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16-09-2011 1 - Mozambique holds 'pirate hunters' They were detained at the airport in the country's third city, Nampula, police say. The men reportedly say they work for the US security firm GreySide. The US embassy says the group has no connection to the US government. GreySide has not commented. Nampula provincial police spokesperson Inacio Dina told the BBC that the weapons include an FN 5.5mm rifle, as well as ammunition and communications equipment. The police have named the leader of the group as 42-year-old US citizen Michael Ferguson. He has not commented to the press. The group had reportedly flown from the United States via Ethiopia and Kenya, where they picked up the weapons. Mr Ferguson reportedly said their plan was to catch small boats in the northern Mozambican coastal city of Pemba before joining a larger vessel and trying to free the boat from pirates - it is not clear which ship they were allegedly trying to rescue. They expected further weapons to reach them in Pemba, which they had not been able to load on the plane, police say. Somalia-based pirates have attacked ships across the Indian Ocean, earning millions of dollars from ransom payments. Four Britons, who say they were trying to provide protection from pirates, were released by Eritrea in June after six months in captivity. bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14952999 14-09-2011 2 - Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim flees Libya The leader of Darfur's main Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) rebel group, Khalil Ibrahim, has returned from exile in Libya. Mr Ibrahim fled Libya after Col Muammar Gaddafi's government - which gave him refuge last year - was ousted. Sudan had accused Mr Ibrahim's forces of fighting for Col Gaddafi in his attempt to hold on to power. Mr Ibrahim said he had evaded attempts by Sudanese intelligence to capture him in Libya, reports say. He told the Paris-based Sudan Tribune newspaper that he had arrived safely in Darfur after his troops secured the route across the desert. "We were in a race with the Sudanese intelligence who were seeking to catch us in Libya," he told the newspaper. Genocide charges A diplomatic source told the BBC that some of Mr Khalil's men had been killed in the Libyan conflict, where they backed Col Gaddafi's forces. About 300,000 people have died in the conflict in Darfur since it began in 2003, the UN says. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir and other officials, accusing them of genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur - charges they strongly deny. Jem - the biggest rebel group in Darfur - signed a ceasefire with the Sudanese government in February 2010 but abandoned peace talks soon after, accusing Khartoum's forces of launching new raids in Darfur. Col Gaddafi's fall in Tripoli is a blow to the rebels as he gave them sanctuary and financial and military aid, analysts say. Mr Ibrahim was exiled in Libya since May 2010 after Chad - said to be another major backers of the rebels - refused to give him refuge following a peace deal with the Sudanese government. Sudan had repeatedly asked Col Gaddafi's government to expel Mr Khalil, but it refused bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14881745 09-09-2011 3 - Libya conflict: Clashes ahead of surrender deadline Fierce clashes have broken out in Libya around two remaining strongholds of troops loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi. Heavy rocket fire was reported near Bani Walid and Sirte ahead of a Saturday deadline set by anti-Gaddafi forces for loyalists to surrender. Nato also stepped up operations, with two missile strikes on Gaddafi targets. Meanwhile Ali Kana, a senior general in Col Gaddafi's forces who commanded troops in the south, has fled to Niger, local sources say. 'Preparing to attack' Pro-Gaddafi forces are said to have fired barrages of Grad rockets at forces of the National Transitional Council (NTC) that have surrounded both Bani Walid and Sirte. The BBC's Richard Galpin, near Bani Walid, says anti-Gaddafi fighters have reported three deaths and seven injuries in the intensifying fighting there. We saw smoke rising from a ridge in front of us, indicating yet another rocket attack by the group of pro-Gaddafi fighters who are still holding out in the town. The attacks are a sign that Gaddafi loyalists are not prepared to surrender before the deadline to lay down their arms expires. And at the moment the National Transitional Council says the deadline will not be extended. Throughout the day, pick-up trucks carrying anti-Gaddafi fighters have been arriving, some with heavy weapons, including anti-aircraft guns and rocket-launchers. Besides heavy weapons, the Gaddafi loyalists are believed to have snipers in the town. But one NTC commander told the BBC he was confident they would seize control quickly. NTC officials at a checkpoint 30km (20 miles) outside Bani Walid told Reuters a number of pro-Gaddafi forces had been captured. One NTC commander, Khalid Ahmouda, said an attempt to break out of the town overnight had been beaten off. "There's no food, no water. A lot of people want to leave but they have no fuel to power their cars and Gaddafi forces are preventing people from leaving the city. They fire in the air to terrorise people," he said. NTC troops were seen sending ammunition and ordnance further forward. Commander Abdel-Razak al-Nazouri told Associated Press: "Today marks the last day of the deadline. Our men are preparing for an attack, probably tomorrow." NTC forces were also preparing munitions near Sirte. There has been a heavy exchange of rocket fire about 60km east of the city, in the Red Valley region which the NTC announced it had captured on Thursday. Agence France-Presse reported the arrival of 10 pro-Gaddafi vehicles on the frontline. It said there were two hours of heavy fighting but the NTC troops held their position. Continue reading the main story “Start Quote We are signatories of the Rome Statute (of the International Criminal Court), so [Col Gaddafi and his sons] know what they are exposed to if they come” End Quote Massaoudou Hassoumi Head of Niger cabinet • Libyan conflict: The final phase? • Desert escape route • Where could Gaddafi be hiding? The NTC has been trying to negotiate a peaceful resolution to stand-offs in Bani Walid, Jufra, Sabha and Sirte but interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril had warned NTC troops would respond if attacked. Nato has stepped up its military operations, saying it had successfully launched an air strike on Friday on a Gaddafi-held