UN News
27 October 2007
The scale and brutality of the sexual violence currently faced by women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity, an independent United Nations human rights expert has told the General Assembly.
Yakin Ertürk, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, told the Assembly's Social, Humanitarian and Cultural (Third) Committee yesterday that the international community needs to intervene urgently to stem the widespread sexual violence.
Ms. Ertürk spent 12 days in the DRC in July, speaking to Government officials, UN agency staff, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and many female victims of violence.
She said she found that the perpetrators include armed militiamen, members of the Congolese armed forces, national police officers and, increasingly, civilians.
"The situation is most acute in South Kivu, where non-State armed groups, particularly foreign militia, commit sexual atrocities that are of an unimaginable brutality and aim at the complete physical and psychological destruction of women with implications for the entire society," she said.
"In many cases, the scale and brutality of the violence amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity."
The Special Rapporteur said the problem was not confined to the far east, which has been the most unstable and violent part of the DRC in recent years and the scene of mass displacement this year because of renewed clashes between the Government, breakaway sections of the military and armed militia.
In Equateur province, near the centre of the DRC, soldiers and police officers have also carried out systematic reprisals against local civilians, including mass rape.
Ms. Ertürk said a climate of impunity for crimes against women predominated across the country.
"Security and the justice system fall short of addressing the problems of sexual violence and women survivors of rape lack sufficient care. Survivors are often also socially stigmatized and they are systematically denied the compensation to which they are entitled under international and Congolese law."
27 October, 2007
The ICTR Refuses to Hear Experts for the Prosecution.
Hirondelle News Agency
26 October 2007
The chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) handling the trial of three national leaders of the former Rwandan presidential party refused to hear the testimonies of three experts having, however, testified in many other trials at the ICTY, it was learned from a legal source Friday.
In this case chaired by the president of the tribunal, Judge Dennis Byron, the prosecutor had wished to call to the stand American Alison Des Forges, a historian and human rights activist, French sociologist André Guichoua and Kenyan Binaifer Nowrojee, a specialist in the questions of sexual violence. Des Forges and Nowrojee are researchers at Human Rights Watch (HRW).
"The chamber concludes that Alison Des Forges, André Guichoua and Binaifer Nowrojee cannot be allowed as expert-witnesses", in this trial, indicated the judges in a decision Thursday. Far from disputing the qualifications and competences of these academics, the chamber is, however, not persuaded "of the need for admitting these expert testimonies at this stage".
The same chamber had already set aside another expert, Rwandan lawyer Charles Ntampaka. This decision will have an effect in reducing the timeframe granted to the prosecution to present its case. It has been presenting its case since September 2005 and must finish by the end of the year. If the chamber grants a similar timeframe to the defence, which it must theoretically do, this trial will not finish before spring 2010.
The United Nations Security Council has, however, asked the ICTR to finish its first instance trials by the end of 2008. On Thursday, during a press conference, the spokesperson of the tribunal, Roland Amoussouga, recognized that this trial, which has known many problems, will not be finished by 31 December 2008. Receiving a delegation of diplomats recently, President Byron evoked the end of the first quarter 2009 for the end of the first instance trials. On average six months are necessary for the drafting of the judgments.
This case, whose proceedings were cancelled once, involves the former president of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND), Mathieu Ngirumpatse, the former vice-president, Edouard Karemera and the former secretary-general of the party, Joseph Nzirorera. Accused of crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity, they have pleaded not guilty.
26 October 2007
The chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) handling the trial of three national leaders of the former Rwandan presidential party refused to hear the testimonies of three experts having, however, testified in many other trials at the ICTY, it was learned from a legal source Friday.
In this case chaired by the president of the tribunal, Judge Dennis Byron, the prosecutor had wished to call to the stand American Alison Des Forges, a historian and human rights activist, French sociologist André Guichoua and Kenyan Binaifer Nowrojee, a specialist in the questions of sexual violence. Des Forges and Nowrojee are researchers at Human Rights Watch (HRW).
"The chamber concludes that Alison Des Forges, André Guichoua and Binaifer Nowrojee cannot be allowed as expert-witnesses", in this trial, indicated the judges in a decision Thursday. Far from disputing the qualifications and competences of these academics, the chamber is, however, not persuaded "of the need for admitting these expert testimonies at this stage".
The same chamber had already set aside another expert, Rwandan lawyer Charles Ntampaka. This decision will have an effect in reducing the timeframe granted to the prosecution to present its case. It has been presenting its case since September 2005 and must finish by the end of the year. If the chamber grants a similar timeframe to the defence, which it must theoretically do, this trial will not finish before spring 2010.
The United Nations Security Council has, however, asked the ICTR to finish its first instance trials by the end of 2008. On Thursday, during a press conference, the spokesperson of the tribunal, Roland Amoussouga, recognized that this trial, which has known many problems, will not be finished by 31 December 2008. Receiving a delegation of diplomats recently, President Byron evoked the end of the first quarter 2009 for the end of the first instance trials. On average six months are necessary for the drafting of the judgments.
This case, whose proceedings were cancelled once, involves the former president of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND), Mathieu Ngirumpatse, the former vice-president, Edouard Karemera and the former secretary-general of the party, Joseph Nzirorera. Accused of crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity, they have pleaded not guilty.
'Formal' Rwandan-Belgian Talks About Bagambiki.
Hirondelle News Agency
26 October 2007
"Formal” talks are currently being held between Kigali and Brussels on the next step of the conviction by Rwandan courts of the former Rwandan prefect, Emmanuel Bagambiki, welcomed by Belgium in July after his acquittal by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), it was learned Friday from an official Rwandan source.
Prefect of Cyangugu (southern Rwanda) during the 1994 genocide, Bagambiki was convicted in abstentia on 10 October for rapes and incitement to commit rapes by the first instance court of Rusizi, in his native region.
"Formal talks are being held. Rwanda and Belgium are discussing the ways and means to end the trial in a final manner ", indicated to the Hirondelle agency the special representative of the Rwandan government to the ICTR, Aloys Mutabingwa, estimating that two options are possible.
"Belgium can extradite him to Rwanda; in this case, his trial would start again under the terms of the Rwandan law which foresees a revision when someone convicted in abstentia presents themselves", explained the Rwandan diplomat.
"It can also ask for the case and try him; it has jurisdiction; it has already tried other Rwandans accused of having played a part in the genocide (of 1994)", added Mutabingwa.
Bagambiki, who had requested for several months to be brought together with his family, arrived in July in Brussels after some administrative adventures. He joined his wife and his children.
The Rwandan government, which had issued an arrest warrant for him, had criticized the ICTR, accusing it of having helped the former prefect to enter Belgium. The authorities in Brussels had initially been, themselves, very reticent to grant a visa of entry to him.
On 25 February 2004, the ICTR acquitted Bagambiki of crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity, and this judgment was confirmed in appeal on 8 February 2006.
But Kigali had at once announced the opening, against the former prefect, of legal proceedings for rapes, the crimes for which he had not been tried before the United Nations tribunal. The ICTR had answered that, not having territorial sovereignty, it did not have the jurisdiction to carry out an unspecified arrest warrant.
26 October 2007
"Formal” talks are currently being held between Kigali and Brussels on the next step of the conviction by Rwandan courts of the former Rwandan prefect, Emmanuel Bagambiki, welcomed by Belgium in July after his acquittal by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), it was learned Friday from an official Rwandan source.
Prefect of Cyangugu (southern Rwanda) during the 1994 genocide, Bagambiki was convicted in abstentia on 10 October for rapes and incitement to commit rapes by the first instance court of Rusizi, in his native region.
"Formal talks are being held. Rwanda and Belgium are discussing the ways and means to end the trial in a final manner ", indicated to the Hirondelle agency the special representative of the Rwandan government to the ICTR, Aloys Mutabingwa, estimating that two options are possible.
"Belgium can extradite him to Rwanda; in this case, his trial would start again under the terms of the Rwandan law which foresees a revision when someone convicted in abstentia presents themselves", explained the Rwandan diplomat.
"It can also ask for the case and try him; it has jurisdiction; it has already tried other Rwandans accused of having played a part in the genocide (of 1994)", added Mutabingwa.
Bagambiki, who had requested for several months to be brought together with his family, arrived in July in Brussels after some administrative adventures. He joined his wife and his children.
The Rwandan government, which had issued an arrest warrant for him, had criticized the ICTR, accusing it of having helped the former prefect to enter Belgium. The authorities in Brussels had initially been, themselves, very reticent to grant a visa of entry to him.
On 25 February 2004, the ICTR acquitted Bagambiki of crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity, and this judgment was confirmed in appeal on 8 February 2006.
But Kigali had at once announced the opening, against the former prefect, of legal proceedings for rapes, the crimes for which he had not been tried before the United Nations tribunal. The ICTR had answered that, not having territorial sovereignty, it did not have the jurisdiction to carry out an unspecified arrest warrant.
US hopes India would not go for Iran pipeline.
IANS
27 October 2007
The US is hoping that India would not move forward with the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project as Washington has imposed more sanctions on Tehran citing links to terrorism and weapons proliferation.
"With regard to the Iran pipeline issue... We're hoping that India won't move forward on this," a senior official said at a briefing Thursday ahead of US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Paulson's four-day trip to India starting Sunday.
"We think at a time when the world should be imposing greater discipline on its interactions with (Iranian) companies and financial institutions and the Iranian government more broadly, that this is not the right path forward." David McCormick, treasury undersecretary for international affairs, said.
The project would do little to provide energy security for India, McCormick said suggesting that would be better achieved by proceeding with the India-US civil nuclear deal that has been stalled by opposition from Indian coalition government's leftist supporters.
Though Paulson's trip was not designed for any discussions on the nuclear deal, he would as a senior US official certainly stress its enormous importance to and enormous benefits that it would bring to the two countries, he said.
"More broadly this is not the right path forward. We have been very clear on that," McCormick said noting that Washington's chief negotiator on the nuclear deal, Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns "has said that very clearly."
However, the US had a "profound understanding" of India's energy needs and it was "one of the underlying pieces of logic" of the civil nuclear deal, he said. "But we don't see a pipeline with Iran providing India with any real energy security given the state of the Iranian regime."
"So we're hopeful that India will not move forward on that," McCormick said hours after Washington imposed more sanctions on Iran, including its Revolutionary Guards Corp, its elite Qods force and three of its state banks, including its largest, Bank Melli, Bank Mellat and Bank Saderat.
The new sanctions against Iran, which has been at odds with Washington over its nuclear programme, were the most stringent since the 1979 Islamic revolution there.
The Bush administration has also accused Tehran of destabilising Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories calling it the "Central Bank" for terrorism.
27 October 2007
The US is hoping that India would not move forward with the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project as Washington has imposed more sanctions on Tehran citing links to terrorism and weapons proliferation.
"With regard to the Iran pipeline issue... We're hoping that India won't move forward on this," a senior official said at a briefing Thursday ahead of US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Paulson's four-day trip to India starting Sunday.
"We think at a time when the world should be imposing greater discipline on its interactions with (Iranian) companies and financial institutions and the Iranian government more broadly, that this is not the right path forward." David McCormick, treasury undersecretary for international affairs, said.
The project would do little to provide energy security for India, McCormick said suggesting that would be better achieved by proceeding with the India-US civil nuclear deal that has been stalled by opposition from Indian coalition government's leftist supporters.
Though Paulson's trip was not designed for any discussions on the nuclear deal, he would as a senior US official certainly stress its enormous importance to and enormous benefits that it would bring to the two countries, he said.
