 years to build the capacity of African militaries to rapidly deploy peacekeepers in response to emerging conflict. It is also engaged in aiding regional organisations in Africa and their brigades towards the realisation of the Africa Standby Force (ASF). Obama’s visit would be an opportunity in bolstering US assistance to the AU peacekeeping effort.

4: Supporting the Mali peace deal

The conflict in Mali that erupted in 2012 is not just between the western interests of halting Islamic extremism in the area, which saw military intervention of France in 2013; and the proliferation of Islamic extremist groups who hijacked the socio-economic and political questions of the Tuareg rebels. Rather, the conflict revolves around the socio-economic issues that have been raised by the Tuareg rebels for years. ??A peace deal was finally signed on June 20, 2015 which reportedly confers more autonomy to the Azawad region.

Its relevance to the region is significant not just in dealing with the structural causes of the conflict but also drying up the environment for extremist groups to work in. Thus the visit by Obama may help cement the agreement and pressure both parties to respect and work for the sustenance of the agreement. The US once faced attacks from the extremist groups that had once controlled northern Mali. US congressman Edward R. Royce had said that the Al Qaeda franchise in Mali was the fastest growing and was associated with the attacks on the US compound in Benghazi, Libya in 2012 and the kidnapping of US citizens in Algeria in 2013.

5: ‘Third-termism’ across the continent

Third termism is now one of the peace and security issues in Africa posing a danger to democratic transfer of power, and the precedent it continues to set when incumbent leaders change constitutions to enable them run for third and more terms is disappointing. Presidential terms limits mostly for two terms are common in Africa. Since the 1990s, 34 constitutions had provided for two-term limits; however only in 20% of these constitutions have term limits been complied with. In Burundi, President Pierre Nkurunziza was elected for a third term despite calls by the East African Community (EAC), the UN, and the African Union to postpone the elections.

It also seems that Rwanda, a key US ally, is set to allow President Paul Kagame to seek a third term, which the US opposes. Six African countries including Rwanda are holding elections in the next two years (the others are Central African Republic in 2015, and Chad, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon in 2016), further elevating the issue. The visit to the AU therefore invites the question: will Obama stress the implications of the term limits on democracy and further push the bloc to uphold a firm stand against this?

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DRC

Ugandan rebels kill three women in DR Congo raid

NEWS STORY

Source: AFP

Goma, 24 July 2015 - Ugandan rebels have killed three women during an overnight raid in the northeast of Democratic Republic of Congo, a research group and the provincial governor said Friday.

"ADF jihadists," Muslim fighters in the Alliance of Democratic Forces from neighbouring Uganda, attacked Mayi-Moya in strife-prone North Kivu province on Thursday evening, the Study Centre for the Promotion of Peace, Democracy and Human Rights (Cepadho) said in a statement.

"During this attack, the terrorists killed three civilians (women) and burned down four buildings, including a home and three shops," the statement said, adding that three people had been killed in a previous raid on the village late in June.

North Kivu's governor Julien Paluku said that "yesterday around 7:00 pm (1700 GMT) there was an "incursion by the ADF rebels, who attacked a military position" and then "killed three women and burned about 10 homes."

The Congolese army, which has launched operations against the insurgents infamous for mass killings of civilians, battled the ADF forces, Paluku said, but he was unable to give any casualty figures.

The village of Mayi-Moya lies 45 kilometres (29 miles) north of the equatorial market town of Beni, where some contingents of the large UN peacekeeping force in the country are based.

Suspected ADF rebels massacred nine civilians on July 14 in the Beni territory, where the Islamic extremists are accused of killing more than 400 people, mostly by hacking them to death.

Government troops launched an offensive against them last Saturday and announced on Tuesday that they had captured a strategic rebel position in the region, where the ADF runs a lucrative illicit trade in timber.

While North Kivu suffered greatly in the First and Second Congo Wars (1996-2003), the province was already troubled by armed conflict over land and between ethnic groups, as well as struggles to win control of its substantial mineral reserves.

Uganda-DR Congo talks hit snag

NEWS STORY

Source: New Vision

By Acan Proscovia

26 July 2015 - EFFORTS by Ugandan and Congolese officials to solve the border dispute have again hit a snag. This was after the two countries failed to agree on a common position. The stand-off led to the closure of the border point at Vurra in Arua district a couple of weeks ago after the Congolese extended the border line at Vurra customs post by about 300m into Ugandan territory and erected some structures. The Ugandan delegation led by the ambassador to DR Congo, James Kinobe, who was visibly disappointed after the discussions were futile said interest by other people had affected the negotiations. “The symptoms of the problem have been there for a very long time and that is why the presidents in Ngurudoto had agreed to leave the people to stay where they were until the technical committee works out the methods of marking out the borders to indicate where they stop” he said. He appealed to the Kinshasha government to prevail over Congolese authorities in the disputed area who he said have fear in enforcing the resolutions. The major problem I see here is that on the Congolese side, the government has failed to prevail over the ordinary people” he added. In the heated meeting also attended by the Mahagi area MP Pierrot Uweka, the Congolese said they will not remove the barrier but insisted that Uganda opens its border.

