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Africa Research Bulletin 20391

December 1st31st 2014


Hopffer Almada, won the internal election
with 51.24% of the votes while Lima was
placed third with 8.45% and vice president of
the party, Felisberto Vieira, obtained 40.31%.
(PANA, Praia 19/12)

its executives, with around 70 people vying for


23 posts. The new NDC chairman is Kofi
Portuphy, while the general secretary, Johnson
Asiedu Nketia, was one of the few big names
to retain his post. (PANA, Accra 20,27/12)

Central African Republic: The anti-Balaka


movement on November 29th officially
announced that it was giving up the armed
struggle and was transforming into a political
organisation. The movement will now be
called the Central African Party for Unity
and Development (PCUD). Its candidate for
the presidential elections will be selected at a
congress in April. (RFI, Paris 29/11)

Lesotho: King Letsie III dissolved parliament


on December 5th ahead of an election on
February 28th designed to restore peace to
the kingdom after an attempted coup.
The dissolution is part of a peace deal
reached by a regional bloc, the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) in
November.

Ghana: The national delegates congress of


the ruling National Democratic Congress
(NDC) took place on December 20th to elect

The United Nations (UN), which played a key


facilitation role during the peaceful 2012
elections, is currently involved in voter edu-

Soldiers of the Caliphate


Leader Killed
The army continues its anti-terrorist
operations.
The Algerian army said on December
23rd it had killed the head of the
militant group Jund al-Khilafa, or Soldiers of the Caliphate, which beheaded
French tourist Herve Gourdel in September (p.).

On December 20th, the army said it had


killed three other Islamist gunmen in a
mountainous area near Sidi Daoud, and
that one of them was a dangerous
criminal wanted since 1995. Soldiers
also seized a large quantity of guns,
ammunition and explosives.
On December 11th, Justice Minister
Tayeb Louh announced that soldiers
had killed two Jund al-Khilafa members
implicated in Gourdels murder.
An Algerian court has launched legal
proceedings against 15 people, including
Gouri, suspected of participating in the
beheading.
Gouri, alias Khaled Abou Souleimane,
was the former right-hand man of
AQLIM leader Abdelmalek Droukdel,
and is suspected of helping to organise
suicide attacks on the government palace and against a UN contingent in
Algiers in 2007. He is also thought to
have masterminded an April attack that
killed 11 soldiers in Iboudrarene, the
same region where Gourdel was kidnapped.
Another two dangerous terrorists were
killed on December 23rd in Akerrou, 120
km southeast of Algiers, the army said.
On December 12th terrorists assassinated the mayor of Bordj el-Emir Abdelkader in the northern province of
Tissemsilt, privately-owned Algerian
newspaper Echourouk El Youmi website
reported. Mayor Chelghoum Ben Youcef
was killed on his farm in the Derrag area
on the outskirts of Bordj el Emir Abdelkader, the report said.
Two young men were killed and about
20 other people wounded in late November when Algerians demonstrating
against delays in government projects
clashed with police, media said. (Sources

The body of Abdelmalek Gouri, who


claimed responsibility for Gourdels
beheading, was identified after an operation in the town of Isser that allowed
us to eliminate three terrorists, the
army said. An operation lasting three
months had seen 3,000 Algerian troops
mobilised to catch Gourdels killers,
AFP (23/12) reported.
Ennahar newspaper (23/12) said Gouri
was killed in the village where he was
born Sidi Daoud in Boumerdes
Province.
Jund al-Khalifa beheaded Gourdel on
September 24th in a gruesome video
posted online after France rejected the
groups demand to halt air strikes in
Iraq against Islamic State (ISIS). The
group was formed at the end of
August after splintering from al-Qaeda
in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb
(AQLIM) and pledging allegiance to
ISIS.
The operation came as the Algerian
army continued its focus on border
security deep in the Sahara, said Magharebia.com (23/12) For the second time
in a fortnight, Algerian Army Chief of
Staff Lt. Gen. Ahmed Gaid Salah visited
the frontier regions of Bordj Badji Mokhtar and Ain Guezzam.