"More broadly this is not the right path forward. We have been very clear on that," McCormick said noting that Washington's chief negotiator on the nuclear deal, Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns "has said that very clearly."
However, the US had a "profound understanding" of India's energy needs and it was "one of the underlying pieces of logic" of the civil nuclear deal, he said. "But we don't see a pipeline with Iran providing India with any real energy security given the state of the Iranian regime."
"So we're hopeful that India will not move forward on that," McCormick said hours after Washington imposed more sanctions on Iran, including its Revolutionary Guards Corp, its elite Qods force and three of its state banks, including its largest, Bank Melli, Bank Mellat and Bank Saderat.
The new sanctions against Iran, which has been at odds with Washington over its nuclear programme, were the most stringent since the 1979 Islamic revolution there.
The Bush administration has also accused Tehran of destabilising Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories calling it the "Central Bank" for terrorism.
Private Military Companies Contracted by the US State Department in Iraq.
US State Department
Security Companies Doing Business in Iraq
The U.S. government assumes no responsibility for the professional ability or integrity of the persons or firms whose names appear on the list.
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AD Consultancy
Headquarters:
ADC House
P.O. Box 153
Sutton, Surrey SM3 9WF
United Kingdom
Tel: 0870 707 0074
Fax: 0870 707 0075
Website: www .adconsultancy.com
Email: security.services@adporta.com
Contact in Iraq:
Ian Grealey
Tel: 0870 707 0074
Email: ian.grealey@adporta.com
Description of Services:
Risk and threat assessment, close protection teams/bodyguards, asset protection, secure commodity escort, travel and escort security, residential and premises security, aviation security, maritime security, oil and gas industry security, surveillance and counter surveillance.
AKE Limited
Headquarters:
Mortimer House
Holmer Road
Hereford HR4 9TA
UK
Tel: [44] (0) 1432 267111
Fax: [44] (0) 1432 350227
Email: services@akegroup.com
Website: www.akegroup.com
Contact in Iraq:
The Manager, AKE Baghdad
Tel: ( In Iraq) 07901 425 199, or in the UK + [44] (0) 1432 267 111
Email: akebaghdad@akegroup.com
Description of Services:
Hostile regions training, twice- weekly Iraq Security Briefings, private intelligence and security reports, reduced personal insurance rates, the services of security risk specialists, location security audits, personal security reviews, body armor, medical audits, equipment, assistance and evacuation; political and cultural briefings, subscription-based on line secure database of security, risk and intelligence information ( Global Intake).
ArmorGroup
Headquarters:
25 Buckingham Gate
London
SW1E 6LD
Tel: [44] (20) 7808-5800
Fax: [44] (20) 7233-7434
Email: info@armorgroup.com or jmillar@armorgroup.com
Contact in Iraq:
John Farr, MBE
Country Manager
Tel: 0088 216 511 20010
Email: jfarr@armorgroup.com
Description of services:
ArmorGroup operates in 40 countries worldwide and is a leading international risk management, security services, mine action, and information service provider. In Iraq we currently have offices in Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra, and on-going operations throughout the country. We provide major corporate and government clients in Iraq with risk assessment and management, close protection, manned guarding, technical security systems, and mine action services (mine clearing and unexploded ordnance disposal). ArmorGroup supports the Joint US/UK Government's Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, and subscribes to the Code of Conduct of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. ArmorGroup is a United Nations approved provider, and is ISO 9001:2000 certified. ArmorGroup's Baghdad office is not able to deal with job applications. All applications must be accompanied by a current CV/resume and sent to: jswaggertt@armorgroup.com (US residents), or cruart@armorgroup.com (UK residents and other nationalities).
Baghdad Fire & Security
Headquarters:
Al Mansour District
Tel: 1-914-360-5249
Email: bfscb@verizon.net
Contact in Iraq:
Youssef Beydoun
Tel: 1-914-360-5249; 07901325631
Email: bfscb@verizon.net
Description of Services:
Fire protection and security equipment supply. Install, maintain and commission these systems. Physical security and demining.
Control Risks Group
Headquarters:
1600 K Street, NW
Suite 450
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: [1] 202-449-3330
Fax: [1] 202-449-3325
Website: www.crg.com
Email: tom.valentine@control-risks.com
Contact in Iraq:
Colin Brown, Country Manager
Tel: 1-914-822-9502 (NY number but person is located in Iraq)
Email: cmiraq@control-risks.com or criraq15@control-risks.com
Description of Services:
Control risk is a leading international business risk consultancy with 30 years experience of supporting more than 5,300 clients in over 130 countries. We currently have an office in Baghdad providing major governmental and corporate clients with a range of services, including security management, discreet armed protection, and information support.
Custer Battles
Headquarters:
8201 Greensboro Drive
Suite 214
McLean, VA 22102
Tel: [1] 703-356-2424
Fax: [1] 703-356-3001
Email: pchristopher@custerbattles.com
Website: www.custerbattles.com
Contact in Iraq:
Paul Christopher, Director
Tel: [1] 790-192-0121
Email: pchristopher@custerbattles.com
Description of Services:
Security services, life supports, construction, logistics, transportation, and personal security details.
Diligence Middle East
Headquarters:
10th Floor
1275 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20004
Tel: [1] 202-659-6210
Fax: [1] 202-783-4566
Email: DME@diligencellc.com
Website: www.diligencellc.com
Contact in Iraq:
Trefor Williams
Tel: Iraqna [+964] 7901925283
Thuraya: +8821652013687
Email: DME@diligencellc.com
Description of Services:
Diligence Middle East is the Middle East subsidiary of Diligence LLC, a premier global risk consultancy and strategic business information provider. DME Iraq security services utilize integrated Expatriate and Iraqi specialists, providing for all aspects of security and information support to governmental, non-governmental and commercial organizations. Current operations in Iraq include discreet personal security teams, managed guard forces, risk and threat assessments and contingency planning, secure movement of high value assets, and bespoke training packages. DME also provides due diligence and investigative services for clients engaging in business in the region.
Erinys Iraq Limited
Headquarters:
16 Zukak 18
601 Emerat Mahla
Al-Mansour
Baghdad, Iraq
Tel: +873763692882
Email: opsbaghdad@erinysinternational.com
Website: www.erinysinternationa.com
Contact in Iraq:
Michael Hutchings
Tel: +873763692882 or +96447901921231
Email: mhutchings@erinysinternational.com
Description of Services:
Expatriate and Iraqi security services supported by nationwide radio and voice/data satellite communications. Services include managed guard forces, personal protection services, convoy protection, key point, and area security. Company is structured in 3 regions and 12 sectors with expatriate managed offices in each sector.
Genric
Headquarters:
Hereford House
East Street
Hereford, UK HR1 2LU
Tel: [44] 1432 379083
Fax: [44] 1432 370786
Website: www.genric.co.uk
Email: nick.duggan@genric.co.uk
Contact in Iraq:
Nick Duggan
Tel: [44] 7919 478484 or [965] 904-8217/8257
Email: nick.duggan@genric.co.uk
Description of Services:
Genric provides global security solutions to corporations in the form of risk assessments, plans and policies for kidnapping, evacuation, crisis management and general security guidelines, physical provision of armed escort teams for personnel and convoys, security managers, occupational health, Technical Surveillance Counter Measures (TSCM), defensive driving, personal, asset and property protection. Offices in the UK, Slovakia, Serbia and the Philippines. A secure facility has been established outside Basra, which provides: armed site security 24/7, air con accommodation, air con offices, 4x4 armored and non-armored vehicle hire or purchase, service and parts center, generation hire or purchase, communications.
Global (Middle East) Risk Strategies FZ-LLC
Headquarters:
PO Box 500457
Dubai
UAE
Tel: [44] (20) 7491 7492
Fax: [44] (20) 7491
Website: www.globalrsl.com
Email: ops.iraq@globalrsl.com
Contact in Iraq:
Louis Scheepers
+964 7901 495 328 or +1 914 822 9039
Description of Services:
Working together with the U.S. government, United Nations, and key commercial clients to provide significant security, logistics and facilitation services in post conflict Iraq. A country wide network of specialist teams, communications and logistics assets have been established, headquarted in Baghdad, to assist with immediate humanitarian aid and reconstruction projects in the Aviation, Oil, Banking and Infrastructure sectors. Further to this, there are now GLOBAL Close Protection Teams working in support of the Ministries of the Coalition Provisional Authority.
Group 4 Falck A/S
Headquarters:
Panchwati 82-A, Sector 18
Gurgaon 122016 (Haryana)
India
Tel: [91] 124-2398888
Fax: [91] 124-2397131
Website: www.group4falck.com
Email: reg.office@group4falckmesea.com
Contact in Iraq:
Abrahem Ghazarian
Tel: 919811768800
Fax: 971508131680
Email: brahem@group4falckmesea.com
Description of Services:
Guarding services including static guards, patrol guards, close protection, control room guards, and air marshals (armed and unarmed). Technical and security systems solutions. Physical security and design. Cash services (armed vehicles) with trained crew to transfer cash and valuables. Provide ATM services, wage packaging and distribution. Cashing sorting. Ambulance services (vehicles and professional staff). Firefighting services (vehicles, products and professional staff). Prisons and prison management. Global solutions. Facility management and training services.
Henderson Risk Limited
Headquarters:
7 Barton Buildings
Old King Street
BATH BA1 2JR
United Kingdom
Tel: [44] (0)1225470099
Fax: [44] (0)1225448566
Website: hendersonrisk.com
e-mail: d.bullivant@hrlgroup.org or alice@hrlgroup.org
Contact in Iraq:
Scotty Saunders
Tel: [1] 914-822-9428 (NY number that rings in Baghdad)
e-mail: scotty@hrlgroup.org
Description of Services:
HRL Iraq is part of the HRL Group, which is based in the United Kingdom. The HRL Group is a global player with operations throughout Latin America, Africa and Europe. Our Iraq team is supported by our partners in Amman and Kuwait City. For more information on group activities please look at our website.
HRL Iraq provides security risk management solutions to companies, institutions and private clients. We have a comprehensive understanding of the challenges posed by operating in high risk, post conflict environments. Our clients in Iraq include multinational companies and international humanitarian organizations.
HRL Iraq provide the following services; security management consultancy, project security risk management, security surveys, close protection services, manned guarding, training of security personnel, the supply and installation of security technology, contingency planning, kidnap for ransom management and country evacuation planning.
Hill and Associates, Ltd
Headquarters:
2604-9 Harbour Center
No. 25 Harbour Road
Wanchai, Hong King
Tel: [852] 2802-2123
Fax: [852] 2802-2133
Email: info.ae@hill-assoc.com
Website: www.hill-assoc.com
Contact in Iraq:
Richard Hancock, Director
Operations - Middle East
Tel: [971] (4) 211-5447 (Dubai) or (65) 6322-2558
Thuraya: 882-162-1100-133
Email: Richard.hancock@hill-assoc.com or richancock@hotmail.com
Description of Services:
Hill and Associates are a risk management consultancy company with ten years of experience supporting Fortune 500 companies in Asia Pacific and the Middle East. We currently have offices in Kuwait City, Dubai and Baghdad focused on providing clients in Iraq with a range of services, including: executive protection, information services and security audits.
