Rebels Attack Ivory Coast from Liberia

It appears that a new conflict has erupted in Ivory Coast, most likely rebel mercenaries in the employ of former President Laurent Gbagbo, who was forcibly removed from office this year after he lost the election and refused to leave.

We are concerned that this is just the begging, unless ECOWAS or someone else begins to patrol that border. What is clear is that a new rebel force is being hired, trained, and armed inside Liberia in a remote area, an area very difficult to monitor. Watch to see who is bringing in the arms and by what means.

-Shimron Issachar

**********

At least 15 people have been killed in an attack on the Ivory Coast's armed forces in the country's southwest, according to state television.

The state-run RTI network said on Saturday the attack happened overnight on Thursday and it appeared the assailants had come across the Liberian border into the Tai region of Ivory Coast.

The attack caught the soldiers by surprise, RTI reported

"Members of the FRCI [Republican Forces of Ivory Coast] were attacked by surprise. The toll from the attack was 15 dead," RTI said, adding that reinforcements were being sent to the porous and densely forested border region.

Leon Alla Kouakou, the Ivorian military spokesman, confirmed there had been an attack in Tai, but did not provide details.

In July, West African leaders urged the United Nations and ECOWAS, the regional bloc, to step up monitoring of the Liberia-Ivory Coast border after signs that mercenaries had been operating there since April.

The leaders of Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Sierra Leone said at the time that insecurity on the
Liberia-Ivory Coast border represented a threat to the entire West African region.

• The government has said Liberian mercenaries were hired by supporters of Laurent Gbagbo, a former president, during the four-month post-election conflict which ended with his capture and arrest in April.

The FRCI was the name given to forces that battled to remove Gbagbo and allow Alassane Ouattara, the current president of the Ivory Coast, to assume power after winning last November's presidential election.

Gbagbo disputed the election result, sparking the conflict.

The Rests @ Al Jazira

State of AFRICOM Speech, Jul 2011

AFRICOM: Promoting Partnership for Global Security in Africa

July 26, 2011

Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Payne, honorable Members of the Committee:

Thank you for inviting me to testify before you today on USG cooperation in Africa since AFRICOM was created. As you know, we are currently witnessing some of the greatest changes on the African continent since the era of independence. These changes present both challenges and opportunities, and since its inception in October 2008, AFRICOM has been a critical partner for the Department of State in addressing conflict and transnational issues across Africa, in addition to the prominent role it has played in traditional military operations, such as the conflict in Libya.

Today I am here to tell you why AFRICOM matters and how we are working together to pursue our common foreign policy objectives.

Without effective cooperation within the U.S. Government, we will not be able to address the issues of terrorism, piracy, and conflict in places like Sudan, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Before the creation of AFRICOM, the Department of State had to coordinate with three different geographic combatant commands, each of which had varying priorities and security cooperation objectives. The Department of Defense was able to unify these efforts by placing all of the previous areas of responsibility for Africa under one command solely focused on Africa 365 days a year.

We have seen how this new focus in places like Liberia can have success in building sustainable, indigenous African security capacity that respects civilian authority and human rights, and contributes meaningfully to economic and social development.
Given the important role militaries play in the region, AFRICOM’s work is critical to the success of our Administration’s broader efforts to build a more peaceful, prosperous, and democratic Africa.

AFRICOM’s previous and first commander, General Kip Ward, used to say that standing up a new combatant command was like trying to build an airplane in flight, and we appreciate that the State Department has been allowed to be part of this process of growth from the beginning. Since its inception, AFRICOM has strived to be a collaborative combatant command with a core function of not just overseeing U.S. forces on the continent, but also preventing and resolving armed conflict through building partner nation capacity. For the past three years, the U.S. Department of State has coordinated and collaborated with AFRICOM as it worked to achieve the Administration’s highest priority goals related to democracy, good governance, the peaceful resolution of conflicts, and transnational challenges.

President Obama’s speech in Accra in July 2009 laid out a clear framework for our Africa policy, and we believe that AFRICOM has played an important supporting role in implementing this framework. It is doing this by supporting efforts to build professional, capable militaries that respect human rights and civilian control, which in turn supports efforts to resolve armed conflicts, address transnational challenges, and safeguard democratic institutions.

AFRICOM has two co-equal deputy commanders – a civilian deputy and a military deputy. The Deputy to the Commander for Civil-Military Activities (DCMA) is a senior U.S. diplomat, and provides direct policy input and advice to the Commander of AFRICOM.

