Algeria & Moroco Bombings Alegedly Unrelated

What happened yesterday (in Casablanca) has nothing to do with the terrorist acts that neighbouring countries have seen," Benmoussa told reporters. "The (Moroccan) group. . . has no direct link with international terrorist networks."

The Rest @ Stuff Co

Al Qaeda Action in Algeria Spreads to Morocco

CASABLANCA, Morocco - Two car bombs in Algeria Wednesday provided jarring reminders of the Islamic insurgency that wreaked havoc there in the 1990s. It was a signal that yet another large-scale battle with militants may be brewing.

For weeks, the government has been fighting Al Qaeda-linked insurgents in the remote highlands of the North African nation. But these are the first attacks on the capital, Algiers , in years – one hit the prime minister's office in the city center and the other a police station in the eastern outskirts. Together the attacks killed at least 30 people.

In neighboring Morocco on Tuesday, three suspected terrorists exploded suicide belts and another was shot dead as police were chasing them. They were all wanted in connection with another suicide bombing on March 11.

The governments of this region, ruled by entrenched authoritarians, face a confrontation with a growing Islamist movement. Some groups are rising up to challenge the government in elections, and others are becoming more violent.

Source: Christian Science Monitor via the SITE Institute

Africa, One of the Most Important Battle Grounds for Islamic Terrorism

The recent attack in Algeria by Al Qaeda’s Committee in the Islamic Maghreb in Algeria, coupled with the re-emergence and spread of the Islamist presence in Somalia, clearly show two things:

1) That the macro strategy of the core al Qaeda of fomenting the creation of small, autonomous groups to carry out jihad is firmly taking root and

2) That Africa, from the Northern tier to the Horn, with a network to Southern Africa and tactical alliances in West Africa, have made that continent one of the most important battle grounds in the long war on Islamist terrorism.

The rest from Doug Farah

Iran Funds Zimbabwe radio station

-I wonder if Libya Brokered this deal.....

Shimron

Mugabe has in recent years increasingly turned to friendly countries for help [AFP]
Zimbabwe is to set up a new radio station to counter what it perceives as propaganda from outside countries against Robert Mugabe, the country's president.

Zimbabwe's information minister made the announcement after talks on Friday with Rasoul Momeni, Iran's ambassador to Harare, in a deal to refurbish public broadcasting studios in Bulawayo.

Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told the Ziana state news agency: "We are under siege and being bombarded by the Western media broadcasting to our people.

"There will be a revolutionary development in the media. We should be able to tell our own story."

The short-wave station, the fifth to be run by the state, will go on air before April 18 when the country commemorates its 27th independence anniversary, according to the agency and the country's Daily Herald newspaper.

The Rest @ al Jazeera

China Loan's 1 Billion $ to Namibia to Buy Software

The government will engage a Chinese software company to install an electronic management system for the public service.

Cabinet approved that the Office of the Prime Minister could secure funding under a concessional loan agreement signed last month between China and Namibia during the state visit of Chinese president Hu Jintao for the implementation of an Electronic Documentation and Records Management System (EDRMS) across the public service.

This is viewed as a critical project in terms of existing e-governance policy directives.
China offered over N$1 billion as a loan for projects to be identified by Namibia.
The EDRMS project team evaluated various appropriate software solutions and found that the system offered by Chinese outfit CA-China SS Software Technology would be best suited for the requirements of the Namibian public service.
"The system is not only government user friendly, but also offers easy-to-use interfaces and robust application software that will link up with already familiar public service platforms to ensure records and archival compliance," Information Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah told reporters last week.

Cabinet therefore endorsed the EDRMS under the auspices of the Office of the Prime Minister on condition that it complies with tender procedures.

Cabinet instructed the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Finance and the National Planning Commission to discuss the conditions, terms, modality of accessing the preferential loan and credit facility to finance the EDRMS and other priority projects in Namibia with the Chinese Government.

Cabinet also granted approval for the arrangement of the grant and the use of the concessional loans for the EDRMS project by the Export-Import Bank of China, subject to concurrence by the Chinese Government.

The company CA-CSS is a joint venture formed by New York-based commercial software associates (CA) and China National Computer Software & Technology Service Corporation (CS&S). The primary goal of the joint venture was to explore the potential presented by the Chinese software market by leveraging the resources and expertise from both parties.

Retaking Somolia Becomes an al Qaeda Priority

A congressional report on Somalia was released last week. The gist is that al-Qaeda's East African operations are intact, and they're out for revenge. After the ICU lost its hold on Somalia following the Ethiopian invasion, the group's donors started pumping more money into the country. Al-Qaeda's senior leadership is also clearly prioritizing Somalia, as virtually all the tapes they have released since early January mention Somalia in some way. I spoke with a senior U.S. military intelligence officer over the weekend who reports that a number of Yemeni tribes who would have previously sent jihadists to Iraq are now sending them to Somalia instead.

Eritrea continues to provide weapons and logistical support to the ICU, and possibly military advisors as well. While Eritrea provided advisors earlier, they may have been pulled out of the country because a number of them were killed during Ethiopia's invasion.

Tactically, the ICU is exercising a remarkable degree of restraint in its fighting and target selection. It is almost exclusively targeting transitional federal government (TFG) troops and police. Often radical Islamic groups will also kill "collaborators," but thus far the ICU hasn't done so. When the ICU left Mogadishu, it did so on fairly good terms with the clan elders. Obviously the ICU is attempted to keep this good will alive.

Readthe Rest from Daveed Gartenstein-Ross @ The CounterTerrorism Blog

China to provide Military Connection to Sudan

Beijing - China and Sudan will lift ties to a "new height", Chinese state media said, despite world pressure on Beijing to shun Sudan's government over charges it is aiding genocide in Darfur.
Visiting Sudanese military chief Haj Ahmed El Gaili and Chinese Defence Minister Cao Gangchuan agreed the two sides should seek closer ties in military and other spheres, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Military relations between China and Sudan have developed smoothly," Xinhua quoted Cao as telling his Sudanese guest, who is in China for an eight-day visit that began Sunday.
Gao praised the "profound friendship" of the two nations and said China wanted to "further promote bilateral co-operation in various fields."

Read the Rest from Businessinafrica.net