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RWANDA

Rwanda: I Hope Kagame 'Defies' Masses on Term Limits

OPINION

Source: The Observer (Kampala)

By Moses Khisa

26 July 2015 - The people of Rwanda are demanding that the Constitution be amended to allow President Paul Kagame stand again in 2017.

It is easy to find this demand on the streets of Rwanda's capital, Kigali. But you will also find opposition, albeit in hushed tones.

The debate is raging. The person whom it concerns the most, Kagame, insists the debate must go on. Part of the debate has turned on the very prohibitive wording of Article 101: "... Under no circumstances shall a person hold the Office of the President of the Republic for more than two terms."

Recently, more than 3.5 million signatures were presented to parliament, which last week voted overwhelmingly to start the process of amending the Constitution. It's quite evident that only one outcome is likely - article 101 will be deleted or changed to read differently.

Other than a complete deletion of the two-term limit provision, one option being floated is to insert a clause providing for a referendum on a third term for a specific leader. One way or the other, it is a foregone conclusion. Here is why.

On Wednesday, I interviewed the chairman of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), also minister for natural resources, Dr Vincent Biruta. This ministry, like most government offices in Kigali, is housed in a plush building with a corporate outlook and clear signs of an evidently-functional public body, unlike the filth and neglect that attends government offices in many African countries.

I told Minister Biruta that it was rather strange for his party, supposedly the main opposition political party, to endorse the process of removing term limits so Kagame stands again yet they can't beat him in an election.

"It's the people, not us the leaders," he reasoned. He continued: "they believe that they cannot as yet trust another leader other than Kagame. He has been such a high-performing president and the people want him to continue."

I reminded Dr Biruta that the mark of leadership is the courage to stand above the wishes and sentiments of the masses. If masses were the ones to always dictate what should be done, then the very notion of leadership would lose meaning.

At any rate, I added, he, as the leader of the second largest party, should be pushing for alternative leadership and a culture of sustainability and continuity, instead of putting all hopes in one mortal being.

President Kagame finds himself in a very precarious situation. He is a man known to rigidly stick to his beliefs and principles. Will he hold out or will he succumb to the "demands of the people?" He has been on record for making two very important statements.

First, that he would not seek another term after serving the two constitutional ones. Second, that it is not true that no one else is capable enough to take over from him; and if it were true then, that would mean he, as a leader, has failed and should for that very reason step down.

Sources close to him say he regrets not taking the issue of succession seriously and not preparing ahead of time. Now 2017 is in sight and Kagame finds that, even without the popular demand for him to stay, he is not quite ready to relinquish power.

His controversial involvement in the Congo, coupled with some internal dynamics, make it risky for him to leave power without sufficient guarantees that he will not end up somewhere in detention as happened last month to his chief of intelligence, General Emmanuel Karenzi Karake, arrested and still held in London.

Kagame's Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) was birthed and groomed in Uganda. Its affable and highly-regarded founding leader, the late Major General Fred Rwigyema, was Uganda's deputy army commander. Rwigyema's RPF successor, then Major Paul Kagame, was a senior Ugandan intelligence officer in what was then called Directorate of Military Intelligence, headed by the then Colonel Mugisha Muntu.

It is possible that at the time Rwigyema and his compatriots launched their struggle to return home, on October 1, 1990, they were seeing glimpses of the rot that the NRM government eventually fully became. When Museveni's misrule shot through the roof in the late 1990s, with glaring scandals of malfeasance in the privatization of state corporations, shoddy deals in military procurements and ghost soldiers, Kagame must have watched keenly.

As president of Rwanda, he had a perfect living example of a government next door, and one grossly mismanaged by his politico-military mentor, with clear lessons on how not to run a government. He had to strive to be different. Today, Rwanda has achieved what Uganda can't realize under the decadent regime of General Museveni, notwithstanding Kagame's much-talked-about poor record on civil liberties and individual freedoms.

Now enter the term limits debate. Perhaps again committed to being different from Uganda, at the time Museveni was manipulating the constitutional amendment process in 2003-5, including bribing MPs to remove term limits, Rwanda was promulgating a new Constitution with an article stating unequivocally: "under no circumstance shall a person... "