The State Department further augments the AFRICOM headquarters staff with a foreign policy advisor and five additional Foreign Service officers, including a senior development advisor provided by USAID who reports directly to General Ham. Most of the other Foreign Service officers in the command have regional responsibilities. Additionally, each of AFRICOM’s component commands also has a Foreign Service officer serving as a foreign policy advisor.

The State Department currently has four other employees seconded to AFRICOM and is in the process of adding five additional officers. Similarly, AFRICOM has significantly expanded the number of DoD personnel who are integrated into embassies across the continent over the past three years. These personnel are valuable members of our country teams, as they provide direct and sustained support for both DOS and DoD-funded activities.

AFRICOM has strived to not just do more, but do better in its activities on the continent and these expanded offices of security cooperation have enabled our embassies to increase the quality of our engagement on the continent. Effective collaboration is possible because the Department of State and AFRICOM are imbedded in each other’s organizations.

This structure has allowed us to work together effectively on a number of programs over the past three years, and I would like to outline these collaborative efforts for you today. I also want to discuss briefly AFRICOM’s relationship with our partner nations.

The Department of State collaborates with AFRICOM on a long list of issues such as

• military professionalization;
• building counterterrorism capacity;
• disaster management;
• peacekeeping capacity building;
• humanitarian operations coordinated with USAID;
• demining and ammunition handling training;
• nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction;
• destruction of excess small arms and light weapons and unstable ammunition; reduction of excess and poorly secured man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS); Defense Sector Reform in Liberia, DRC, and South Sudan; counterpiracy activities off the Somali coast;
• maritime safety and security capacity building;
• civil-military cooperation.

AFRICOM elements at our embassies implement Department of State-funded Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and International Military Education and Training (IMET) programs, which further U.S. interests in Africa by helping to professionalize African militaries, while also assisting our African partners to be more equipped and trained to work toward common security goals.

In the realm of counterterrorism, AFRICOM plays a critical and central role in both the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP) and the Partnership for Regional East Africa Counterterrorism (PREACT), our primary programs to support the long-term counterterrorism (CT) capacity building of member countries in northwest and East Africa.

• Both programs are led by State, but are managed in close coordination with DoD and AFRICOM, as well as USAID.
• DoD launched Operation Enduring Freedom – Trans-Sahara (OEF-TS) in 2007 to support TSCTP programming. OEF-TS adds both funding and essential staff to TSCTP, including military trainers and advisors.

State also collaborates with AFRICOM on a range of transnational issues. We continue to work together to develop U.S. maritime engagement in Africa from one of individual, isolated efforts to a more comprehensive and sustainable approach. Early and close coordination on AFRICOM programs such as the Africa Partnership Station, which State provides funding to support the training of African maritime forces, and Africa Maritime Law Enforcement Partnership, which provides operational support, both contribute to a whole-of-government approach. Nonproliferation and counternarcotics are two other key areas of cooperation.

Recently, DoD began to design and implement cooperative threat reduction programs in East Africa, focused on improving security around sites housing potential biological threats. The AFRICOM Counternarcotics Office has been active in West Africa supporting maritime and airport interdiction efforts and funding the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s and Drug Enforcement Administration’s training activities throughout the region.

If there is a downside to this level of engagement, it is that the large numbers of AFRICOM temporary assignment personnel deploying to the continent often present significant logistical challenges for U.S. Missions, which sometimes find it difficult to maintain full visibility and provide support given their own very limited staffing levels.

This large and growing AFRICOM presence and programming in Africa at times risks overwhelming the “soft power” of USAID and State programs and personnel. Additionally, the constant turnover of temporary military personnel working on three and six month rotations can cause significant confusion with both the country team and the host nation if not carefully and managed.

Nonetheless, we will continue to work together and coordinate closely in order to mitigate and manage these challenges.

However, the downside of additional DoD personnel on the continent is far outweighed by the positive gains AFRICOM made in the past three years.

I can report to you today that cooperation between AFRICOM and our African partners is at an all-time high despite a continuing lingering wariness towards AFRICOM on the part of some African nations.

This cooperation begins at the highest levels, where AFRICOM assists the African Union Peace and Security Commission. It continues down through the African Standby Force regional brigades, and ends with extensive partnering at the bilateral level.

The capacity that AFRICOM builds at the regional level improves the relationship not just between the United States and the AU, but between the African nations themselves, increasing overall cooperation exponentially. An example of this is AFRICOM’s Exercise African Endeavor, which assists African nations and their regional organizations in communicating with one another over a variety of spectrums, making greater regional cooperation possible. AFRICOM exercises, like Natural Fire in East Africa, bring together biannually forces from Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda, and the United States to conduct interoperability training in a humanitarian response scenario. These specific examples demonstrate how AFRICOM is increasing cooperation and building trust bilaterally through its interactions with African regional organizations.