ICP Group
Headquarters:
2 Old Brompton Road
London SW7 3DQ
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7591 4411
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7584 1460
www.icpgroup.ltd.uk
Contact in Iraq:
Will Geddes
Tel: [44] (870) 464-1000 (UK number that rings in Baghdad)
Email: iraq@icpgroup.ltd.uk
Description of Services:
ICP Group Ltd is an international threat management company servicing many international organizations including the corporate, industrial, financial, telecoms and pharmaceutical industries. With representation country-wide since Desert Storm (1991), ICP Group Ltd have provided security support and services to many major multi-national companies, NGO and government agencies. Providers of high-quality and competitively-priced protection services, security equipment, logistics management and liaison services, ICP Group Ltd can ensure that you are provided with an effective and efficiently managed security solution for short, mid and long-term engagements. Services include: close protection/bodyguards (static and mobile), secure accommodation, armored vehicles, personal protection equipment, field operations supplies, due diligence, risk assessment, audits and project evaluation/analysis, medical services, hostile environment training, specialist insurance coverage (through Lloyds of London), crisis management, and business continuity services and evacuation support and services. ICP Group Ltd protection employees are only either former British and US Special Forces or Elite Forces personnel.
ISI
Headquarters:
Baghdad Conference Palace
Mansour, Baghdad
Tel: [1] 914-360-2492
Email: omarhadi@hotmail.com
Contact in Iraq
Omar Hadi
Tel: [1] 914-360-2492 or [1] 914-822-7707
Email: omarhadi@hotmail.com
Description of Services:
ISI Iraq is a part of the ISI Group and is the only security company to provide 24 hour Iraqi security guards to the CPA "Green Zone". All guards are trained by the U.S. army, vetted through "local knowledge" and have been a valuable asset to the American troops at the convention center in Baghdad. ISI also provides guards for residences, offices, and also do low key protection work for foreign nationals. All guards provided to foreign nationals have proficient English, and invaluable local knowledge, military or police backgrounds as well as British and American training. ISI has also been involved in due diligence, providing information for foreign and domestic companies through a network of personalities, companies, and families throughout Iraq. ISI's senior management includes experienced military personnel mostly ex-special forces from both the US and UK. ISI provides turnkey accommodation solution for foreign companies and press, in low key locations around Baghdad, providing and vetting all members of staff, 24 hour security as well as other complimentary support. Security services include: manned guarding, close protection work, site surveys, turnkey accommodation, and provision of commercial intelligence and due diligence, translators and drivers. Commercial services include: representation, construction, turn key 'camps', transportation within and in and out of Iraq. ISI has existing joint venture agreements with both US and UK established security firms.
Meteoric Tactical Solutions
Headquarters:
6 Meteor Road
Valhalla
Pretoria, South Africa
Tel: [27] 12 651 3402
Fax: [27] 12 651 3402
Email: Juanitavr@bestmed.co.za
Contact in Iraq:
Lourens Horn (Louwtjie)
Tel: 914-360-3113
Email: louwtjieh@hotmail.com
Description of Services:
Specialized training programs, VIP protection, asset protection, risk management and analysis, even management, asset recovery.
Meyer & Associates
Headquarters:
P.O. Box 1800
Joshua (DFW), TX 76058
Tel: [11] 817-426-1199
Fax: [11] 817-558-4868
Website: www.meyerglobalforce.com
Email: gdesmith@meyerglobalforce.com
Contact in Iraq:
Tim Meyer or Gary DeSmith
Tel: 1-817-401-8142 or 1-817-821-8820
Email: tjmeyer@meyerglobalforce.com or gdesmith@meyerglobalforce.com
Description of Services:
Security consulting and problem resolution, executive protection/bodyguards, advance work, intelligence, transportation and drivers, security guards, threat assessment, kidnap negotiations, investigations, reporting, analysis, liaisons with government, diplomatic, military, local and guerilla leaders. Aggressive security including specialized ex-military personnel utilizing state of the art equipment and tactics. Armed Patrol Vessels.
Olive Group FZ LLC
Headquarters:
Olive Group
PO Box 502356
Dubai
United Arab Emirates
Tel: +971 4391 2935
Fax: +971 4391 2907
Email: info@olivegroup.com
Web: www.olivegroup.com
Contact in Iraq:
Bruce Spargo
Security Advisor (Baghdad)
Phone: +964 (0) 7901 922112
E-mail: bspargo@olivegroup.com
Katharina Pfitzner
Office Manager (Baghdad)
Baghdad + 964 (0)7901 922489
Email: kpfitzner@olivegroup.com
Description of Services:
Olive Group is a recognized global leader in the provision of security services and technology, providing large scale solutions to corporations and Governments. Olive has been supporting security operations in Iraq since February 2003 when it provided support to the news media embedded with the coalition forces. After the immediate cessation of hostilities Olive was the first security firm to be awarded a contract as support to the prime contractor for USAID and was therefore the first to receive the appropriate permission to carry weapons by the US/ UK Government and CPA. Olive continues to support multiple projects for blue chip corporations and Governments including the vital security and training support to the Iraqi Government.
The Group offers a broad spectrum of services, including close protection, key point security, cargo transportation security, maritime security, training (both civilian and military), vehicle and asset tracking, advanced technologies and equipment, risk analysis reports, technical security auditing and project management. Olive is a specialist in the provision of security for Oil and Gas infrastructure.
Olive Group is licensed and registered by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior and holds ISO 9001:2000 accreditation. The Group’s infrastructure in Iraq is extensive, with operational bases throughout the country and over 500 personnel and 160 armored vehicles. Olive’s Middle Eastern network includes local offices in Dubai (Group Head Office), Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kabul.
Optimal Solution Services
Headquarters:
4/35 Spencer Street
Fairfield NSW
Australia
Tel: [61] (2) 97555840
Fax: [61] (2) 97559835
Email: optimal1@optusnet.com.au
Contact in Iraq:
Zahir F. Hameed
Tel: +8821621233556
Email: optimal_solution@hotmail.com
Description of Services:
The infrastructure is streamlined to ensure maximum efficiency and effectiveness in vigilance and security alert response. Our emphasis is on maintaining the highest industry standards with our security personnel adhering to safety and health regulation and best work practices.
Overseas Security & Strategic Information, Inc/Safenet - Iraq
Headquarters:
Post Office Box 52067
Atlanta, GA 30355
USA
Tel: [1] 404-307-4072
Fax: [1] 413-208-6069
Email: ossiinc @aol.com
Contact in Iraq:
John H. Walbridge, Jr. or Mauritz Le Roux
Tel: [964] 7901915494 or [88] 216 5201 4591/4592
Description of Services:
We provide in-country "hands on" management of highly trained and experienced South African security personnel by former American intelligence officers with paramilitary backgrounds. Services include close protection of VIPs, general personal security of employees, convoy escorts of personnel and equipment, training of local security personnel, provision of armored and unarmored vehicles, threat and intelligence reporting, and provision of combat medics with proper equipment. Our approach is responsive, personalized and cost-effective.
RamOPS Risk Management Group
Headquarters:
7312 Suite 8 Hihenge Court
Raleigh, NC 27615
Tel: [1] 919-740-4597
Website: www.ramops.com
Email: globalservices@ramops.com
Contact in Iraq:
Andy Potts or John Autenreith
Email: globalservices@ramops.com
Tel: [1] 919-740-4597 (US)
Description of Services:
Security consulting that includes threat assessments, recommended precautions, and contingency planning for personnel, sites, and equipment. Site security including area patrols, point security, and barricade design. Executive and VIP protection, convoy escort, 24/7 coverage available throughout Iraq. Communications, information technology, and logistic services available in support of any NGO or commercial operation. Our entire organization is comprised of US special operations and military intelligence professionals. Security consulting and training available in the US for NGO or corporate personnel prior to deployment.
SOC-SMG, Inc
Headquarters:
P.O. Box 28909
Las Vegas, NV 89126
Tel: (925) 934-1400 Or Toll Free: 1-877-883-4507
Fax:(925) 934-1431
Website: www.soc-smg.com
Email: janke@mindspring.com / jschmidt@soc-smg.com
Contact in Iraq:
Jeffery S. Smith
Email: socsmigiraq@yahoo.com
Tel: 00964-790-191-7830 (Baghdad cell)
505-670-3211 or 505-982-5016 (stateside line, ask for Mike Janke)
Description of Services:
SOC-SMG is a special operations security company that provides Tier #1 International Force Protection services in high-threat environments for government and corporate clients:
SOC-SMG, Inc. is a full service security company based in Nevada with offices in Baghdad, Iraq, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Walnut creek, California, and resources to operate worldwide.
Lloyds of London has rated us the #1-five Star Security Company in Iraq
Our core services include international force protection, consulting, security services, armed protection, threat management, investigation, and large-scale security operations. We provide clients with comprehensive solutions to special problems. These include counter-terrorism expertise, surveillance, electronic countermeasures, explosive device detection, and weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) specialties, covert video, overseas special operation protective teams, and intelligence gathering, among others.
Sumer International Security
Headquarters:
Almasbah - Dis Babilon
Sec. 929, St. 10, Building 10(54/356)
Baghdad, Iraq
Tel: [1] 312-869-7369 (VOIP)
Fax: [1] 202-438-9710
Email: contact@thesandigroup.com Or contactiraq@thesandigroup.com
Website: www.thesandigroup.com
Contact in Iraq:
Janna Lipman
Tel: [1] 312-869-8336 (VOIP) or [964] 7901-916-338 or [1] 202-483-5900
Email: lipmanj@thesandigroup.com or karslim@corporatebankintl.com
Description of Services:
Our clients are protected by a 365 days, 24/7 basis and we maintain a 24 hours dispatch operation with field supervision.
TOR International
Headquarters:
PO Box 226
Weybridge
KT13 0WL
UK
Tel: +44 (0)1932 879 879
Fax: +44 (0)1932 336 330
1924 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036 USA
Tel: +1 202 452 0909
Mobile: +1 202 236 3379
Fax: +1 202 452 0007
Email: enquiries@torinternational.com or guy.e@torinternational.com
Website: www.torinternational.com
Description of Services:
TOR International is a London-based security company currently operating within Iraq and other hostile environments around the world with offices in Washington, DC, Moscow, Kabul, Baghdad and Islamabad. It is an accredited security supplier with USAID and USAID sub-contractors. TOR's former SAS and Special Forces staff provide corporate, government, NGO and media clients in Iraq with 24/7 Security & Crisis Management (hostile environment/first aid training, executive close protection, executive escort, convoy protection, protective advance reconnaissance, and facilities security and asset protection); Security & Threat Assessment (security reviews & advice, intelligence assessment, and emergency evacuation contingency planning); and Safety Equipment. All non-military training is fully underwritten by comprehensive specialist Insurance. TOR International provides support for entire operations from pre-deployment preparation of client personnel, safe transit into Iraq, thorough in country procedures, contingency planning for extraction from country, procurement and setting up of secure compounds, and provision of integrated security systems to clients.
Triple Canopy Inc.
Headquarters:
Triple Canopy
2250 Corporate Park Drive
Herndon, VA 20171
U.S.A.
Tel: 703-673-5000
Fax: 703-673-5001
Email: info@triplecanopy.com
Web: www.triplecanopy.com
Alan Ptak, Senior Vice President
Herndon, VA
Tel: 703-673-5000
Email: alan.ptak@triplecanopy.com
Contact in Iraq:
Kelvin Kai, Country Manager
Baghdad
Phone: 703-673-4215 (VOIP)
Email:kelvin.kai@triplecanopy.com
Jessica Gilley, Operations Manager
Baghdad
Phone: 703-673-4216 (VOIP)
Email:jessica.gilley@triplecanopy.com
Description of Services:
Recognized for its performance as a premium service organization, Triple Canopy develops and sustains secure operational environments for our clients by integrating security, communications, logistics, training, medical and life-support services. Our security services include vulnerability assessments and analyses, technical surveillance countermeasures, training, personal security details and fixed-site security operations. We provide integrated security solutions to governments and private corporations worldwide.
