AU worries about al-Qaeda

2010-07-26 21:35

Ben Simon

Kampala - Security concerns dominated the African Union's 15th summit on Monday, with al-Qaeda's expansion in East Africa and the Sahel elbowing issues such as health and governance out of the limelight.

More than 30 heads of state met behind closed doors with the bombings that killed 76 in Kampala two weeks ago and the execution of a French hostage in Mali on Saturday topping the agenda.

"Al-Qaeda has demonstrated the little respect it has for human life... This is another manifestation of a behaviour which is totally barbaric and unacceptable," the AU's top security official, Ramtane Lamamra, said.

He was referring to confirmation that a 78-year-old Michel Germaneau, who was working for a small aid agency when he was kidnapped in Niger in April, had been executed by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

The group - which still holds two Spaniards hostage - has plagued the security of several countries, including Mali, Mauritania, Algeria and Niger.

With an al-Qaeda franchise destabilising the vast northwestern Sahel region, Somalia's al-Shabaab group showed it was aspiring to the same regional status when it struck crowds watching the World Cup in Kampala on July 11.

What Ugandans now refer to as 7/11 killed 76 people and was claimed by the al-Qaeda-inspired Somali insurgent group in retaliation for Uganda's leading role in the AU force which has thwarted their advance in Mogadishu.

Instead of being bullied into pulling out of the Amisom force, African leaders went on the offensive and vowed the rapid deployment of extra troops to rescue the western-backed Somali government and crush the Shabaab.

Sweep them out

"Let us now act in concert and sweep them (terrorists) out of Africa," Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said in his opening speech on Sunday.

"Amisom will become more robust in the coming weeks and months," Lamamra said on Monday. "It's a matter of a few short weeks," he said when asked about the expected date of fresh deployments.

"On who will provide the extra troops, the decisiion will be communicated by Igad to the AU soon. We already know that Uganda's contribution will be available," he said.

The regional body Igad (Inter-Governmental Authority on Development) earlier this month pledged 2 000 troops to bring Amisom from its current level of 6 000 up to maximum strength.

AU commission chief Jean Ping announced last week that Guinea would send a battalion and predicted the force in Somalia could swell to 10 000.

While Uganda has said it could provide the 2 000 troops pledged by Igad, it urged the rest of the continent to recognise the expanding threat of the Shabaab and chip in with contingents of their own.

Foreign deployments have systematically failed to restore stability in Somalia, which has had no functioning central government for two decades, and some observers voiced concern that expanded military action would only further expose civilians.

NGOs also voiced their frustration on Monday that the AU's sabre-rattling was drowning out the summit's official theme of maternal, child and infant health.

Losing a mother

"Obviously the (Kampala) bombings were a tragedy. Nobody disputes that," said Tanya Weinberg of the humanitarian agency Save the Children.

"But the ultimate tragedy is losing a child or losing the maternal head of a household. And that is happening every day on this continent."

The continent's leaders - who are scheduled to close the summit on Tuesday with a final declaration - were also expected to discuss Sudan, where the oil-rich south is due to hold a referendum on independence in January.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir stayed clear of the summit.

Uganda would theoretically have been compelled to arrest the Sudanese leader, who became the first ever sitting head of state to face a warrant from the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and war crimes in Darfur.

AU leaders nevertheless rallied around their peer once again, arguing that the ICC risked fanning the flames of conflict in Sudan.

"To subject a sovereign head of state to a warrant of arrest is undermining African solidarity and African peace and security that we fought for for so many years," AU chair Bingu wa Mutharika said on Sunday.

- SAPA