Engaging with regional organizations is just one way that AFRICOM is improving cooperation on the continent. Since its inception, AFRICOM has worked in concert with other U.S. Government agencies and international partners to provide effective security engagement through military-to-military programs and activities designed to promote a stable and secure African environment.

The Department of State applauds these efforts, and believes that, despite the difficult challenges it has faced, AFRICOM is on a positive trajectory of better cooperation with both other U.S. Government agencies and our partner nations.

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you, today. I will be happy to answer any questions.

The Rest of the Speech by Don Yamamoto to Congress, July 26th, 2011 in Newsroom Magazine recorded in Newsro

Liberians Fighting as Mercenaries for Deposed Ivory Coast Leader

ABIDJAN - Dozens of bodies littered the streets of an Abidjan neighbourhood on Tuesday as fighting continued between Ivory Coast troops and the remnants of a militia loyal to deposed leader Laurent Gbagbo.

The clashes highlight the West African country’s struggle to restore security after a violent power struggle between Gbagbo and his rival Alassane Ouattara, who won a November election and is now president.

“We have seen many dead. We recovered 40 bodies over two hours, but we were forced to stop because he had no room left in our van,” said Franck Kodjo, an official at the International Committee of the Red Cross, adding at least five corpses were from Tuesday’s fighting.

The world’s largest cocoa grower nation tipped toward civil war after Gbagbo refused to cede power to Ouattara, triggering a conflict that killed thousands and displaced more than a million people and only began to ease with Gbagbo’s arrest last month.

A commander for the Ivorian army, known as the FRCI, said the remaining pro-Gbagbo fighters in the Abidjan neighbourhood of Yopougon were mostly Liberians who had crossed the border in the election dispute’s aftermath as soldiers for hire.

Efforts to disarm them have so far failed.

“We are in the process of securing the town but there are heavy weapons,” the commander said. “We’re not the ones firing them, it is those we oppose, the Liberians,” he said.

Other parts of Ivory Coast’s main city were coming back to life after the conflict, with banks reopening and street traffic slowly returning to normal.

Ivory Coast’s main industry, the cocoa sector, is poised to resume export at the end of this week of nearly a half a million tonnes of beans backed as a result of the conflict, exporters said on Tuesday.

Ouattara’s government is investigating Gbagbo and his inner circle for alleged human rights abuses during the conflict as he used his military to cling to power. Gbagbo, under house arrest in the country’s north, called this week for his supporters to allow the country to restart its economy in peace

The Rest @ Reuters

Ivory Coast in Election Crisis

About 14,000 people have fled Ivory Coast to neighbouring Liberia following last month's disputed Ivorian presidential election, the UN says.

It says it is prepared for a total of 30,000 refugees in the region.
Most of those fleeing are supporters of Alassane Ouattara, who is recognised internationally as the new president.

Three West African presidents will go to Ivory Coast on Tuesday to personally urge incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo to quit, Benin's foreign minister says.

Mr Gbagbo has rejected widespread calls to step down, citing vote rigging in northern areas.

'Ivorian blood'

The spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba, told the BBC that most of those who had left Ivory Coast since the 28 November election had come from villages in the west of the country.

She said they had been walking for days to escape tensions they feared could explode into violence, and the flow was continuing.

A UNHCR statement added: "With their numbers growing, the humanitarian needs are increasing for the mostly women and children refugees as well as for the villagers hosting them."
Benin's Foreign Minister Jean Marie Ehouzou has said the presidents of Benin, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde will visit Ivory Coast to tell Mr Gbagbo on behalf of regional bloc Ecowas "that he must step down as quickly as possible or face legitimate military force".

Mr Gbagbo says the presidential poll was rigged in rebel areas that backed Mr Ouattara
He was echoing a warning on Friday from West African leaders of possible military action.
Mr Gbagbo's government said the threat was unjust. It also condemned a decision by the West African central bank to give control of Ivory Coast's account to Mr Ouattara.

Earlier Mr Ouattara urged the armed forces to protect civilians against attack from "the militias and foreign mercenaries that are spilling Ivorian blood".

He said perpetrators of recent violence would be prosecuted and invited investigators from the International Criminal Court to the country.

Mr Ouattara and his cabinet are based at a hotel in the main city, Abidjan, under the protection of UN troops.