warehouse holding two Scud missiles near Bani Walid. It also carried out a long-range mission on Thursday that fired Storm Shadow missiles at a military vehicle depot near Sabha further south. Interpol warrant Meanwhile officials in the town of Agadez in Niger said a convoy of at least three vehicles carrying a dozen people, including Gen Kana, had arrived. Sources in Agadez told the BBC the convoy members had checked into a hotel built by Col Gaddafi. Several convoys of former loyalists are said to have streamed over the border with Niger over the past few weeks. A number of Col Gaddafi's aides - including his chief of security Mansour Daw - have reached the capital, Niamey. And one source from Niger's Tuareg community told AFP that a convoy of Gaddafi "generals and senior officials" that left Libya about three weeks ago had now moved from Niger to neighbouring Burkina Faso. The report cannot be independently confirmed. Officials in Niger, which recently installed democracy after decades of authoritarianism, said they were letting in many sub-Saharan Africans from Libya on humanitarian grounds. However, the head of President Mahamadou Issoufou's cabinet, Massaoudou Hassoumi, said on Friday it would respect its commitments to the International Criminal Court (ICC) if Col Gaddafi or his sons entered the country. The ICC has issued a warrant for crimes against humanity against Col Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and spy chief Abdullah al-Sanussi. Interpol on Friday issued an arrest warrant for the three. bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14858509 09-09-2011 4 - Syria unrest: Dead soldiers buried, officials say Syria's official news agency has reported that 11 soldiers killed by armed groups have been buried in various cities throughout the country. The government says hundreds of its personnel have been killed since anti-government protests began. More than 2,200 civilians have died, the UN says. Opposition activists are preparing to protest after prayers on Friday, which has become a regular day of protest. There are already reports of protests in Damascus and oil port Deir al-Zour. Demonstrations demanding that Syria's President Bashar al-Assad step down began almost six months ago, and the government has often used violence to attempt to quell the unrest. According to the state news agency, the soldiers who were buried included two colonels who were laid to rest wrapped in Syrian flags. The news agency also reported the alleged confessions of two men who reportedly said they had tried to plant a bomb in a roadside rubbish container in the coastal city of Latakia. 'Beating the wounded' Foreign journalists are not allowed access to Syria and reports cannot be independently verified. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists across the country, said that anger was already spilling out on to the streets on Friday. It said more than 150 people had marched in the capital's flashpoint neighbourhood of Barza, chanting slogans of support for the rebellious central province of Homs, Agence France Presse reports. Homs has seen some of the largest protests of the uprising against the rule of President Assad. During the past week alone, as many as 29 people were killed in confrontations with the security services. According to New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), Syrian security forces have also been forcibly removing patients from a hospital in the city and preventing doctors from reaching the wounded. "When we tried to help the wounded who needed urgent medical care, the security forces pushed us back, saying these were criminals and rapists," one doctor told HRW. "They were beating the wounded as they moved them out of the hospital." The international community has urged the Syrian president to stop targeting civilians. The government insists that it has a political reform programme in place, but opposition leaders say there can be no free and fair elections while the ruling Baath party is in power. In an interview with the Times newspaper, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that President Assad had shown he was not capable of reform and could not remain in office. "His position is untenable. There is no process of change that leaves him intact," Mr Blair said. bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14854778 09-09-2011 5 - Somalia denies CIA rendition base in Mogadishu Somalia has dismissed reports that the US runs an underground detention centre where the CIA helps interrogate terror suspects in the capital Mogadishu. UK rights group Reprieve says it has evidence that the base lies underneath the presidential compound, and that some inmates are as young as 14. The group says one man was taken there from Kenya and held for 18 months without seeing lawyers - or daylight. US officials have not yet commented on the claims. Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohammed Ali told the BBC that he rejected the reports of a detention centre. "I do not have that information and that information does not exist," he said. However, he did admit that the US was helping his authority to "improve the security situation in the country". Islamist militants from the al-Shabab group - which is known to have links with al-Qaeda - control much of southern and central Somalia. The UN-backed transitional government is largely confined to the capital. On Thursday, Mr Ali said he was open to talks with al-Shabab. 'Dirty work' Claira Gutteridge from Reprieve told the BBC's Network Africa programme that she had evidence from "multiple, concurrent sources". She said one man, Ahmed, had been abducted from the streets of Nairobi 18 months ago and flown to Mogadishu, where he has been kept ever since. "It's an underground prison in the compound of the presidential palace," she said. "The guards are Somali but it appears American personnel have access to the prisoners whenever they like." She said it was not clear how many people were held there, but they were mostly Somali and included children as young as 14. However there were at least three Kenyans and one who had a Western passport, she said. She added that it was unclear whether American agents were abducting and transferring - or "rendering" - suspects to Mogadishu, or getting Kenyans and Somalis to do their "dirty work". In July, the US Nation magazine reported the existence of a detention centre. The US has carried out several air raids against al-Shabab and alleged al-Qaeda operatives in Somalia in recent years. It has a military base in neighbouring Djibouti. bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14850581

