Sudan's President Al Bashir addresses the mini-summit on the security situation in Somalia - ISSA rejects any Israeli role in Africa

Sudan is keeping its diplomatic mission in Mogadishu despite the deteriorated security situation there.

The 1st Consultative Meeting held between the Council of Arab Peace and Security (PSC) and the Peace and Security Council of the African Union called for full Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories.

Further details below.

ISSA Rejects any Israeli Role in Africa - Al Bashir Addresses the Mini-Summit on the Security Situation in Somalia
Source: Sudan Vision Daily - www.sudanvisiondaily.com
Author: Al-Sammani Awadallah
Date: Monday, 20 December 2010

(Khartoum, Sudan) – President of the Republic, Field Marshal Omer Al Bashir will address at 12:00 noon today in the Friendship Hall the Mini-Summit on the Security Situation in Somalia.

The summit will discuss the situation in Somalia amid broad participation from African Security and Intelligence services.

Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Service Representative, Major General Hanafi Abdullah said in a press conference yesterday that the situation in Somalia will top the agendas of the summit, pointing our to the role played by Sudan in connection to the Somali issue and the financial and logistic support present to the government in Mogadishu.

He affirmed that Sudan is keeping its diplomatic mission in Mogadishu despite the deteriorated security situation there.

He said that the summit will discuss the proposed mechanism to upgrade the capability in Somalia and the current situation there. He pointed to the participation of the African Union and IGAD in this mini-summit to reach a united vision in supporting the AU Peace and Security Council to resolve the issue besides helping the African leaders in supporting stability in Somalia.

On his part, CISSA executive Secretary, Isaac Moyo said that Sudan is continuously supporting the CISSA and this meeting is evidence to the confidence of the CISSA in Sudan which is one of its founders.

He added that the CISSA held a workshop on the ICC through which the rejection voice of the African continent came out.

He disclosed that today's meeting is a unique chance to activate the data of the CISSA over Somalia to bridge any gaps, affirming that the African governments blessed the formation of the CISSA as a unique institution.

He said that the mini-summit will discuss on the sidelines of the meeting the situation in Sudan and the upcoming referendum.

Moyo affirmed that CISSA is an African entity working for the interest of the continent as a security mechanism to confront the security problems in the continent.

He confirmed that CISSA doesn't welcome any Israeli role in Africa and will unveil any Zionist plots.

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The 1st Consultative Meeting held between the Council of Arab Peace and Security (PSC) and the Peace and Security Council of the African Union called for full Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories.

Arab and African PSCs Call for Israeli Withdrawal from All Occupied Arab Lands
Source: Ahlul Bayt News Agency - www.abna.ir
Date:

The 1st Consultative Meeting held between the Council of Arab Peace and Security (PSC) and the Peace and Security Council of the African Union called for full Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories.
The meeting was held at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo.

The councils issued a statement in which they urged the international community to recognize the State of Palestine within the borders of June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital and reach a just and comprehensive solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The statement included several items that reflect the stances of the Arab and African countries concerning Sudan, Somalia and the Comoros, in order to achieve peace, stability, security and prevent external interference in those areas.

Ambassador Youssef Ahmed, Syria's Permanent Representative to the League of Arab States, stressed the importance of holding such meetings between the Arab and the African blocs to reach joint cooperation and coordination between them.

Ahmad stressed that these meetings should reflect clear and strong stances that reject the obstinate Israeli policies, which hinder the peace efforts and violate the international resolutions.

Ambassador Ahmad called for an effective Arab and African role to solve the crisis of Sudan and the Horn of Africa and achieve peace and stability in these areas.

The Council of Arab Peace and Security was established in 2006 during the Arab Summit in Khartoum. It aims at preventing, managing and solving crises.

The Council submits reports to the League's Council with its recommendations and suggestions on the measures necessary to maintain international peace and security, the outcome of negotiations, mediation and conciliation efforts conducted between disputing parties.

Understanding the Ethiopian hardliners

On Sudan, Getachew urged the U.S. to engage Bashir and the Sudanese leadership. Sudan, more than Somalia, poses the greatest threat to regional security and stability, Getachew argued. The prospects for a civil war which destabilizes the region would be devastating. The only country that would benefit would be Eritrea.

Further details below.

US embassy cables Meles Security chief and Yamamoto
Source: www.abugidainfo.com
Date: Wednesday, 08 December 2010.
US embassy cables Meles Security chief and Yamamoto
Monday, 08 June 2009, 12:33

EU contributed over €600 million to Ethiopia - “Ethiopia’s Stalled Democracy: A Spotlight on the Ogaden”

Mr. Marino Busdachin, UNPO General Secretary, stressed the need to discuss Ethiopia’s failed governance because “not enough people in the EU manifest enough interest in the Ethiopia issue.” A major conference was needed to bring new thinking to light – the EU contributed over €600 million to Ethiopia but was treated with contempt and its funds used not for, but against, democracy – this had to be stopped.

The plight of Ogaden women was presented by Mr. Abdullahi Mohamed and Ms. Abbey Augus of African Rights Monitor who cited cases of arrest, robbery, rape, and extrajudicial killings, that compounded critically low development indicators and a tolerance of underage marriage and female genital mutilation.

Full story below.