• Mr Gbagbo has demanded that UN and French troops leave the country. A close ally even warned that they could be treated as rebels if they did not obey the instruction.
• The UN, which has 10,000 peacekeepers in the country, rejected the call.
  UN officials say at least 170 people have been killed in recent attacks linked to the Ivorian armed forces, who remain publicly loyal to Mr Gbagbo.
• There have been suggestions that member nations send in troops to strengthen the presence of the UN peacekeeping force.

The election was meant to unite the country after a civil war in 2002 split the world's largest cocoa producer in two, with the predominantly Muslim North supporting Mr Ouattara and the mainly Christian south backing Mr Gbagbo.

The Rest @ the BBC

Africom Acive In West Africa To Impact Drug Trafficking

WASHINGTON, D.C., Jun 26, 2009 — The top U.S. military officer with responsibility for Africa concedes he's worried about the threat of violent extremists taking hold there, particularly in Somalia, and said U.S. Africa Command is working to help regional governments prevent it.

"We clearly worry about the threat of violent extremists taking hold in any parts of the continent where there are spaces that are under-governed or not in full control of the government," Army General William E. "Kip" Ward told National Public Radio yesterday. "

And so Somalia is, indeed, a place that we are concerned about," he said. "In that regard, our policy is to provide support to those governments that are in position in various parts of the continent as they seek to maintain their control over their spaces."

While not actively involved in training the Somali military, U.S. AFRICOM is working through the State Department to provide other assistance, he said.

Meanwhile, U.S. Africa Command also is working under the auspices of the State Department to help Liberia, which is emerging from a brutal civil war, stand up its new armed forces, he said.

"We also provide training support to other African nations who conduct military peacekeeping operations," Ward said.

That support includes military mentors and technical training assistance, and focuses not just on military skills, but also in respect for human rights and rule of law. U.S. Africa Command also is a key player in a broader effort to crack down on narcotics trafficking in Western Africa, William Weschsler, deputy assistant secretary of defense for counternarcotics and global threats, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this week.

• "Although we are still defining the scope, we know that drug trafficking in West Africa is a major problem, it's growing rapidly, and we expect it to grow over the coming years," he said at the June 23 hearing.
• The repercussions are far-reaching, Weschsler warned. "This endangers peace, stability, democracy [and] our efforts to promote security sector reform in West Africa, and poses an increasing threat to both our Africa and our European partners," he said.
• Addressing this challenge requires an integrated approach that incorporates interagency and international capabilities to equip, train and maintain regional partners' counter-narcotics organizations, he said.
• Weschsler pointed to initiatives already under way, in which U.S. Africa Command is working hand in hand with U.S. Southern Command's Joint Interagency Task Force South, the Defense Intelligence Agency, Naval Forces Africa and others to monitor the drug flow and support projects aimed at stemming it.
• Projects already under way in West Africa include constructions of boat and refueling facilities for the regional navies and coast guards, student sponsorship for classroom training, construction of a screening facility in Ghana and establishment of an information fusion center in Cape Verde, he said.

"All these programs are -- it must be stressed -- a result of a real interagency development process, and that's critical for the success of any of these programs," Weschsler said, emphasizing the need for more and closer cooperation. The time to deal with the drug trafficking problem, he told the committee, "is now, before it undermines our strategic interests on the African continent."

Source: DefenseLink

Romania Arms Fueling African war and Jihand

During the Cold war, Romania was the Ninth Largest Arms Exporter in the World.

Currently, there are nine (9) companies in Romain that produce Small arms and Light Weapons. These include Assault Rifles, grenades, grenade launchers, explosives and pistols.

A Number of Romanian Government officials have been implicate in illicit arms transfers, most coming out Otopemi Airport in Bucharest. Romanian arms have been found in Kosovo, Liberia, Rwanda, as as well as the Afghan Taliban.

Romanian arms supplied UNITA Rebels in Angola via Togo and Burkina Faso to, according to a 2004 Report.

Romania is under pressure to bring their arms dealings under control as they seek to join NATO.

The Romanian National Agency for Export Controls ( ANCEX ) licenses and regulates these exports. The Inter Ministerial Council ( IMC ) is the investigating agency, with representative from security and intelligence groups inside Romania. They meet monthly to approve or disapprove arms export permits. and there is evidence of regular infighting.

Source: Small Arms Control in Romania

Message and media traffic suggests that Romanian Arms are being sent to Somalia through Eritria. The weapons sales certificate, if checked by Romania, probably suggests that the arms are being bought by Eritria for its own use, however, the volume and frequency of the shipments show this is not true.