Our security professionals have successfully protected dignitaries and executives in various parts of the world. Besides being effective communicators with good organizational and combat skills, our security professionals have a reputation for discretion and sound judgment.
Triple Canopy is registered as a security provider with the Iraq Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Trade. In addition to Iraq and the U.S., Triple Canopy has employees in Amman, Jordan; Lagos, Nigeria; Manila, Philippines and Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
To learn how Triple Canopy can secure your personnel, assets and infrastructure, visit triplecanopy.com.
WADE-BOYD & ASSOCIATES LLC.
International Protection Services
Headquarters:
Suite 116
Main Street
Lawler, IA 52154
Tel: [1] 563-238-3008 or 641-330-4581 (cell) Fax: [1] 563-238-5001
Website: www.wade-boyd.com Email: rick@wade-boyd.com
Contact in Iraq:
Name: President Ricky G. Boyd
Email: rick@wade-boyd.com
Tel: 563-238-3008 or 641-330-4581 (U.S.)
Description of Services:
Owned and Operated by Honorably Retired U.S. Army Military Police Investigator, who currently is a United States Federal Police Investigator Lieutenant, and an Honorably Retired United States Federal Police Investigator Sergeant, former Chief of Police.
With over 50 years of combined experience, we provide:
Professional, Experienced, Former Military/Federal Law Enforcement, Armed, Close Protection Teams; K-9 Dogs for Explosive Detection and Protection; Security Officers, both standing and roving; Investigations; Under-cover Investigations; Armed Escorts; Vehicle and Transportation Convoy Security; Armed Patrol in Vehicle and Water Craft; Air Craft Protection Teams; both on land and in the Air; Translators; Armed Money/Valuables Escorts; Surveillance; Global Vehicle Tracking; Home and Business Protection both Uniformed and Plain Clothes; Armored Vehicles; and more.
We will have a competitive price that you can afford.
Dehdari General Trading & Contracting Est. - KUWAIT - IRAQ.
Headquarters:
Ali Al Salem Street,
Al Angari Building,
1st Floor, Suite No # 1,
Kuwait City.
Tel: (00965) 2409111
Fax: (00965) 2409333
E-Mail: deh@dehglobal.com
Website: www.dehglobal.com
Managing Director: Mr.Mahmoud Dehdari
General Manager : Mr. Mike Seals ( seals@dehglobal.com )
Contact in Iraq:
Mr. Andrew Day
Security Project Manager
E-Mail: andy@dehglobal.com
Tel: 0088 163 155 8271
Description of Service:
Armed VIP protection, armed convoy escort, threat and risk analysis, security site surveys, static security, key point security.
Unity Resources Group (Middle East) LLC
Headquarters:
Dubai Office
Unity Resources Group LLC
Union House Building, 5th Floor
Port Saeed Road, PO Box 43659
Dubai, UAE
Chief Operating Officer - Mr. Hain MacKay-Cruise
+971 (4) 211 5333 (Office)
+971 (4) 211 5101 (Fax)
Contact in Iraq:
Al Harthiya/Al Kindi District
213/56/1
Baghdad, Iraq
Country Manager - Mr. Michael Fiacco
+ 964 790 8134
Description of Service:
URG is a security provider with extensive experience in successfully meeting clients' diverse security and operational needs in all 18 Governorates of Iraq. URG is staffed and managed by experienced security professionals drawn from the Special Forces and Police SWAT communities of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. Underpinning the proven excellence of URG's people in Iraq is practiced teamwork, on going in-theatre training, embedded leadership and first-rate equipment. URG has demonstrated Iraq-tested and proven capabilities in:
Individual and Programme Level Close Personal Protection
Remote and Urban Asset Protection
Site Surveys, Risk Management and Contingency Planning
Training, Coaching and Supervising Local Nationals
Planning and Conducting Emergency Evacuations
Commercial, Government and Non Government Organizations seeking further information on security services and costs should contact the URG representatives in Baghdad or Dubai for assistance.
Security Companies Doing Business in Iraq
The U.S. government assumes no responsibility for the professional ability or integrity of the persons or firms whose names appear on the list.
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AD Consultancy
Headquarters:
ADC House
P.O. Box 153
Sutton, Surrey SM3 9WF
United Kingdom
Tel: 0870 707 0074
Fax: 0870 707 0075
Website: www .adconsultancy.com
Email: security.services@adporta.com
Contact in Iraq:
Ian Grealey
Tel: 0870 707 0074
Email: ian.grealey@adporta.com
Description of Services:
Risk and threat assessment, close protection teams/bodyguards, asset protection, secure commodity escort, travel and escort security, residential and premises security, aviation security, maritime security, oil and gas industry security, surveillance and counter surveillance.
AKE Limited
Headquarters:
Mortimer House
Holmer Road
Hereford HR4 9TA
UK
Tel: [44] (0) 1432 267111
Fax: [44] (0) 1432 350227
Email: services@akegroup.com
Website: www.akegroup.com
Contact in Iraq:
The Manager, AKE Baghdad
Tel: ( In Iraq) 07901 425 199, or in the UK + [44] (0) 1432 267 111
Email: akebaghdad@akegroup.com
Description of Services:
Hostile regions training, twice- weekly Iraq Security Briefings, private intelligence and security reports, reduced personal insurance rates, the services of security risk specialists, location security audits, personal security reviews, body armor, medical audits, equipment, assistance and evacuation; political and cultural briefings, subscription-based on line secure database of security, risk and intelligence information ( Global Intake).
ArmorGroup
Headquarters:
25 Buckingham Gate
London
SW1E 6LD
Tel: [44] (20) 7808-5800
Fax: [44] (20) 7233-7434
Email: info@armorgroup.com or jmillar@armorgroup.com
Contact in Iraq:
John Farr, MBE
Country Manager
Tel: 0088 216 511 20010
Email: jfarr@armorgroup.com
Description of services:
ArmorGroup operates in 40 countries worldwide and is a leading international risk management, security services, mine action, and information service provider. In Iraq we currently have offices in Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra, and on-going operations throughout the country. We provide major corporate and government clients in Iraq with risk assessment and management, close protection, manned guarding, technical security systems, and mine action services (mine clearing and unexploded ordnance disposal). ArmorGroup supports the Joint US/UK Government's Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, and subscribes to the Code of Conduct of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. ArmorGroup is a United Nations approved provider, and is ISO 9001:2000 certified. ArmorGroup's Baghdad office is not able to deal with job applications. All applications must be accompanied by a current CV/resume and sent to: jswaggertt@armorgroup.com (US residents), or cruart@armorgroup.com (UK residents and other nationalities).
Baghdad Fire & Security
Headquarters:
Al Mansour District
Tel: 1-914-360-5249
Email: bfscb@verizon.net
Contact in Iraq:
Youssef Beydoun
Tel: 1-914-360-5249; 07901325631
Email: bfscb@verizon.net
Description of Services:
Fire protection and security equipment supply. Install, maintain and commission these systems. Physical security and demining.
Control Risks Group
Headquarters:
1600 K Street, NW
Suite 450
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: [1] 202-449-3330
Fax: [1] 202-449-3325
Website: www.crg.com
Email: tom.valentine@control-risks.com
Contact in Iraq:
Colin Brown, Country Manager
Tel: 1-914-822-9502 (NY number but person is located in Iraq)
Email: cmiraq@control-risks.com or criraq15@control-risks.com
Description of Services:
Control risk is a leading international business risk consultancy with 30 years experience of supporting more than 5,300 clients in over 130 countries. We currently have an office in Baghdad providing major governmental and corporate clients with a range of services, including security management, discreet armed protection, and information support.
Custer Battles
Headquarters:
8201 Greensboro Drive
Suite 214
McLean, VA 22102
Tel: [1] 703-356-2424
Fax: [1] 703-356-3001
Email: pchristopher@custerbattles.com
Website: www.custerbattles.com
Contact in Iraq:
Paul Christopher, Director
Tel: [1] 790-192-0121
Email: pchristopher@custerbattles.com
Description of Services:
Security services, life supports, construction, logistics, transportation, and personal security details.
Diligence Middle East
Headquarters:
10th Floor
1275 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20004
Tel: [1] 202-659-6210
Fax: [1] 202-783-4566
Email: DME@diligencellc.com
Website: www.diligencellc.com
Contact in Iraq:
Trefor Williams
Tel: Iraqna [+964] 7901925283
Thuraya: +8821652013687
Email: DME@diligencellc.com
Description of Services:
Diligence Middle East is the Middle East subsidiary of Diligence LLC, a premier global risk consultancy and strategic business information provider. DME Iraq security services utilize integrated Expatriate and Iraqi specialists, providing for all aspects of security and information support to governmental, non-governmental and commercial organizations. Current operations in Iraq include discreet personal security teams, managed guard forces, risk and threat assessments and contingency planning, secure movement of high value assets, and bespoke training packages. DME also provides due diligence and investigative services for clients engaging in business in the region.
Erinys Iraq Limited
Headquarters:
16 Zukak 18
601 Emerat Mahla
Al-Mansour
Baghdad, Iraq
Tel: +873763692882
Email: opsbaghdad@erinysinternational.com
Website: www.erinysinternationa.com
Contact in Iraq:
Michael Hutchings
Tel: +873763692882 or +96447901921231
Email: mhutchings@erinysinternational.com
Description of Services:
Expatriate and Iraqi security services supported by nationwide radio and voice/data satellite communications. Services include managed guard forces, personal protection services, convoy protection, key point, and area security. Company is structured in 3 regions and 12 sectors with expatriate managed offices in each sector.
Genric
Headquarters:
Hereford House
East Street
Hereford, UK HR1 2LU
Tel: [44] 1432 379083
Fax: [44] 1432 370786
Website: www.genric.co.uk
Email: nick.duggan@genric.co.uk
Contact in Iraq:
Nick Duggan
Tel: [44] 7919 478484 or [965] 904-8217/8257
Email: nick.duggan@genric.co.uk
Description of Services:
Genric provides global security solutions to corporations in the form of risk assessments, plans and policies for kidnapping, evacuation, crisis management and general security guidelines, physical provision of armed escort teams for personnel and convoys, security managers, occupational health, Technical Surveillance Counter Measures (TSCM), defensive driving, personal, asset and property protection. Offices in the UK, Slovakia, Serbia and the Philippines. A secure facility has been established outside Basra, which provides: armed site security 24/7, air con accommodation, air con offices, 4x4 armored and non-armored vehicle hire or purchase, service and parts center, generation hire or purchase, communications.
Global (Middle East) Risk Strategies FZ-LLC
Headquarters:
PO Box 500457
Dubai
UAE
Tel: [44] (20) 7491 7492
Fax: [44] (20) 7491
Website: www.globalrsl.com
Email: ops.iraq@globalrsl.com
Contact in Iraq:
Louis Scheepers
+964 7901 495 328 or +1 914 822 9039
Description of Services:
Working together with the U.S. government, United Nations, and key commercial clients to provide significant security, logistics and facilitation services in post conflict Iraq. A country wide network of specialist teams, communications and logistics assets have been established, headquarted in Baghdad, to assist with immediate humanitarian aid and reconstruction projects in the Aviation, Oil, Banking and Infrastructure sectors. Further to this, there are now GLOBAL Close Protection Teams working in support of the Ministries of the Coalition Provisional Authority.