as referenced in text) Border security p. 20355

2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Mozambique: The electoral body on December 30th confirmed the ruling Frelimo partys
candidate Filipe Nyusi had won Octobers
presidential election, as the opposition still
refused to accept defeat.
In addition to the presidency, Frelimo also
took the majority of seats in the 250-member
parliament, winning 144 to Renamos 89. The
Mozambique
Democratic
Movement
(MDM), a newcomer to the political scene,
won 17 seats. ( AFP 30/12 2014)

Burundi
Truth and Reconciliation
Commission

National Security
ALGERIA

cation. Concerns have already been raised


about the validity of the voters roll and the
participation of the army to transport ballots
to remote areas. The army is still seen by
many as being behind the August putsch. (
AFP 5/12 2014; PANA 10/12)

Burundis parliament on December 3rd


appointed the members of a much-delayed
Truth and Reconciliation Commission set
up to probe decades of ethnic killings.
The vote, however, was boycotted by
opposition politicians from the Tutsi
minority who say the commission will
only hand out pardons, and therefore
protect the Hutu-dominated ruling
CNDD-FDD party of President Pierre
Nkurunziza.
Parliament speaker Pie Ntavyohanyuma
nevertheless hailed the vote as historic.
The Commission is made up of six Hutus,
whose ethnic group makes up roughly
86% of the population, four Tutsis and
one Twa, and will be headed by Hutu
Catholic Monseigneur Jean-Louis Nahimana with a Tutsi Anglican archbishop as
his deputy.
The vote was boycotted by Uprona,
Burundis main Tutsi party. Normally it
takes two to have reconciliation. One side
cannot force the other to hand out a
pardon, Uprona MP Charles Nditije said,
adding that truth and reconciliation
cannot happen without justice. ( AFP,
Bujumbura 3/12 2014)

CAMEROON
Air Strikes
Yaounde intensifies military action in
its proxy war against Nigerias Boko
Haram.
Cameroon on December 28th sent warplanes into action against Nigerian Boko
Haram fighters for the first time, after a
large force of jihadists crossed the border and seized a military camp, the
government said.
President Paul Biya personally ordered
the air strike, which forced the insurgents to flee the camp at Assighasia,
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20392 Africa Research Bulletin

Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma


Bakary said.
Fighter planes went into action for the
first time since the start of the conflict
on the Cameroonian side of the frontier,
after several months of deadly crossborder Boko Haram raids, said Bakary.
Military operations were still under way,
he added, saying that the toll from
combat will be released once the operational evaluation is complete.
Since early in 2014, the Boko Haram
movement has sent growing numbers of
fighters into Cameroon, prepared to
battle the army head-on as well as
attacking and intimidating villagers.
Each time Boko Haram captures a
town in Nigeria, it recovers all the
military equipment there. So now they
really have heavy weaponry, a source in
the intelligence services said
Several hundred Boko Haram fighters
assaulted the Assighasia camp early on
December 28th, so that Cameroonian
defence forces had to withdraw after
trying to defend the position, the government said.
The air strikes marked a new escalation
in the Cameroonian response. . . to
multiple enemy attacks by the Boko
Haram terrorist group, the statement
said, but it also sent a signal to other
countries.
Some 2,000 Cameroonian troops patrol
the far-north region, but security sources
say that many more are needed because
the area is so remote with a very porous
border.
Military sources accuse Nigerias army
of failing to do enough against jihadist
forces who have taken control of large
swathes of the northeast of the country.
Attacks on our territory come from a
neighbouring country that calls itself
sovereign and does nothing, a Defence
Ministry official in Yaounde recently
told AFP, asking not to be named.
Backed by France, Nigeria and three
nations on its northern border Cameroon, Chad and Niger agreed on
measures in May to help tackle the
Islamist threat, including pooling intelligence, joint border surveillance and an
intervention force. Each of the four
countries agreed to send 700 soldiers to
the Lake Chad region where their frontiers meet.
Cameroon has already sent 300 men
from the navy to the region, an army
officer told AFP late in November.
Chad and Niger are well placed to send
troops, but thats less certain where
Nigeria is concerned.
Earlier in the month, on December 18th,
Cameroons army said its troops had
killed 116 Boko Haram fighters after
A
2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