-Shimron Issachar

Complex Diamond and Gun Smuggling During Liberian Civil War

LIBERIA’S TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION has heard allegations that a retired agent of the CIA was instrumental in facilitating a vast diamonds-for-arms smuggling operation on behalf of Liberian warlord Charles Taylor.

Taylor, who headed the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), became the country’s President in 1997. He is currently held by the United Nations in The Hague, pending trial for crimes against humanity.

The allegations were made at the recent Economic Crimes Hearing of Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Monrovia by Imants Liepiņš, an ivestigator with the Public Investigation Bureau, a business intelligence firm based in Riga, Latvia.

Mr. Liepiņš, who is a recent nominee for UNESCO’s 2009 World Press Freedom Prize, presented his findings during an official hearing titled “Economic Crimes, Corruption and the Conflict in Liberia: Policy Options for an Emerging Democracy and Sustainable Peace”.

AN INTRICATE NETWORK

Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which aims to unearth human rights violations and the exploitation of the country’s natural or public resources to perpetuate war, heard last Thursday that Roger D’Onofrio
Ruggiero, an Italian-American 40-year veteran of the CIA, worked with Charles Taylor and others to channel diamonds into Europe through a number of front-companies.

According to the allegations, D’Onofrio, who at the time lived outside Naples, Italy, helped organize the smuggling operation with Ibrahim Bah.

Bah is a Senegalese with Libyan connections, who at that time was a member of Liberia’s Revolutionary United Front, a guerilla group that fought unsuccessfully against the government throughout the 1990s. According to Douglas Farah’s book Blood from Stones (Broadway Books, 2004), Bah was connected with D’Onofrio in the 1970s, when the former was funded by the CIA to join the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan in the war against the Soviet Red Army.

In the early 1990s, Bah, who by then had established al-Qaeda connections, became Charles Taylor’s “Minister for Mineral Resources”, a post that enabled him to handle the majority of NPFL’s diamonds-for-arms deals.

SLOVENIANS, AMERICANS AND OTHERS

Bah is alleged to have also drawn on his Libyan connections to involve in the smuggling operation representatives of Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi.

The smuggling was conducted through a front-company, International Business Consultant Ltd, and Kintex, a Bulgarian import-export company with offices in Switzerland.

• Kintex “supplied weapons and bullets to [International Business Consultant Ltd] and sold diamonds in return, camouflaged as oranges and olives”.
• This was allegedly done with the help of a Swiss lawyer, Rudolf Meroni.
  

During last Thursday’s presentation in Monrovia, Imants Liepiņš recounted D’Onofrio’s 1995 testimony before Italian prosecutors, in which the former CIA agent admitted he owned shares in International Business Consultant Ltd, as did Charles Taylor, Ibrahim Bah, and others.

Interestingly, Liepiņš revealed that among the shareholders was Nill Taylor (no relation to Charles Taylor), an American who claimed to be “a representative of the US Government” (though not apparently connected with the US Embassy in Monrovia, which in the 1990s was headed by a series of interim chargés d’affaires).

Nill Taylor, who met with D’Onofrio in Liberia on at least one occasion, was an associate of Nicolas Oman, a notorious Slovenian weapons smuggler who was rewarded for his services to Charles Taylor by being named Liberia’s honorary consul in Slovenia.

Oman’s son, who lives in Australia, was appointed Liberia’s honorary consul in the county until 2006, when his family’s weapons smuggling ventures became the subject of a diplomatic row between Slovenia and Australia.

A RENEGADE AGENT

Mr. Liepiņš’ allegations have made headlines throughout Liberia, but have yet to appear in any mainstream Western media outlet.

This is extremely disappointing in light of the fact that these allegations about D’Onofrio are not new.

• In 1995, the former CIA agent was arrested by Italian police officers investigating a money laundering and arms smuggling operation into the former Yugoslavia.
• Italian authorities charged D’Onofrio, whom the local press dubbed “Specter’, “after James Bond’s arch-enemy”, with using CIA “contacts [he] made during the 40 years he worked for the US intelligence agency to organize illegal financial deals and arms shipments”.
• These reportedly included a foiled attempt to supply Slovenian arms smugglers with osmium, a chemical element used to manufacture nuclear detonators.
  

The Rest @ Intelnews

* Dr. Joseph Fitsanakis has been writing and teaching on the politics of intelligence for over ten years. His areas of academic expertise include the institutional analysis of the intelligence community; the interception of communications; and the history of intelligence with particular reference to international espionage during the Cold War. He is co-founder and Senior Editor of intelNews.org.