Group 4 Falck A/S
Headquarters:
Panchwati 82-A, Sector 18
Gurgaon 122016 (Haryana)
India
Tel: [91] 124-2398888
Fax: [91] 124-2397131
Website: www.group4falck.com
Email: reg.office@group4falckmesea.com
Contact in Iraq:
Abrahem Ghazarian
Tel: 919811768800
Fax: 971508131680
Email: brahem@group4falckmesea.com
Description of Services:
Guarding services including static guards, patrol guards, close protection, control room guards, and air marshals (armed and unarmed). Technical and security systems solutions. Physical security and design. Cash services (armed vehicles) with trained crew to transfer cash and valuables. Provide ATM services, wage packaging and distribution. Cashing sorting. Ambulance services (vehicles and professional staff). Firefighting services (vehicles, products and professional staff). Prisons and prison management. Global solutions. Facility management and training services.
Henderson Risk Limited
Headquarters:
7 Barton Buildings
Old King Street
BATH BA1 2JR
United Kingdom
Tel: [44] (0)1225470099
Fax: [44] (0)1225448566
Website: hendersonrisk.com
e-mail: d.bullivant@hrlgroup.org or alice@hrlgroup.org
Contact in Iraq:
Scotty Saunders
Tel: [1] 914-822-9428 (NY number that rings in Baghdad)
e-mail: scotty@hrlgroup.org
Description of Services:
HRL Iraq is part of the HRL Group, which is based in the United Kingdom. The HRL Group is a global player with operations throughout Latin America, Africa and Europe. Our Iraq team is supported by our partners in Amman and Kuwait City. For more information on group activities please look at our website.
HRL Iraq provides security risk management solutions to companies, institutions and private clients. We have a comprehensive understanding of the challenges posed by operating in high risk, post conflict environments. Our clients in Iraq include multinational companies and international humanitarian organizations.
HRL Iraq provide the following services; security management consultancy, project security risk management, security surveys, close protection services, manned guarding, training of security personnel, the supply and installation of security technology, contingency planning, kidnap for ransom management and country evacuation planning.
Hill and Associates, Ltd
Headquarters:
2604-9 Harbour Center
No. 25 Harbour Road
Wanchai, Hong King
Tel: [852] 2802-2123
Fax: [852] 2802-2133
Email: info.ae@hill-assoc.com
Website: www.hill-assoc.com
Contact in Iraq:
Richard Hancock, Director
Operations - Middle East
Tel: [971] (4) 211-5447 (Dubai) or (65) 6322-2558
Thuraya: 882-162-1100-133
Email: Richard.hancock@hill-assoc.com or richancock@hotmail.com
Description of Services:
Hill and Associates are a risk management consultancy company with ten years of experience supporting Fortune 500 companies in Asia Pacific and the Middle East. We currently have offices in Kuwait City, Dubai and Baghdad focused on providing clients in Iraq with a range of services, including: executive protection, information services and security audits.
ICP Group
Headquarters:
2 Old Brompton Road
London SW7 3DQ
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7591 4411
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7584 1460
www.icpgroup.ltd.uk
Contact in Iraq:
Will Geddes
Tel: [44] (870) 464-1000 (UK number that rings in Baghdad)
Email: iraq@icpgroup.ltd.uk
Description of Services:
ICP Group Ltd is an international threat management company servicing many international organizations including the corporate, industrial, financial, telecoms and pharmaceutical industries. With representation country-wide since Desert Storm (1991), ICP Group Ltd have provided security support and services to many major multi-national companies, NGO and government agencies. Providers of high-quality and competitively-priced protection services, security equipment, logistics management and liaison services, ICP Group Ltd can ensure that you are provided with an effective and efficiently managed security solution for short, mid and long-term engagements. Services include: close protection/bodyguards (static and mobile), secure accommodation, armored vehicles, personal protection equipment, field operations supplies, due diligence, risk assessment, audits and project evaluation/analysis, medical services, hostile environment training, specialist insurance coverage (through Lloyds of London), crisis management, and business continuity services and evacuation support and services. ICP Group Ltd protection employees are only either former British and US Special Forces or Elite Forces personnel.
ISI
Headquarters:
Baghdad Conference Palace
Mansour, Baghdad
Tel: [1] 914-360-2492
Email: omarhadi@hotmail.com
Contact in Iraq
Omar Hadi
Tel: [1] 914-360-2492 or [1] 914-822-7707
Email: omarhadi@hotmail.com
Description of Services:
ISI Iraq is a part of the ISI Group and is the only security company to provide 24 hour Iraqi security guards to the CPA "Green Zone". All guards are trained by the U.S. army, vetted through "local knowledge" and have been a valuable asset to the American troops at the convention center in Baghdad. ISI also provides guards for residences, offices, and also do low key protection work for foreign nationals. All guards provided to foreign nationals have proficient English, and invaluable local knowledge, military or police backgrounds as well as British and American training. ISI has also been involved in due diligence, providing information for foreign and domestic companies through a network of personalities, companies, and families throughout Iraq. ISI's senior management includes experienced military personnel mostly ex-special forces from both the US and UK. ISI provides turnkey accommodation solution for foreign companies and press, in low key locations around Baghdad, providing and vetting all members of staff, 24 hour security as well as other complimentary support. Security services include: manned guarding, close protection work, site surveys, turnkey accommodation, and provision of commercial intelligence and due diligence, translators and drivers. Commercial services include: representation, construction, turn key 'camps', transportation within and in and out of Iraq. ISI has existing joint venture agreements with both US and UK established security firms.
Meteoric Tactical Solutions
Headquarters:
6 Meteor Road
Valhalla
Pretoria, South Africa
Tel: [27] 12 651 3402
Fax: [27] 12 651 3402
Email: Juanitavr@bestmed.co.za
Contact in Iraq:
Lourens Horn (Louwtjie)
Tel: 914-360-3113
Email: louwtjieh@hotmail.com
Description of Services:
Specialized training programs, VIP protection, asset protection, risk management and analysis, even management, asset recovery.
Meyer & Associates
Headquarters:
P.O. Box 1800
Joshua (DFW), TX 76058
Tel: [11] 817-426-1199
Fax: [11] 817-558-4868
Website: www.meyerglobalforce.com
Email: gdesmith@meyerglobalforce.com
Contact in Iraq:
Tim Meyer or Gary DeSmith
Tel: 1-817-401-8142 or 1-817-821-8820
Email: tjmeyer@meyerglobalforce.com or gdesmith@meyerglobalforce.com
Description of Services:
Security consulting and problem resolution, executive protection/bodyguards, advance work, intelligence, transportation and drivers, security guards, threat assessment, kidnap negotiations, investigations, reporting, analysis, liaisons with government, diplomatic, military, local and guerilla leaders. Aggressive security including specialized ex-military personnel utilizing state of the art equipment and tactics. Armed Patrol Vessels.
Olive Group FZ LLC
Headquarters:
Olive Group
PO Box 502356
Dubai
United Arab Emirates
Tel: +971 4391 2935
Fax: +971 4391 2907
Email: info@olivegroup.com
Web: www.olivegroup.com
Contact in Iraq:
Bruce Spargo
Security Advisor (Baghdad)
Phone: +964 (0) 7901 922112
E-mail: bspargo@olivegroup.com
Katharina Pfitzner
Office Manager (Baghdad)
Baghdad + 964 (0)7901 922489
Email: kpfitzner@olivegroup.com
Description of Services:
Olive Group is a recognized global leader in the provision of security services and technology, providing large scale solutions to corporations and Governments. Olive has been supporting security operations in Iraq since February 2003 when it provided support to the news media embedded with the coalition forces. After the immediate cessation of hostilities Olive was the first security firm to be awarded a contract as support to the prime contractor for USAID and was therefore the first to receive the appropriate permission to carry weapons by the US/ UK Government and CPA. Olive continues to support multiple projects for blue chip corporations and Governments including the vital security and training support to the Iraqi Government.
The Group offers a broad spectrum of services, including close protection, key point security, cargo transportation security, maritime security, training (both civilian and military), vehicle and asset tracking, advanced technologies and equipment, risk analysis reports, technical security auditing and project management. Olive is a specialist in the provision of security for Oil and Gas infrastructure.
Olive Group is licensed and registered by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior and holds ISO 9001:2000 accreditation. The Group’s infrastructure in Iraq is extensive, with operational bases throughout the country and over 500 personnel and 160 armored vehicles. Olive’s Middle Eastern network includes local offices in Dubai (Group Head Office), Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kabul.
Optimal Solution Services
Headquarters:
4/35 Spencer Street
Fairfield NSW
Australia
Tel: [61] (2) 97555840
Fax: [61] (2) 97559835
Email: optimal1@optusnet.com.au
Contact in Iraq:
Zahir F. Hameed
Tel: +8821621233556
Email: optimal_solution@hotmail.com
Description of Services:
The infrastructure is streamlined to ensure maximum efficiency and effectiveness in vigilance and security alert response. Our emphasis is on maintaining the highest industry standards with our security personnel adhering to safety and health regulation and best work practices.
Overseas Security & Strategic Information, Inc/Safenet - Iraq
Headquarters:
Post Office Box 52067
Atlanta, GA 30355
USA
Tel: [1] 404-307-4072
Fax: [1] 413-208-6069
Email: ossiinc @aol.com
Contact in Iraq:
John H. Walbridge, Jr. or Mauritz Le Roux
Tel: [964] 7901915494 or [88] 216 5201 4591/4592
Description of Services:
We provide in-country "hands on" management of highly trained and experienced South African security personnel by former American intelligence officers with paramilitary backgrounds. Services include close protection of VIPs, general personal security of employees, convoy escorts of personnel and equipment, training of local security personnel, provision of armored and unarmored vehicles, threat and intelligence reporting, and provision of combat medics with proper equipment. Our approach is responsive, personalized and cost-effective.
RamOPS Risk Management Group
Headquarters:
7312 Suite 8 Hihenge Court
Raleigh, NC 27615
Tel: [1] 919-740-4597
Website: www.ramops.com
Email: globalservices@ramops.com
Contact in Iraq:
Andy Potts or John Autenreith
Email: globalservices@ramops.com
Tel: [1] 919-740-4597 (US)
Description of Services:
Security consulting that includes threat assessments, recommended precautions, and contingency planning for personnel, sites, and equipment. Site security including area patrols, point security, and barricade design. Executive and VIP protection, convoy escort, 24/7 coverage available throughout Iraq. Communications, information technology, and logistic services available in support of any NGO or commercial operation. Our entire organization is comprised of US special operations and military intelligence professionals. Security consulting and training available in the US for NGO or corporate personnel prior to deployment.
SOC-SMG, Inc
Headquarters:
P.O. Box 28909
Las Vegas, NV 89126
Tel: (925) 934-1400 Or Toll Free: 1-877-883-4507
Fax:(925) 934-1431
Website: www.soc-smg.com
Email: janke@mindspring.com / jschmidt@soc-smg.com
Contact in Iraq:
Jeffery S. Smith
Email: socsmigiraq@yahoo.com
Tel: 00964-790-191-7830 (Baghdad cell)
505-670-3211 or 505-982-5016 (stateside line, ask for Mike Janke)
Description of Services:
SOC-SMG is a special operations security company that provides Tier #1 International Force Protection services in high-threat environments for government and corporate clients:
SOC-SMG, Inc. is a full service security company based in Nevada with offices in Baghdad, Iraq, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Walnut creek, California, and resources to operate worldwide.
Lloyds of London has rated us the #1-five Star Security Company in Iraq
Our core services include international force protection, consulting, security services, armed protection, threat management, investigation, and large-scale security operations. We provide clients with comprehensive solutions to special problems. These include counter-terrorism expertise, surveillance, electronic countermeasures, explosive device detection, and weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) specialties, covert video, overseas special operation protective teams, and intelligence gathering, among others.
