[RwandaLibre] Africa sees violent, deadly start to 2014; Thousands killed, children beheaded

Africa sees violent, deadly start to 2014; Thousands killed, children beheaded

Jason Straziuso, The Associated Press January 11, 2014 10:33 am

FILE - In this Monday, Dec. 23, 2013 file photo, a young man reacts
after his friend was badly injured by passing Chadian troops, during a
protest outside Mpoko Airport in Bangui, Central African Republic.
Sub-Saharan Africa has seen a very violent start to 2014 with raging
conflicts in South Sudan and Central African Republic - the death
tolls are huge and the individual incidents gruesome, with one
estimate saying nearly 10,000 have been killed in South Sudan in a
month of warfare. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
AP PHOTO/REBECCA BLACKWELL, FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya – The death tolls are huge and the individual incidents
gruesome. One estimate says nearly 10,000 people have been killed in
South Sudan in a month of warfare, while in neighbouring Central
African Republic combatants in Muslim-vs.-Christian battles have
beheaded children.

Sub-Saharan Africa has seen a very violent start to 2014, with raging
conflicts in South Sudan and Central African Republic, as well as
continued violence in Congo, and attacks in Somalia and Kenya.

Compared to decades past, Africa and its people are suffering from
fewer conflicts today, but several recent outbreaks of violence are
cause for concern, said J. Peter Pham, director of the
Washington-based think-tank Africa Center at the Atlantic Council. The
conflicts also lack strong international peacekeeping, he said.

"Peacekeeping in Africa, whether under the formal auspices of the
United Nations or those of the African Union, suffers today from the
same two limitations which they have been burdened with since the very
first U.N. peacekeeping mission, the 1960-1964 operation in the Congo
(ONUC), namely lack of political will resulting in a weak mandate and
lack of adequate forces," he wrote by email.

The conflict that broke out in South Sudan on Dec. 15 saw violence
radiate across the country as ethnic groups targeted each other.
Shortly afterward Uganda dispatched troops and military equipment to
aid South Sudan's central government from breakaway units of that
country's military.

Casie Copeland, South Sudan analyst for the International Crisis
Group, said violence in Africa tends to involve other countries and
noted a "long history of regional involvement in African conflicts."

The U.N. Security Council on Friday, however, "strongly discouraged
external intervention that would exacerbate the military and political
tensions." The U.N. has said more than 1,000 people have died in the
South Sudan conflict. But Copeland, after speaking to U.N. workers,
aid actors, government officials and combatants, estimates nearly
10,000 have died.

Civilians in the Central African Republic — a country where violence
pits Muslims against Christians — have suffered terribly since armed
rebels overthrew the president in March 2013. The mostly Muslim
fighters were blamed for scores of atrocities after taking power, and
inter-communal violence exploded last month leaving more than 1,000
dead in a matter of days.

The U.N. children's agency UNICEF says that two children have been
beheaded, and that "unprecedented levels of violence" are being
carried out on children. An estimated 935,000 people have been
uprooted throughout the country. Thousands of French troops and
regional African peacekeepers are trying to temper the mob violence.

The country's president, Michel Djotodia, the rebel leader who seized
control of the country, agreed to resign Friday along with his prime
minister. The resignations could create an even greater power vacuum
in a land with a history of coups and dictatorship. Djotodia had
solidified his power with the help of mercenary fighters from Chad and
Sudan.

John Prendergast, co-founder of the D.C.-based activist group the
Enough Project, told a panel this past week at the Brookings
Institution discussing Africa's greatest challenges in 2014 that
international and regional conflict management systems must stop
addressing conflicts in isolation, but rather deal with them as
integrated conflict systems.

That includes adopting comprehensive peace processes and understanding
long-term drivers of conflict in negotiations, he said.

Al-Qaida-linked militants in Somalia, long one of the continent's most
violent countries, detonated two car bombs on New Year's Day, killing
at least a half dozen people. Neighboring Kenya, which has forces in
Somalia, was hit with a grenade attack the next day on a coastal bar
and nightclub, wounding 10 people. Kenya on Friday announced a
military operation in Somalia it said killed 30 militants.

Kenya has troops in Somalia, as does Uganda. But Pham argues that the
continent's conflicts are not receiving enough international
peacekeepers. He notes that the U.N. Security Council, before the
recent South Sudan violence, had been asking if peacekeeping numbers
there could be reduced.

Since the outbreak of violence in South Sudan, the Security Council
reversed course and increased troop numbers from 7,000 to 12,500.

"Not only is there a dearth of political will and the lack of an
adequate mandate, for all the talk of 'African solutions to African
problems,' the fact remains that there are inadequate investments of
the right kind in the security sector in Africa so that when crises
erupt, one is left to rob Peter to pay Paul," Pham said.
"Blue-helmeted forces are having to be shifted from other missions to
beef up (South Sudan's U.N. mission) today, just as French and Chadian
troops were moved from Mali to the CAR just last month."

http://www.google.ca/gwt/x?gl=CA&hl=en-CA&u=http://www.news1130.com/2014/01/11/africa-sees-violent-deadly-start-to-2014-thousands-killed-children-beheaded/&q=africa+sEes+violent,+deadly+start+to+2014


--
SIBOMANA Jean Bosco
Google+: https://plus.google.com/110493390983174363421/posts
YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9B4024D0AE764F3D
http://www.youtube.com/user/sibomanaxyz999
***Transmission Time Interval (TTI) on Saturday January 11th, 2014:
TTI=13H45-20H30, heure de Montréal.***Fuseau horaire domestique: heure
normale de la côte Est des Etats-Unis et Canada (GMT-05:00)***


------------------------------------

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
.To post a message: RwandaLibre@yahoogroups.com
.To join: RwandaLibre-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
.To unsubscribe from this group,send an email to:
RwandaLibre-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
_____________________________________________________

More news:

http://amakurunamateka.blogspot.co.uk/

http://ikangurambaga.blogspot.co.uk/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------Yahoo Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RwandaLibre/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RwandaLibre/join
(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
RwandaLibre-digest@yahoogroups.com
RwandaLibre-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
RwandaLibre-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo Groups is subject to:
http://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/