GIABA Trains Liberian Civil Groups and Media on Money Laundering

Money Laundering Threatens Financial Systems
…GIABA Boss Discloses

The Director General of the Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) says money laundering and terrorist financing pose a real threat to the stability of financial systems in West Africa.

Delivering a keynote address at the start of a two-day sensitization workshop at a local hotel in Monrovia, Dr. Abdullahi Shehu said money laundering and terrorist financing can destroy economic development efforts.

Dr. Shehu observed that large-scale money laundering in West African financial systems may result in a systematic banking threat to the international financial system.

He told the participants that once money is laundered, it is immediately transferred to other countries, adding that bold actions should be taken by member states in order to avert this ugly situation.

He noted that GIABA was established to serve as a forum for regional alliance that will deal with money laundering and terrorist financing in West Africa.

He called on the Liberian government to develop a framework that would control cash transactions in a bid to deal with money laundering and terrorist financing.

The workshop is being held under the theme: “Enlisting the Support of the Liberian Media, Civil Society Organizations and Professional Groups for GIABA’s Strategic Action Plan to Combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in Liberia.”

“We encourage our member states to develop the necessary regulatory framework to combat money laundering and terrorist financing,” Dr. Shehu said.

He said the civil society and the media have a crucial role to play in combating money laundering because, according to him, no government can sustain a fight against money laundering and terrorist financing without the support of the media and civil society.

For his part, Deputy Justice Minister for Economic Affairs, Cllr. Joseph Jallah acknowledged that money laundering and terrorist financing are threats across the globe.

He noted that every society or government is vulnerable to agents of money laundering.

Minister Jallah then called for prevention mechanisms through inter-governmental efforts against these crimes.

“Money laundering and terrorist financing represent a grave threat that cannot be ignored. We urge the media, civil society and professional groups to help fight money laundering in Liberia,” Cllr. Jallah stated.

Cllr. Isaac E. Wonasue, GIABA National Correspondent in Liberia presented a paper on the background of money laundering in Liberia, while Solicitor General Cllr. Tiawan Gongloe gave synopsis on the legal frameworks against money laundering, terrorism and other economic crimes in Liberia.

The Rest @ The News (Monrovia, Liberia)

DAKAR (Reuters) - A French navy warship has intercepted a Liberian-flagged fishing vessel carrying 2.5 tonnes of cocaine in waters off the West African coast, a United Nations anti-narcotics official said on Thursday.

It was the biggest cocaine seizure so far this year off West Africa, which has increasingly become a trans-shipment point favoured by Latin American drug cartels because of weak local law enforcement and its long largely unsupervised coastline.

In this growing trafficking corridor, the drugs are flown or shipped across the Atlantic and then on to markets in Europe.

The Blue Atlantic and its nine Ghanaian crew members were detained by the French navy vessel Tonnerre on Wednesday, 520 km south west of the Liberian capital Monrovia, Amado de Andres, deputy representative for West Africa of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), told Reuters.

"When the crew saw they were going to be intercepted, they started throwing containers of the drug overboard," he said.

Nevertheless, 2.5 tonnes of cocaine in more than 90 containers were seized.

De Andres said the French navy made the interception thanks to information supplied by the newly-created European Union anti-narcotics unit known as MAOC-N (Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre-Narcotics), which is based in Lisbon.

The U.N. and western law enforcement agencies have raised the alarm about the drug cartels' use of West Africa as a staging post, especially in the small state of Guinea-Bissau whose police are badly equipped and poorly paid.

"The traffickers are now trying to target new states and one of them is Liberia," de Andres said.

The Rest @ Reuters Africa

UK Africa Conflict Prevention in Liberia shows Solidarity with Liberian Military

The British Ambassador accredited to Liberia at the head of a high power delegation, yesterday paid a courtesy call on the Minister of National Defense, Brownie Samukai at his Benson Street offices.

The discussion between Minister Samaukai and the British envoy was aimed at discussing security related issues and how the British government would work with the Ministry to strengthen the security sector of the country.

Ambassador Sarah McIntosh and Minister Samukai discussed the challenges facing the Ministry of National Defense and the role that could be played by the British government in building the technical capacity of the new Liberian army.

Welcoming the British Ambassador and delegation to his office, Minister Samukai said the Ministry is pleased that the British government has been engaged with the Ministry in the formation of the new Liberian army. Minister Samukai said that the Ministry believes that the role of the British government to train the security sector of the country has been very healthy.

He also complimented the efforts of the United States government and other nations that have been assisting in the training of the security sector of the nation. Minister Samukai added that the Ministry of National Defense looks forward to more engagements, cooperation and supports in the building process of the new Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL).