Sumer International Security
Headquarters:
Almasbah - Dis Babilon
Sec. 929, St. 10, Building 10(54/356)
Baghdad, Iraq
Tel: [1] 312-869-7369 (VOIP)
Fax: [1] 202-438-9710
Email: contact@thesandigroup.com Or contactiraq@thesandigroup.com
Website: www.thesandigroup.com
Contact in Iraq:
Janna Lipman
Tel: [1] 312-869-8336 (VOIP) or [964] 7901-916-338 or [1] 202-483-5900
Email: lipmanj@thesandigroup.com or karslim@corporatebankintl.com
Description of Services:
Our clients are protected by a 365 days, 24/7 basis and we maintain a 24 hours dispatch operation with field supervision.
TOR International
Headquarters:
PO Box 226
Weybridge
KT13 0WL
UK
Tel: +44 (0)1932 879 879
Fax: +44 (0)1932 336 330
1924 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036 USA
Tel: +1 202 452 0909
Mobile: +1 202 236 3379
Fax: +1 202 452 0007
Email: enquiries@torinternational.com or guy.e@torinternational.com
Website: www.torinternational.com
Description of Services:
TOR International is a London-based security company currently operating within Iraq and other hostile environments around the world with offices in Washington, DC, Moscow, Kabul, Baghdad and Islamabad. It is an accredited security supplier with USAID and USAID sub-contractors. TOR's former SAS and Special Forces staff provide corporate, government, NGO and media clients in Iraq with 24/7 Security & Crisis Management (hostile environment/first aid training, executive close protection, executive escort, convoy protection, protective advance reconnaissance, and facilities security and asset protection); Security & Threat Assessment (security reviews & advice, intelligence assessment, and emergency evacuation contingency planning); and Safety Equipment. All non-military training is fully underwritten by comprehensive specialist Insurance. TOR International provides support for entire operations from pre-deployment preparation of client personnel, safe transit into Iraq, thorough in country procedures, contingency planning for extraction from country, procurement and setting up of secure compounds, and provision of integrated security systems to clients.
Triple Canopy Inc.
Headquarters:
Triple Canopy
2250 Corporate Park Drive
Herndon, VA 20171
U.S.A.
Tel: 703-673-5000
Fax: 703-673-5001
Email: info@triplecanopy.com
Web: www.triplecanopy.com
Alan Ptak, Senior Vice President
Herndon, VA
Tel: 703-673-5000
Email: alan.ptak@triplecanopy.com
Contact in Iraq:
Kelvin Kai, Country Manager
Baghdad
Phone: 703-673-4215 (VOIP)
Email:kelvin.kai@triplecanopy.com
Jessica Gilley, Operations Manager
Baghdad
Phone: 703-673-4216 (VOIP)
Email:jessica.gilley@triplecanopy.com
Description of Services:
Recognized for its performance as a premium service organization, Triple Canopy develops and sustains secure operational environments for our clients by integrating security, communications, logistics, training, medical and life-support services. Our security services include vulnerability assessments and analyses, technical surveillance countermeasures, training, personal security details and fixed-site security operations. We provide integrated security solutions to governments and private corporations worldwide.
Our security professionals have successfully protected dignitaries and executives in various parts of the world. Besides being effective communicators with good organizational and combat skills, our security professionals have a reputation for discretion and sound judgment.
Triple Canopy is registered as a security provider with the Iraq Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Trade. In addition to Iraq and the U.S., Triple Canopy has employees in Amman, Jordan; Lagos, Nigeria; Manila, Philippines and Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
To learn how Triple Canopy can secure your personnel, assets and infrastructure, visit triplecanopy.com.
WADE-BOYD & ASSOCIATES LLC.
International Protection Services
Headquarters:
Suite 116
Main Street
Lawler, IA 52154
Tel: [1] 563-238-3008 or 641-330-4581 (cell) Fax: [1] 563-238-5001
Website: www.wade-boyd.com Email: rick@wade-boyd.com
Contact in Iraq:
Name: President Ricky G. Boyd
Email: rick@wade-boyd.com
Tel: 563-238-3008 or 641-330-4581 (U.S.)
Description of Services:
Owned and Operated by Honorably Retired U.S. Army Military Police Investigator, who currently is a United States Federal Police Investigator Lieutenant, and an Honorably Retired United States Federal Police Investigator Sergeant, former Chief of Police.
With over 50 years of combined experience, we provide:
Professional, Experienced, Former Military/Federal Law Enforcement, Armed, Close Protection Teams; K-9 Dogs for Explosive Detection and Protection; Security Officers, both standing and roving; Investigations; Under-cover Investigations; Armed Escorts; Vehicle and Transportation Convoy Security; Armed Patrol in Vehicle and Water Craft; Air Craft Protection Teams; both on land and in the Air; Translators; Armed Money/Valuables Escorts; Surveillance; Global Vehicle Tracking; Home and Business Protection both Uniformed and Plain Clothes; Armored Vehicles; and more.
We will have a competitive price that you can afford.
Dehdari General Trading & Contracting Est. - KUWAIT - IRAQ.
Headquarters:
Ali Al Salem Street,
Al Angari Building,
1st Floor, Suite No # 1,
Kuwait City.
Tel: (00965) 2409111
Fax: (00965) 2409333
E-Mail: deh@dehglobal.com
Website: www.dehglobal.com
Managing Director: Mr.Mahmoud Dehdari
General Manager : Mr. Mike Seals ( seals@dehglobal.com )
Contact in Iraq:
Mr. Andrew Day
Security Project Manager
E-Mail: andy@dehglobal.com
Tel: 0088 163 155 8271
Description of Service:
Armed VIP protection, armed convoy escort, threat and risk analysis, security site surveys, static security, key point security.
Unity Resources Group (Middle East) LLC
Headquarters:
Dubai Office
Unity Resources Group LLC
Union House Building, 5th Floor
Port Saeed Road, PO Box 43659
Dubai, UAE
Chief Operating Officer - Mr. Hain MacKay-Cruise
+971 (4) 211 5333 (Office)
+971 (4) 211 5101 (Fax)
Contact in Iraq:
Al Harthiya/Al Kindi District
213/56/1
Baghdad, Iraq
Country Manager - Mr. Michael Fiacco
+ 964 790 8134
Description of Service:
URG is a security provider with extensive experience in successfully meeting clients' diverse security and operational needs in all 18 Governorates of Iraq. URG is staffed and managed by experienced security professionals drawn from the Special Forces and Police SWAT communities of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. Underpinning the proven excellence of URG's people in Iraq is practiced teamwork, on going in-theatre training, embedded leadership and first-rate equipment. URG has demonstrated Iraq-tested and proven capabilities in:
Individual and Programme Level Close Personal Protection
Remote and Urban Asset Protection
Site Surveys, Risk Management and Contingency Planning
Training, Coaching and Supervising Local Nationals
Planning and Conducting Emergency Evacuations
Commercial, Government and Non Government Organizations seeking further information on security services and costs should contact the URG representatives in Baghdad or Dubai for assistance.
26 October, 2007
'Definitive' Peace Accord Signed in Libya Between Government and Rebels.
MISNA
26 October 2007
A “definitive peace accord” – which foresees an immediate cease-fire, total respect for the Constitution, the release of prisoners and the integration of members of the rebel groups into Chadian state structures – was signed late last night in Sirte (Libya) between the government of Chad and four main rebel groups active in the north-east of the nation: UFDD, UFDD-F, RFC and CNT. The deal was signed in the presence of Chad’s President Idriss Deby, Libyan Colonel Muhammar Gaddafi and Sudanese President Omar al Bashir, who welcomed the accord as a significant political success.
Gaddafi said he would act as guarantor for the application of the peace agreement, expressing hope that it will mark the last step towards peace and calling on the rebel groups to convert themselves into political parties. Officials from both Tripoli and N’Djamena confirmed that for the government the accord was signed by Chad’s Infrastructure Minister Adoum Younousmi. A preliminary agreement was reached at the start of the month, but last week the signing was postponed and a 12 day state of emergency was declared in north-east Chad, where violence defined as ‘tribal’ continues. Some 3,000 to 4,000 European Union peacekeepers are expected to arrive in mid November in the area, which borders with Sudan and hosts scores of displaced from a quadrennial civil war in the adjacent western Sudanese Darfur region.
26 October 2007
A “definitive peace accord” – which foresees an immediate cease-fire, total respect for the Constitution, the release of prisoners and the integration of members of the rebel groups into Chadian state structures – was signed late last night in Sirte (Libya) between the government of Chad and four main rebel groups active in the north-east of the nation: UFDD, UFDD-F, RFC and CNT. The deal was signed in the presence of Chad’s President Idriss Deby, Libyan Colonel Muhammar Gaddafi and Sudanese President Omar al Bashir, who welcomed the accord as a significant political success.
Gaddafi said he would act as guarantor for the application of the peace agreement, expressing hope that it will mark the last step towards peace and calling on the rebel groups to convert themselves into political parties. Officials from both Tripoli and N’Djamena confirmed that for the government the accord was signed by Chad’s Infrastructure Minister Adoum Younousmi. A preliminary agreement was reached at the start of the month, but last week the signing was postponed and a 12 day state of emergency was declared in north-east Chad, where violence defined as ‘tribal’ continues. Some 3,000 to 4,000 European Union peacekeepers are expected to arrive in mid November in the area, which borders with Sudan and hosts scores of displaced from a quadrennial civil war in the adjacent western Sudanese Darfur region.
25 October, 2007
Sudan’s army confirms safety of Heglig oilfield in South Sudan.
Xinhua
25 October 2007
The Sudanese Armed Forces confirmed on Wednesday the safety of an oilfield in Heglig region in southern Sudan, which had been reportedly seized by the former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
The Heglig oilfield, the biggest one in Sudan, was "totally safe," said Osman Mohamed al-Aghbash, the spokesman of the Sudanese army.
He told reporters that all the roads, airports, entrances and exits of the region were under the control of army forces, adding that the army forces were performing their duties there "with all the efficiency and capability."
The field operator, Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company Limited (GNPOC), also informed its personnel in an internal note, that “nothing like this happened in the field."
“The situation is very normal all over the concession and the company operation is running smoothly”. Said GNPOC Security Department.
The pro-ruling National Congress Party Akhirlahza newspaper reported on Wednesday that the SPLM had take control of the Heglig oilfield.
The Arabic-language daily claimed that the SPLM had deployed a battalion around the region and had cut the road between Khartoum and Heglig by putting some 100 soldiers at the northern entrance of the region.
The SPLM announced on Oct. 11 the suspension of its participation in the central government, threatening a peace deal it signed with the Khartoum government in 2005.
The move of the SPLM has caused the most serious political crisis for the present Sudanese Government of National Unity since it was established in September 2005, and escalated tensions between Khartoum and southern Sudan.
Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha accused on Sunday the SPLM of mobilizing and building up military forces along the boundaries between northern and southern Sudan.
25 October 2007
The Sudanese Armed Forces confirmed on Wednesday the safety of an oilfield in Heglig region in southern Sudan, which had been reportedly seized by the former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
The Heglig oilfield, the biggest one in Sudan, was "totally safe," said Osman Mohamed al-Aghbash, the spokesman of the Sudanese army.
He told reporters that all the roads, airports, entrances and exits of the region were under the control of army forces, adding that the army forces were performing their duties there "with all the efficiency and capability."
The field operator, Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company Limited (GNPOC), also informed its personnel in an internal note, that “nothing like this happened in the field."
“The situation is very normal all over the concession and the company operation is running smoothly”. Said GNPOC Security Department.