News

16-09-2011
1 - Mozambique holds 'pirate hunters'
They were detained at the airport in the country's third city, Nampula, police say.

The men reportedly say they work for the US security firm GreySide. The US embassy says the group has no connection to the US government.

GreySide has not commented.

Nampula provincial police spokesperson Inacio Dina told the BBC that the weapons include an FN 5.5mm rifle, as well as ammunition and communications equipment.

The police have named the leader of the group as 42-year-old US citizen Michael Ferguson. He has not commented to the press.

The group had reportedly flown from the United States via Ethiopia and Kenya, where they picked up the weapons.

Mr Ferguson reportedly said their plan was to catch small boats in the northern Mozambican coastal city of Pemba before joining a larger vessel and trying to free the boat from pirates - it is not clear which ship they were allegedly trying to rescue.

They expected further weapons to reach them in Pemba, which they had not been able to load on the plane, police say.

Somalia-based pirates have attacked ships across the Indian Ocean, earning millions of dollars from ransom payments.

Four Britons, who say they were trying to provide protection from pirates, were released by Eritrea in June after six months in captivity.

bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14952999

14-09-2011
2 - Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim flees Libya
The leader of Darfur's main Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) rebel group, Khalil Ibrahim, has returned from exile in Libya.

Mr Ibrahim fled Libya after Col Muammar Gaddafi's government - which gave him refuge last year - was ousted.

Sudan had accused Mr Ibrahim's forces of fighting for Col Gaddafi in his attempt to hold on to power.

Mr Ibrahim said he had evaded attempts by Sudanese intelligence to capture him in Libya, reports say.

He told the Paris-based Sudan Tribune newspaper that he had arrived safely in Darfur after his troops secured the route across the desert.

"We were in a race with the Sudanese intelligence who were seeking to catch us in Libya," he told the newspaper.

Genocide charges

A diplomatic source told the BBC that some of Mr Khalil's men had been killed in the Libyan conflict, where they backed Col Gaddafi's forces.

About 300,000 people have died in the conflict in Darfur since it began in 2003, the UN says.

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir and other officials, accusing them of genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur - charges they strongly deny.

Jem - the biggest rebel group in Darfur - signed a ceasefire with the Sudanese government in February 2010 but abandoned peace talks soon after, accusing Khartoum's forces of launching new raids in Darfur.