Ambassador McIntosh told reporters following the meeting with Minister Samukai that their tête-à-tête was productive.

• She said during the meeting, Minister Samukai briefed the delegation on the progress being made thus far in the training process of the new army and the challenges facing the process.
• She added that during the meeting, Minister Samukai gave his Ministry's detail plan relating to how the challenges facing the Ministry can be addressed as well as the challenges that lie ahead in training the new army and the security sector of the nation.
• Ambassador McIntosh further stated that her country would contemplate on how it would begin to assist by providing support to the process.
• The British envoy disclosed t hat her country has been providing technical assistance to the new Liberian army and other security-related projects through its "Africa Conflict Prevention" program.
• She disclosed plans by her country to dispatch a British national that would assist in working with the Security Sector program of the country.

During the meeting, the British Envoy was accompanied to the Ministry of National Defense by British Attaché, Mark Ravnkillda, Assistant British Defense Attaché, Mark Armstrong, Col Ross Anderson and Andrew Mace.

The Rest @ Sierra Eye

Liberian authorities investigating a possible coup plot have discovered a large cache of new AK-47 ammunition in a town on the main road to Ivory Coast, police said on Monday.

Police spokesman Alvin Jask Kanneh said it was too early to say whether the cache was linked to an alleged scheme to smuggle weapons into Liberia from Ivory Coast.

A former armed forces chief and a former speaker of parliament were charged with treason last month in connection with the plot.

The ammunition cache was discovered on Sunday in the town of Gbarnga by Liberian police and a team from the United Nations peacekeeping force, which is helping the country recover from a 14-year on-off civil war that ended in 2003.
"Most of the ammunition was new. We are talking about AK-47 machine gun ammunition. Also, different types of weapons ammunitions. We cannot give you the total quantity, but (it was) large," Kanneh said.

A security source in the capital Monrovia said the ammunition was discovered in an unfinished building following a tip-off received in Monrovia.
"As of now, we have not made any arrest as the investigation is still ongoing in the place. We cannot say who are those behind this," Kanneh said.

General Charles Julu, who led a 1994 coup attempt during the civil war, and former National Assembly speaker George Koukou were charged with treason in July after the publication of a video which Liberian authorities said showed two associates of Julu discussing how to transport weapons from Ivory Coast.
Julu was arrested in mid-July for "subversive activities" which officials said may include a coup plot against the government of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who was elected president in late 2005.

The Russian-designed Kalashnikov AK-47, the world's best-known assault-rifle, became ubiquitous during the Cold War and was a weapon of choice for tens of thousands of soldiers and children who have fought in civil wars in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast since the late 1980s.

Gbarnga served as a headquarters for the rebellion led by Charles Taylor, who went on to be elected president in 1997, was forced into exile in 2003 and is now on trial on war crimes charges stemming from Sierra Leone's intertwined civil war.

Liberia Issues Diamond Mining Liscenses

MONROVIA, July 30 (Reuters) - Liberia's government began issuing licenses to artisanal diamond miners and foreign companies on Monday for the first time since a gem-fuelled civil war tore the West African country apart.

Trade in rough diamonds from river beds and mud pits in Liberia and neighbouring Sierra Leone fuelled intertwined wars in the 1990s that were among the most brutal in modern African history, killing a quarter of a million people.

The Rest @ Reuters
Peace has since returned to both countries and the government of Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, elected in 2005, has set up offices to ensure diamonds are certified under the "Kimberley Process", an industry-led scheme designed to prevent illicit gem sales from conflict areas.
The U.N. Security Council lifted a 6-year ban on Liberian gem exports in May in recognition of the government's moves to stamp out the trade in "blood diamonds".

"Today, we have started the issuing of mineral licenses to diamond dealers, brokers and local as well as international miners in the country," A. Kpandel Fayia, deputy minister for mines and energy, told Reuters in an interview.
"This process started because we have met all the requirements set by the U.N.," he said.

The world body imposed sanctions on Liberian diamond exports during the time of former president Charles Taylor, accusing him of using the profits to support rebels in Sierra Leone.
Taylor is on trial in The Hague for war crimes including instigating murder, rape and terrorism during the Sierra Leone war, in which an estimated 50,000 were killed.
Fayia said around 30,000 Liberians had applied for "class C" licences, given to alluvial miners, while around 15 mining firms had applied for more expensive "class A" and "class B" permits.
"We have companies from all over the world. From Israel, the United States, the UK, South Africa and many countries. This should tell us that we are ready for business," Fayia said.
Diamond dealers in Liberia welcomed the issuing of licenses.
"I am very happy to see this ban lifted ... My wife owns this business and this is what we have been doing for the past 30 years," said Lebanese diamond dealer Slman Osseili.
"Since the ban was imposed, we have not worked at all," he said.