The pro-ruling National Congress Party Akhirlahza newspaper reported on Wednesday that the SPLM had take control of the Heglig oilfield.
The Arabic-language daily claimed that the SPLM had deployed a battalion around the region and had cut the road between Khartoum and Heglig by putting some 100 soldiers at the northern entrance of the region.
The SPLM announced on Oct. 11 the suspension of its participation in the central government, threatening a peace deal it signed with the Khartoum government in 2005.
The move of the SPLM has caused the most serious political crisis for the present Sudanese Government of National Unity since it was established in September 2005, and escalated tensions between Khartoum and southern Sudan.
Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha accused on Sunday the SPLM of mobilizing and building up military forces along the boundaries between northern and southern Sudan.
Somaliland-Puntland: Blasts and Tensions in Las Anod.
MISNA
25 October 2007
Unidentified gunmen threw explosive devices against Hotel Hamadi in Las Anod, capital of the northern Sool region, engaging in a gunbattle with the guards of the hotel that normally hosts top government figures of the self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland. According to the Somali press, the attack caused no casualties, but renewed tension between the semi-autonomous Puntland region and Somaliland, whose armies repeatedly clashed over the past weeks for control over the Sool region. Las Anod is currently controlled by clans linked to Somaliland after pushing out Puntland rivals on October 15. Meanwhile, Puntland’s Information ministry called for help from international aid agencies in confronting the flow of civilians displaced by the recent fighting in the area of Las Anod. Somaliland and Puntland – which broke-away from the rest of Somalia in 1991 after the fall of the dictator Siad Barre - have clashed on several occasions since 2002 for sovereignty over the Sool and nearby Sanang regions. On the map the two regions are part of the Somaliland territory, but the majority of the inhabitants are of the Darod clan, as the people of Puntland.
25 October 2007
Unidentified gunmen threw explosive devices against Hotel Hamadi in Las Anod, capital of the northern Sool region, engaging in a gunbattle with the guards of the hotel that normally hosts top government figures of the self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland. According to the Somali press, the attack caused no casualties, but renewed tension between the semi-autonomous Puntland region and Somaliland, whose armies repeatedly clashed over the past weeks for control over the Sool region. Las Anod is currently controlled by clans linked to Somaliland after pushing out Puntland rivals on October 15. Meanwhile, Puntland’s Information ministry called for help from international aid agencies in confronting the flow of civilians displaced by the recent fighting in the area of Las Anod. Somaliland and Puntland – which broke-away from the rest of Somalia in 1991 after the fall of the dictator Siad Barre - have clashed on several occasions since 2002 for sovereignty over the Sool and nearby Sanang regions. On the map the two regions are part of the Somaliland territory, but the majority of the inhabitants are of the Darod clan, as the people of Puntland.
The Case of Dominique Ntawukuriryaya Will Be Heard on 7 November in Paris.
Hirondelle News Agency
24 October 2007
The Court of Appeal of Paris will hear on 7 November the extradition request of a former Rwandan sub-prefect, Dominique Ntawukuriryayo, filed by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
A week before, on 31 October, it will have rendered a decision on his request for release. Ntawukuriryayo, was arrested last Tuesday in France at the request of the ICTR.
During the hearing, the president of the investigative chamber, Edith Boizette, proceeded to the formal notification of the charges of "genocide, complicity to genocide" retained by the ICTR against the former sub-prefect of Gisagara (southern Rwanda). He is accused of being responsible for the deaths of 25 000 persons between 21 April and 25 April 1994.
Dominique Ntawukuriryayo stated to have arrived in France in 1999 and to reside in Carcassonne (Aude) since 2000. His lawyer, Thierry Gréciano, specified that his client was legally in France. A group of twenty people, members of his family and friends, went to the court to show their support for him.
Dominique Ntawukuriryayo, born in 1942, sub-prefect of Gisagara (southern Rwanda), was arrested on 16 October under the terms of an arrest warrant issued by the ICTR.
In April 2006, 32 Rwandan nationals pressed charges in Carcassonne against Mr. Ntawukuriryayo for genocide and complicity to genocide. An order of non-receivability was rendered on 21 August due to the reason that the police had not found him at the address indicated by the plaintiffs.
In a letter addressed at the beginning of the week to the Attorney General of the Court of Appeal of Montpellier (Hérault), the lawyers for the plaintiffs, Sophie Dechaumet and Michel Laval, assured that Mr. Ntawukuriryayo was arrested on 16 October in Carcassonne "at the residence mentioned in the complaint" of 2006. They were indignant at a situation which "highlights a serious dysfunction of the police and, without it being possible to demonstrate, of the legal authorities".
Alain Gauthier, the president of the collective of the civil parties for Rwanda (CPCR) indicated that he would file Thursday a new complaint in Carcassonne against the former sub-prefect.
24 October 2007
The Court of Appeal of Paris will hear on 7 November the extradition request of a former Rwandan sub-prefect, Dominique Ntawukuriryayo, filed by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
A week before, on 31 October, it will have rendered a decision on his request for release. Ntawukuriryayo, was arrested last Tuesday in France at the request of the ICTR.
During the hearing, the president of the investigative chamber, Edith Boizette, proceeded to the formal notification of the charges of "genocide, complicity to genocide" retained by the ICTR against the former sub-prefect of Gisagara (southern Rwanda). He is accused of being responsible for the deaths of 25 000 persons between 21 April and 25 April 1994.
Dominique Ntawukuriryayo stated to have arrived in France in 1999 and to reside in Carcassonne (Aude) since 2000. His lawyer, Thierry Gréciano, specified that his client was legally in France. A group of twenty people, members of his family and friends, went to the court to show their support for him.
Dominique Ntawukuriryayo, born in 1942, sub-prefect of Gisagara (southern Rwanda), was arrested on 16 October under the terms of an arrest warrant issued by the ICTR.
In April 2006, 32 Rwandan nationals pressed charges in Carcassonne against Mr. Ntawukuriryayo for genocide and complicity to genocide. An order of non-receivability was rendered on 21 August due to the reason that the police had not found him at the address indicated by the plaintiffs.
In a letter addressed at the beginning of the week to the Attorney General of the Court of Appeal of Montpellier (Hérault), the lawyers for the plaintiffs, Sophie Dechaumet and Michel Laval, assured that Mr. Ntawukuriryayo was arrested on 16 October in Carcassonne "at the residence mentioned in the complaint" of 2006. They were indignant at a situation which "highlights a serious dysfunction of the police and, without it being possible to demonstrate, of the legal authorities".
Alain Gauthier, the president of the collective of the civil parties for Rwanda (CPCR) indicated that he would file Thursday a new complaint in Carcassonne against the former sub-prefect.
The Defense of Abbot Rukundo Will Not File Its Closing Brief Without Solving the Question of its Investigator.
Hirondelle News Agency
24 October 2007
The defence of the abbot Emmanuel Rukundo who is accused before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda(ICTR) will not file its closing brief without solving the question involving its investigator and the prosecution witness, stated an official source from the defence on Wednesday.
She said that the defence is waiting for the investigation report from Jean Haguma, the president of the Bar of Kigali concerning the allegations against the defense investigator, Leonidas Nchogoza to file the closing arguments.
“ We have been ordered to file the closing brief on December 6, 2007 but as long as we have no yet got the report on the question of our investigator and the prosecution witness, BLP who is alleged to give false testimony, we are not filing the required arguments”, declared the source.
Léonidas Nshogoza the investigator in question was arrested in Rwanda in mid-June in connection with the case involving the protected witness BLP. That investigator is still hold in prison charged of having pressured that witness.
The trial of abbot Emmanuel Rukundo commenced on 15 November 2006 and the prosecution closed its case on 12 March 2007 after having called 18 witnesses within 25 trial days.
The defence started its case on 9 July 2007 and called about 30 witnesses during 25 trial days. During the hearing period, the chamber rendered 14 written and 1 oral decision.
Rukundo is in detention with two other catholic priests, Athanase Seromba and Hormisdas Nsengimana.
Nsengimana is still on trial, like Rukundo; while Seromba was sentenced in first instance to 15 years in prison.
Abbot Emmanuel Rukundo is presented by Aicha Conde (France) as a defence counsel and Alison Turner (Canada) her co-counsel.
24 October 2007
The defence of the abbot Emmanuel Rukundo who is accused before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda(ICTR) will not file its closing brief without solving the question involving its investigator and the prosecution witness, stated an official source from the defence on Wednesday.
She said that the defence is waiting for the investigation report from Jean Haguma, the president of the Bar of Kigali concerning the allegations against the defense investigator, Leonidas Nchogoza to file the closing arguments.
“ We have been ordered to file the closing brief on December 6, 2007 but as long as we have no yet got the report on the question of our investigator and the prosecution witness, BLP who is alleged to give false testimony, we are not filing the required arguments”, declared the source.
Léonidas Nshogoza the investigator in question was arrested in Rwanda in mid-June in connection with the case involving the protected witness BLP. That investigator is still hold in prison charged of having pressured that witness.
The trial of abbot Emmanuel Rukundo commenced on 15 November 2006 and the prosecution closed its case on 12 March 2007 after having called 18 witnesses within 25 trial days.
The defence started its case on 9 July 2007 and called about 30 witnesses during 25 trial days. During the hearing period, the chamber rendered 14 written and 1 oral decision.
Rukundo is in detention with two other catholic priests, Athanase Seromba and Hormisdas Nsengimana.
Nsengimana is still on trial, like Rukundo; while Seromba was sentenced in first instance to 15 years in prison.
Abbot Emmanuel Rukundo is presented by Aicha Conde (France) as a defence counsel and Alison Turner (Canada) her co-counsel.
An ICTR Lawyer Asks that Kigali Explain Itself at the United Nations.
Hirondelle News Agency
24 October 2007
Accusing Kigali of refusing to co-operate, an American lawyer at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) requested that the Rwandan government explain itself before the Security Council, in a motion filed on Tuesday.
Peter Robinson defends Joseph Nzirorera, former secretary-general of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND), the dissolved party of former President Juvénal Habyarimana.
On 25 July, the chamber delivered an order requiring the Rwandan authorities to give him documents requested by Nzirorera’s defence team.
"None of the requested documents has been provided", deplored Robinson requesting that the case be referred to the president of the tribunal so that he, in turn, refers it to the United Nations Security Council.
The defence lawyer explained that he needs to take note of these documents in order to prepare for the cross-examination of a forthcoming witness for the prosecution.
The chamber has not yet rendered a decision on this motion by Mr. Robinson.
Indicted for crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity, Nzirorera has pleaded not guilty.
He is on trial alongside two other national leaders of the MRND, the president, Mathieu Ngirumpatse, and the vice-president, Edouard Karemera.
This complex trial is likely not to finish by the end of 2008, date scheduled by the Security Council for the end of the first instance trials.
Editor's Note: This is 'par for the course at the ICTR.' When the prosecution turned over a CD-ROM of the documents in evidence for the trials, the defense lawyers found that none of the documents were labeled or indexed. Additionally, they were scrambled out of chronological order. This means that the defense lawyers and their legal aids had to literally go through each and every one of the 10,000+ documents one-by-one to search for evidence that could be introduced in their client's defense. It would take years for such a team to go through all of them, even without the time constraints imposed by the court.
24 October 2007
Accusing Kigali of refusing to co-operate, an American lawyer at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) requested that the Rwandan government explain itself before the Security Council, in a motion filed on Tuesday.
Peter Robinson defends Joseph Nzirorera, former secretary-general of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND), the dissolved party of former President Juvénal Habyarimana.
On 25 July, the chamber delivered an order requiring the Rwandan authorities to give him documents requested by Nzirorera’s defence team.