Col Gaddafi's fall in Tripoli is a blow to the rebels as he gave them sanctuary and financial and military aid, analysts say.

Mr Ibrahim was exiled in Libya since May 2010 after Chad - said to be another major backers of the rebels - refused to give him refuge following a peace deal with the Sudanese government.

Sudan had repeatedly asked Col Gaddafi's government to expel Mr Khalil, but it refused

bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14881745

09-09-2011
3 - Libya conflict: Clashes ahead of surrender deadline
Fierce clashes have broken out in Libya around two remaining strongholds of troops loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi.
Heavy rocket fire was reported near Bani Walid and Sirte ahead of a Saturday deadline set by anti-Gaddafi forces for loyalists to surrender.
Nato also stepped up operations, with two missile strikes on Gaddafi targets.
Meanwhile Ali Kana, a senior general in Col Gaddafi's forces who commanded troops in the south, has fled to Niger, local sources say.
'Preparing to attack'
Pro-Gaddafi forces are said to have fired barrages of Grad rockets at forces of the National Transitional Council (NTC) that have surrounded both Bani Walid and Sirte.
The BBC's Richard Galpin, near Bani Walid, says anti-Gaddafi fighters have reported three deaths and seven injuries in the intensifying fighting there.

We saw smoke rising from a ridge in front of us, indicating yet another rocket attack by the group of pro-Gaddafi fighters who are still holding out in the town.
The attacks are a sign that Gaddafi loyalists are not prepared to surrender before the deadline to lay down their arms expires. And at the moment the National Transitional Council says the deadline will not be extended.
Throughout the day, pick-up trucks carrying anti-Gaddafi fighters have been arriving, some with heavy weapons, including anti-aircraft guns and rocket-launchers.
Besides heavy weapons, the Gaddafi loyalists are believed to have snipers in the town. But one NTC commander told the BBC he was confident they would seize control quickly.
NTC officials at a checkpoint 30km (20 miles) outside Bani Walid told Reuters a number of pro-Gaddafi forces had been captured.
One NTC commander, Khalid Ahmouda, said an attempt to break out of the town overnight had been beaten off.
"There's no food, no water. A lot of people want to leave but they have no fuel to power their cars and Gaddafi forces are preventing people from leaving the city. They fire in the air to terrorise people," he said.
NTC troops were seen sending ammunition and ordnance further forward.
Commander Abdel-Razak al-Nazouri told Associated Press: "Today marks the last day of the deadline. Our men are preparing for an attack, probably tomorrow."
NTC forces were also preparing munitions near Sirte.
There has been a heavy exchange of rocket fire about 60km east of the city, in the Red Valley region which the NTC announced it had captured on Thursday.
Agence France-Presse reported the arrival of 10 pro-Gaddafi vehicles on the frontline.
It said there were two hours of heavy fighting but the NTC troops held their position.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
We are signatories of the Rome Statute (of the International Criminal Court), so [Col Gaddafi and his sons] know what they are exposed to if they come”
End Quote Massaoudou Hassoumi Head of Niger cabinet
• Libyan conflict: The final phase?
• Desert escape route
• Where could Gaddafi be hiding?
The NTC has been trying to negotiate a peaceful resolution to stand-offs in Bani Walid, Jufra, Sabha and Sirte but interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril had warned NTC troops would respond if attacked.
Nato has stepped up its military operations, saying it had successfully launched an air strike on Friday on a Gaddafi-held warehouse holding two Scud missiles near Bani Walid.
It also carried out a long-range mission on Thursday that fired Storm Shadow missiles at a military vehicle depot near Sabha further south.
Interpol warrant
Meanwhile officials in the town of Agadez in Niger said a convoy of at least three vehicles carrying a dozen people, including Gen Kana, had arrived.
Sources in Agadez told the BBC the convoy members had checked into a hotel built by Col Gaddafi.
Several convoys of former loyalists are said to have streamed over the border with Niger over the past few weeks.
A number of Col Gaddafi's aides - including his chief of security Mansour Daw - have reached the capital, Niamey.
And one source from Niger's Tuareg community told AFP that a convoy of Gaddafi "generals and senior officials" that left Libya about three weeks ago had now moved from Niger to neighbouring Burkina Faso. The report cannot be independently confirmed.
Officials in Niger, which recently installed democracy after decades of authoritarianism, said they were letting in many sub-Saharan Africans from Libya on humanitarian grounds.
However, the head of President Mahamadou Issoufou's cabinet, Massaoudou Hassoumi, said on Friday it would respect its commitments to the International Criminal Court (ICC) if Col Gaddafi or his sons entered the country.
The ICC has issued a warrant for crimes against humanity against Col Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and spy chief Abdullah al-Sanussi.
Interpol on Friday issued an arrest warrant for the three.

bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14858509

09-09-2011
4 - Syria unrest: Dead soldiers buried, officials say
Syria's official news agency has reported that 11 soldiers killed by armed groups have been buried in various cities throughout the country.

The government says hundreds of its personnel have been killed since anti-government protests began. More than 2,200 civilians have died, the UN says.

Opposition activists are preparing to protest after prayers on Friday, which has become a regular day of protest.

There are already reports of protests in Damascus and oil port Deir al-Zour.

Demonstrations demanding that Syria's President Bashar al-Assad step down began almost six months ago, and the government has often used violence to attempt to quell the unrest.

According to the state news agency, the soldiers who were buried included two colonels who were laid to rest wrapped in Syrian flags.

The news agency also reported the alleged confessions of two men who reportedly said they had tried to plant a bomb in a roadside rubbish container in the coastal city of Latakia.

'Beating the wounded'

Foreign journalists are not allowed access to Syria and reports cannot be independently verified.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists across the country, said that anger was already spilling out on to the streets on Friday.

It said more than 150 people had marched in the capital's flashpoint neighbourhood of Barza, chanting slogans of support for the rebellious central province of Homs, Agence France Presse reports.

Homs has seen some of the largest protests of the uprising against the rule of President Assad. During the past week alone, as many as 29 people were killed in confrontations with the security services.

According to New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), Syrian security forces have also been forcibly removing patients from a hospital in the city and preventing doctors from reaching the wounded.

"When we tried to help the wounded who needed urgent medical care, the security forces pushed us back, saying these were criminals and rapists," one doctor told HRW.

"They were beating the wounded as they moved them out of the hospital."

The international community has urged the Syrian president to stop targeting civilians.

The government insists that it has a political reform programme in place, but opposition leaders say there can be no free and fair elections while the ruling Baath party is in power.

In an interview with the Times newspaper, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that President Assad had shown he was not capable of reform and could not remain in office.

"His position is untenable. There is no process of change that leaves him intact," Mr Blair said.

bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14854778

09-09-2011
5 - Somalia denies CIA rendition base in Mogadishu
Somalia has dismissed reports that the US runs an underground detention centre where the CIA helps interrogate terror suspects in the capital Mogadishu.
UK rights group Reprieve says it has evidence that the base lies underneath the presidential compound, and that some inmates are as young as 14.
The group says one man was taken there from Kenya and held for 18 months without seeing lawyers - or daylight.
US officials have not yet commented on the claims.
Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohammed Ali told the BBC that he rejected the reports of a detention centre.
"I do not have that information and that information does not exist," he said.
However, he did admit that the US was helping his authority to "improve the security situation in the country".
Islamist militants from the al-Shabab group - which is known to have links with al-Qaeda - control much of southern and central Somalia.
The UN-backed transitional government is largely confined to the capital.
On Thursday, Mr Ali said he was open to talks with al-Shabab.
'Dirty work'
Claira Gutteridge from Reprieve told the BBC's Network Africa programme that she had evidence from "multiple, concurrent sources".

She said one man, Ahmed, had been abducted from the streets of Nairobi 18 months ago and flown to Mogadishu, where he has been kept ever since.
"It's an underground prison in the compound of the presidential palace," she said.
"The guards are Somali but it appears American personnel have access to the prisoners whenever they like."
She said it was not clear how many people were held there, but they were mostly Somali and included children as young as 14.
However there were at least three Kenyans and one who had a Western passport, she said.
She added that it was unclear whether American agents were abducting and transferring - or "rendering" - suspects to Mogadishu, or getting Kenyans and Somalis to do their "dirty work".
In July, the US Nation magazine reported the existence of a detention centre.
The US has carried out several air raids against al-Shabab and alleged al-Qaeda operatives in Somalia in recent years.
It has a military base in neighbouring Djibouti.

bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14850581