EU must end “business as usual” with Ethiopia
Source: Unrepresented Nations and People Organization
Reprinted by: africanpressorganization
Date: Thursday, 09 December 2010 (BRUSSELS, Kingdom of Belgium):

In a hearing convened on 7 December 2010 in the European Parliament, deputies, media and civil society heard that the European Union must uphold its values and support them with “concrete action” while the EU High Representative’s “softly worded” statements must be replaced by an assessment of the effectiveness of EU aid distribution and its impact on human rights and democratization, possibly leading to the consideration of identifying targeted sanctions.

Rare and moving testimony from an eyewitness to the severe and degrading human rights abuses being perpetrated in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia informed discussions in a cross-party hearing, entitled “Ethiopia’s Stalled Democracy: A Spotlight on the Ogaden” convened by Ms. Ana Gomes MEP in the European Parliament on 7 December 2010.

Opening the hearing, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Mr. László Tőkés MEP noted that the hearing represented an important step to understanding “Ethiopia’s complexity and the legitimacy of its peoples’ demands” emphasizing that “to look to the future we must understand the present.”

Ms. Ana Gomes MEP communicated her desire for a constructive dialogue – there was “a pressing need to assess where Ethiopian governance is heading” she noted and it was time the international community reacts ”against the domestic and international threat of Ethiopia’s repressive government.”

Mr. Marino Busdachin, UNPO General Secretary, stressed the need to discuss Ethiopia’s failed governance because “not enough people in the EU manifest enough interest in the Ethiopia issue.” A major conference was needed to bring new thinking to light – the EU contributed over €600 million to Ethiopia but was treated with contempt and its funds used not for, but against, democracy – this had to be stopped.

The plight of Ogaden women was presented by Mr. Abdullahi Mohamed and Ms. Abbey Augus of African Rights Monitor who cited cases of arrest, robbery, rape, and extrajudicial killings, that compounded critically low development indicators and a tolerance of underage marriage and female genital mutilation.

In a historical overview Dr. Barbara Lakeberg of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights drew from personal experience in Iraq the case of Ethiopians that fleeing the country to escape repression and the limits to free expression that made independent assessments of the situation in Ogaden so difficult.

Professor Jans of Tilburg University emphasized the need to develop a respect of minorities that went not in the direction of tolerance but rather a deeper and more positive “intercultural reciprocity” that placed Ethiopians under a law applicable to all – similar to that enshrined in the South African constitution.


SOURCE

Unrepresented Nations and People Organization

[End of copy]

Yemen key transit hub for Hamas arms: leaked memos

WASHINGTON saw Yemen as a key transit point for arms flowing to the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and the Gaza Strip via Sudan, according to US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks on Tuesday.

"We understand a significant volume of arms shipments to Hamas make the short 24-hour transit across the Red Sea from Yemen to Sudan," a July 2009 memo from the US embassy in Saana said.

Full story below.

Yemen key transit hub for Hamas arms: leaked memos
Source: AFP - www.google.com/hostednews
By Paul Handley (AFP) – Tuesday, 07 December 2010:

(RIYADH) - Washington saw Yemen as a key transit point for arms flowing to the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and the Gaza Strip via Sudan, according to US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks on Tuesday.

"We understand a significant volume of arms shipments to Hamas make the short 24-hour transit across the Red Sea from Yemen to Sudan," a July 2009 memo from the US embassy in Saana said.

"These shipments usually transit in small groups of flagged and unflagged dhows" -- small wooden ships -- that hide by mixing with other similar vessels in busy harbours or in coastal mangroves, according to the document.

"The weapons are transported by boat across the Red Sea to landing points in Sudan ... Once landed, we assess that the goods are transported north by car through Sudan."

Weapons one group smuggled to Gaza included rockets, handguns, anti-armour rocket-propelled grenades, and anti-aircraft guns, the memo said.

It said the US was asking Sanaa for permission to conduct surveillance over Yemen's coastal sea using helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles to track the arms-smuggling dhows.

"In a recent case, sparse intelligence and a dhow's use of Yemeni territorial waters allowed a known shipment of arms probably bound for Gaza to transit undetected in international waters past a searching US warship," it said.

The same document said Yemen was a departure point for arms going to Somalia and other east African countries, and to Saudi Arabia as well.

Washington had information on a Yemen-based smugglers who were sending arms to African buyers, who possibly sold them on to Al-Qaeda-associated groups like Somalia's Al-Shabab rebels.

US embassy documents also spoke of the "robust black market" for weapons in Yemen.

One of the biggest worries for the US officials was the possibility that shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles could be obtained on the Yemen market.

In a cable from January 2010, US officials expressed concerns about Yemen's planned purchase of 30,000 assault rifles and ammunition from Bulgaria "given the unstable situation in Yemen and the potential for proliferation of small arms."

One month earlier, another memo spoke of worries that Yemen's defence ministry planned to buy a shipment of small arms and heavy artillery ammunition, sniper rifles, anti-aircraft guns and howitzers from a Serbian arms dealer Slobodan Tesic, who was on a UN travel ban list.

The embassy said it worried that the weapons could be diverted to the black market.

But a 2007 cable suggested Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh took a casual view toward the arms black market, and could benefit from it himself.

In the middle of a meeting with the White House's top counter-terrorism advisor, Frances Townsend, Saleh unexpectedly invited in known arms dealer Faris Manaa.

"If he does not behave properly, you can take him... back to Washington in Townsend's plane or to Guantanamo," Saleh joked with the Americans.