National Security

they attacked an army base in Amchide


on the border. On December 22nd, the
army said it had dismantled a Boko
Haram training camp in the MayoDanay district, Far North region, without giving further details, Nigerias
Daily Trust newspaper reported (22/
12). ( AFP, Yaounde 3,18,29/12 2014; Daily
Trust, Abuja 22/12)

Terrorism Law: The new law on terrorism, passed by parliament without difficulty and which gives the death sentence
to anybody who is found guilty of
terrorist offences, immediately drew criticism mainly from the political opposition and civil society organisations. The
criticisms centre on the definition of
terrorism offences which even include
public demonstrations. Maurci Kamto
from the opposition Movement for the
Rebirth
of
Cameroon
(MRC)
denounced the law, which criminalises
public meetings and demonstrations,
while the Movement of Dynamic Citizens called on President Biya to suspend
promulgation. (RFI 12/12) Boko Haram
threat spreads p. 20342

CENTRAL AFRICAN
REPUBLIC
Clashes Follow Reconciliation
Ceremony
Fresh attacks in the centre and south
kill dozens.
At least 28 people died and dozens were
injured in December 16th clashes
between rival militias in the centre of
Mbres, about 300km from the capital
Bangui, police said on the 18th.
The fighting pitted the so-called antibalaka militia formed by the Christian
majority against mainly Muslim Seleka
rebels who led a March 2013 coup, a
police official said, adding that the death
toll had been given by the local Red
Cross.
Both sides blamed each other for causing
the violence. A Red Cross official said 70
homes were also burned.
The unrest came less than a week after a
reconciliation ceremony between exSeleka fighters and anti-balaka forces
was held in Mbres. The official said the
fighting sent hundreds of residents fleeing in to the bush on December 17th. On
the 18th, the former Seleka rebels were
in control of the centre of the town and
imposing their will. Anti-balaka forces
were holed up around the edges of the
town and in surrounding caves.
In a separate incident, at least 20 people
were killed and dozens injured on
December 19th in tit-for-tat attacks in
the central region of Bambari between
anti-balaka on one side and ex-Seleka
B

and Peul herders on the other, police


said. Several homes were also destroyed
in those attacks, which sent villagers
fleeing into the bush or to Bangui.
Bambari clashes earlier in the month
also left four people dead and more than
a dozen wounded, the UN mission
MINUSCA announced.
At least a further 18 people were killed
and dozens injured in fresh attacks early
on December 21st in and around the
south-western towns of Gamboula and
Nola, near the border with Cameroon.
Armed Peul herders launched attacks in
the early morning, killing at least eight
people in the Gamboula area and 10 in
Nola, a senior official in the local
Mambere-Kadei prefecture told AFP.
Most of the inhabitants were surprised
in their sleep by the attackers who also
torched dozens of houses, the official,
who spoke on condition of anonymity,
added. ( AFP, Bangui 5,18,23/12 2014;
BBC News Online 18/12) Seleka protest
p. 20355

TE DIVOIRE
CO
Former Rebels Wreak Havoc
Acts of insubordination and impunity
severely dent the countrys vaunted
image of calm and order.
Former rebels whose support helped bring
Alassane Ouattara to power are increasingly wreaking havoc, with the government seemingly unable to rein them in.
Numerous incidents involving ex-rebels
in November and December including
a strike by soldiers which brought the
country to a halt culminated on
December 21st with shots being fired in
the economic capital Abidjan after an
ex-militia leader was arrested.
Despite the escalating defiance, Ouattara
appears unwilling or unable to confront
the same forces that aided his ascent to
the presidency following his 2010 election victory. These outbreaks of anger
happen, but each time they do, order is
restored, government spokesman Bruno
Kone said.
Nevertheless, the image of a calm and
orderly C^
ote dIvoire vaunted by the
government has crumbled with every act
of insubordination says AFP (21/12).
In mid-November, a strike by former
rebels who have since joined the army,
ground the country to a standstill
after spreading to Abidjan from C^
ote
dIvoire s second city Bouake. The
nearly 9,000 strikers, who joined the
army between 2009 and 2011, were
demanding full payment of backpay
and promotions. Two days after inviting
their leaders to meet him, Ouattara
agreed to their demands.
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