Since the announcement of the creation of AFRICOM, the new military command post in Africa by the United States, the Liberian government has been pressing for the establishment of Africom's headquarters in the country.

There had been behind the scene discussions within official circles on the issue. Until Wednesday, the Liberian government had not made a decision.

Now, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has made a decision officially 'offering' Liberian territory to be used for the establishment of a U.S. Base.

Speaking Wednesday at a reception marking the 231st Independence Anniversary of the United States, President Sirleaf said "Liberia, the U.S. historic ally, has stood resolutely with the United States, through good times and bad, and is offering its territory as it has done in the past, for the establishment of AFRICOM headquarters."

The Chief Executive indicated that historical and strategic reasons make Liberia an ideal location for this important American initiative that will undoubtedly have a most beneficial effect on the West African sub-region, as well as the entire continent.

President Sirleaf welcomed the new United States policy towards Africa's security and development as reflected in the proposed establishment of a new Africa Command (AFRICOM).
The Liberian leader described the move as not only a project of U.S. interest and power, but as a new approach to assisting African countries that are committed to democratic governance, sustainable development and improving the quality of life of their people, in a secured environment, and with the cooperation and support of the United States.

President Johnson-Sirleaf also described the United States decision to construct a new Embassy complex in Monrovia and as well as other significant support Liberia receives from institutions, foundations, Universities and individuals as vivid expressions and indications of the new mutually beneficial partnership that is beginning to evolve between Liberia and the United States of America.

The Liberian leader also made particular reference to the financial support being given by the United States government towards the country's development.

President Sirleaf then lauded the U.S. government's support toward debt relief and disclosed that Liberia will shortly benefit from the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation for development assistance, having met most of the benchmarks.

The President congratulated the government and people of the United States on the occasion marking the 231st independence anniversary, and spoke highly of the partnership existing between the two countries.

President Johnson Sirleaf lauded the United States government for its role in ending the civil conflict in Liberia and its continued support toward the country's reconstruction efforts.

In a recent article written by President Johnson Sirleaf and posted on allafrica.com website, the Liberian leader said Africom should be seen as a recognition of the growing importance of Africa to U.S. national security interests, as well as recognition that long time African security lies in empowering African partners to develop healthy security relations.


The Rest @ All Africa.com

Charles Taylor Connections Re-Sanctioned: Liberian Al Qaeda Connection Still Active?

The Office of Foreign Asset Control has lifted sanction sanctions against Liberia that had been imposed since the days of Charles Taylor. However, on 23 May, 2007 the reimplemented targeted sanctions against those connected to the former regime of Charles Taylor.

This is an interesting note, and suggests that the US is still concerned that there are some active terrorist connections still active in Liberia. Douglas Farah wrote extensively about Charles Taylor's al Qaeda diamond & money laundering connections.

Any thoughts about al Qaeda's current activities in Liberia?

Shimron Issachar

Liberia-Sierra Leon: the next front for Jihad?

UN sanctions against Liberia exporting diamonds were renewed last week. This seems like small news, until you read the reason why.....

"There are some forms of diamond mining taking place around Kungbor in Gbarpolu County [northwestern Liberia], because the government does not have the capacity in that area to curtail them", a government diamond monitor who requested anonymity told IRIN.
Officials have said there is currently what they have described as a 'diamond rush' in the southern provinces of the country. Thousands of diggers, many of them former combatants, are being equipped with shovels and pans by unlicensed dealers, they say."

read the rest (from Reuters alertnet)

• The area where this is occuring is an area of Islamic Stronghold
• Diamonds have historically been used to fund arms and miltary capability in this region
• Many ex-sodliers are running these illegal minning activities
• Some sources living in Liberia report regular traffic in and out of the Monrovia International airport, without going through customs.
• Al Quaida itself has or has had diamond brokers working in Liberia
• Hezbollah makes regular collection runs through west Africa including Liberia
• Kadafi has funded at least 27 Mosques in Liberia in the last several years

So is Liberia-Sierra Leon the next front for Jihad? This is a similar partern that eventually led to what happened in the Horn of Africa. The Horn is in the flames of Jiahd as I write these words. It was planned there for sometime. I hope some are watching Liberia and Sierra Leon. I know I am.

-Shimron Issachar