"None of the requested documents has been provided", deplored Robinson requesting that the case be referred to the president of the tribunal so that he, in turn, refers it to the United Nations Security Council.
The defence lawyer explained that he needs to take note of these documents in order to prepare for the cross-examination of a forthcoming witness for the prosecution.
The chamber has not yet rendered a decision on this motion by Mr. Robinson.
Indicted for crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity, Nzirorera has pleaded not guilty.
He is on trial alongside two other national leaders of the MRND, the president, Mathieu Ngirumpatse, and the vice-president, Edouard Karemera.
This complex trial is likely not to finish by the end of 2008, date scheduled by the Security Council for the end of the first instance trials.
Editor's Note: This is 'par for the course at the ICTR.' When the prosecution turned over a CD-ROM of the documents in evidence for the trials, the defense lawyers found that none of the documents were labeled or indexed. Additionally, they were scrambled out of chronological order. This means that the defense lawyers and their legal aids had to literally go through each and every one of the 10,000+ documents one-by-one to search for evidence that could be introduced in their client's defense. It would take years for such a team to go through all of them, even without the time constraints imposed by the court.
Turkish planes bomb Kurdish rebels.
CNN
24 October 2007
Turkish warplanes and helicopter gunships have been bombing Kurdish separatist positions in Turkey along the Iraqi-Turkish frontier amid continuing diplomatic efforts to avert a major cross-border incursion by Turkish military forces.
CNN Turk, citing Turkish government and military sources, reported the activity and said it had been taking place since Sunday.
The Dogan News Agency also told CNN that aerial strikes had been going on for days, with several F-16 warplanes loaded with bombs taking off from an air base in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.
Anadolu news agency reported that aircraft-backed "counter-terrorism operations" were "under way" in southeastern Turkey.
Public pressure is mounting in Turkey for the government to authorise a major strike against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters accused of mounting attacks against Turkish forces and civilians from bases across the border in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
Thousands of mourners took to the streets Tuesday for the funerals of 12 soldiers killed in an ambush Sunday.
Meanwhile a Denmark-based Kurdish TV station, Roj TV, broadcast footage it claimed showed eight troops captured by the PKK in the same attack. The film showed eight men standing against a PKK flag with mountains in the background.
The Web site of PKK's military wing quoted a commander who blamed Erdogan himself for the deaths of the soldiers and "the POWs that we now have."
Turkey's military has confirmed that eight soldiers are missing but not reports that they were taken hostage.
Turkey has repeatedly called on Iraq and the U.S. to crackdown on PKK operations within Iraqi territory. The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., the European Union and Turkey.
But with tens of thousands of troops in place along Iraq's northern frontier, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters during a visit to London on Tuesday that cross-border raids targeting the PKK could be launched "at any time" -- and warned Turkey could not "wait forever" for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki reiterated an Iraqi pledge to shut down PKK offices in the north of the country and said Iraq would not allow its territory to be used as a "launch pad" for attacks on Turkey.
"The government will do its best in order to limit the PKK and its terrorist activities that are a threat to Iraq just like it is a threat to Turkey," al-Maliki said, following a visit to Baghdad on Tuesday by Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Presidency of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq called on the PKK to abandon its armed struggle.
"The current problems should be solved through political and diplomatic methods," the statement urged.
"It is necessary to stop using other methods, which are useless, and we demand that the PKK remain committed to the cease fire and not resort to armed operations."
But Babacan, speaking in Baghdad after meetings with Iraqi leaders, said: "We need more than words. We said that preventing the PKK from using Iraqi soil, an end to logistical support and all PKK activities inside Iraq and closing of its camps are needed. We also said its leaders need to be arrested and extradited to Turkey."
Babacan also rejected reports of a unilateral PKK cease-fire, saying that a cease-fire was something that could only be agreed "between two countries or two militaries, and not with a terrorist organization."
The Iraqi central government and Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government are concerned that cross-border action would violate Iraq's territorial integrity and plunge a region that has escaped the worst of the four-year-old Iraq war into conflict.
The U.S. fears Turkish strikes against the PKK could destabilize the American-backed government in Baghdad and jeopardize supply lines for its 160,000-plus troops in Iraq. Washington has launched a major diplomatic push to persuade Iraq to move against the PKK and to keep Turkey -- a NATO ally -- from launching an attack.
Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a joint statement with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, called for a conference to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, next month to discuss diplomatic solutions to the crisis.
24 October 2007
Turkish warplanes and helicopter gunships have been bombing Kurdish separatist positions in Turkey along the Iraqi-Turkish frontier amid continuing diplomatic efforts to avert a major cross-border incursion by Turkish military forces.
CNN Turk, citing Turkish government and military sources, reported the activity and said it had been taking place since Sunday.
The Dogan News Agency also told CNN that aerial strikes had been going on for days, with several F-16 warplanes loaded with bombs taking off from an air base in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.
Anadolu news agency reported that aircraft-backed "counter-terrorism operations" were "under way" in southeastern Turkey.
Public pressure is mounting in Turkey for the government to authorise a major strike against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters accused of mounting attacks against Turkish forces and civilians from bases across the border in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
Thousands of mourners took to the streets Tuesday for the funerals of 12 soldiers killed in an ambush Sunday.
Meanwhile a Denmark-based Kurdish TV station, Roj TV, broadcast footage it claimed showed eight troops captured by the PKK in the same attack. The film showed eight men standing against a PKK flag with mountains in the background.
The Web site of PKK's military wing quoted a commander who blamed Erdogan himself for the deaths of the soldiers and "the POWs that we now have."
Turkey's military has confirmed that eight soldiers are missing but not reports that they were taken hostage.
Turkey has repeatedly called on Iraq and the U.S. to crackdown on PKK operations within Iraqi territory. The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., the European Union and Turkey.
But with tens of thousands of troops in place along Iraq's northern frontier, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters during a visit to London on Tuesday that cross-border raids targeting the PKK could be launched "at any time" -- and warned Turkey could not "wait forever" for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki reiterated an Iraqi pledge to shut down PKK offices in the north of the country and said Iraq would not allow its territory to be used as a "launch pad" for attacks on Turkey.
"The government will do its best in order to limit the PKK and its terrorist activities that are a threat to Iraq just like it is a threat to Turkey," al-Maliki said, following a visit to Baghdad on Tuesday by Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Presidency of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq called on the PKK to abandon its armed struggle.
"The current problems should be solved through political and diplomatic methods," the statement urged.
"It is necessary to stop using other methods, which are useless, and we demand that the PKK remain committed to the cease fire and not resort to armed operations."
But Babacan, speaking in Baghdad after meetings with Iraqi leaders, said: "We need more than words. We said that preventing the PKK from using Iraqi soil, an end to logistical support and all PKK activities inside Iraq and closing of its camps are needed. We also said its leaders need to be arrested and extradited to Turkey."
Babacan also rejected reports of a unilateral PKK cease-fire, saying that a cease-fire was something that could only be agreed "between two countries or two militaries, and not with a terrorist organization."
The Iraqi central government and Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government are concerned that cross-border action would violate Iraq's territorial integrity and plunge a region that has escaped the worst of the four-year-old Iraq war into conflict.
The U.S. fears Turkish strikes against the PKK could destabilize the American-backed government in Baghdad and jeopardize supply lines for its 160,000-plus troops in Iraq. Washington has launched a major diplomatic push to persuade Iraq to move against the PKK and to keep Turkey -- a NATO ally -- from launching an attack.
Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a joint statement with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, called for a conference to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, next month to discuss diplomatic solutions to the crisis.
Fifty RDF peacekeepers off for UN mission.
The New Times
25 October 2007
Edwin Musoni
The first contingent of 50 Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) UN-AU strong hybrid peacekeepers was yesterday airlifted to conflict-torn Darfur region of Sudan.
The heavily equipped troops are part of the UN-African Union joint mission in Darfur that forms the United Nations African Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).
The Army Spokesman Maj. Jill Rutaremara said that the newly deployed troops will boost the already deployed AU peacekeepers in Darfur that are yet to be upgraded to UNAMID force.
Yesterday, 50 RDF peacekeepers and 3 Armed Personnel Carriers (APCs) were airlifted to Darfur.
Rutaremara said another 750 troops and 15 APCs will soon be airlifted to Darfur under UNAMID.
He said that the 18 APCs (painted in white with a UN emblem) belong to Rwanda and would be returned after the mission.
The Minister of Defence, Gen. Marcel Gatsinzi, Chief of General Staff Gen. James Kabarebe, Acting and Deputy US Ambassador to Rwanda, Cheryl Sim, Acting Chinese Ambassador to Rwanda Xin Ming Wang and the South African Ambassador to Rwanda, Ezra Sigwela, witnessed the troops’ send-off at Kigali International Airport.
The visiting Liberian delegation led by Deputy Minister of Defence Dionysius Sebwe, Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Suraj Abdurrahman and the Counselor of the Ministry of Defence Wiefued Sayeh also witnessed the depature.
Before the peacekeepers’ send-off, officials patrolled the US aircrafts AMC Charleston 50102 and AMC Charleston 60006 and supervised the loading of the APCs to the aircrafts.
The UNAMID heavily equipped troops will be deployed in Sector One, El Fasher in Darfur.
However, the mandate of Rwanda’s first UN deployment has not been decided yet but Rutaremara said it will be declared by the end of January 2008 after the final deployment.
2 Rwandan peacekeepers die
Meanwhile, two RDF peacekeepers in Darfur died in a car accident yesterday.
Rutaremara confirmed the deaths last evening but didn’t disclose the identities of the dead.
“We’re still holding the names of the deceased. We’ll give you their names after we have informed their next-of-kin,” he said.
“RDF is saddened by the death of its two soldiers and we are sending condolences to the families of the late,” Rutaremara added .
The accident happened at Twahilla Group Site of Sector One in El-Fasher, Darfur.
Six other RDF peacekeepers sustained minor injuries in the accident and were rushed to El-Fashir Hospital, AMIS Force Headquarters.
He said the vehicle in which the peacekeepers were traveling in overturned near their military base as they returned from fetching water.
“The deceased are part of the newly deployed African Union peacekeepers from our 51st battalion that replaced the first battalion during the-just concluded rotation,” Rutaremara said.
The bodies of the deceased are in El-Fasher Hospital mortuary as arrangements to have them flown back home are finalised, he said.
Yesterday’s deaths raise the number of Rwandan peacekeepers who have so far died in Darfur to eight since 2004 when the deployment began.
25 October 2007
Edwin Musoni
The first contingent of 50 Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) UN-AU strong hybrid peacekeepers was yesterday airlifted to conflict-torn Darfur region of Sudan.
The heavily equipped troops are part of the UN-African Union joint mission in Darfur that forms the United Nations African Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).
The Army Spokesman Maj. Jill Rutaremara said that the newly deployed troops will boost the already deployed AU peacekeepers in Darfur that are yet to be upgraded to UNAMID force.
Yesterday, 50 RDF peacekeepers and 3 Armed Personnel Carriers (APCs) were airlifted to Darfur.
Rutaremara said another 750 troops and 15 APCs will soon be airlifted to Darfur under UNAMID.
He said that the 18 APCs (painted in white with a UN emblem) belong to Rwanda and would be returned after the mission.
The Minister of Defence, Gen. Marcel Gatsinzi, Chief of General Staff Gen. James Kabarebe, Acting and Deputy US Ambassador to Rwanda, Cheryl Sim, Acting Chinese Ambassador to Rwanda Xin Ming Wang and the South African Ambassador to Rwanda, Ezra Sigwela, witnessed the troops’ send-off at Kigali International Airport.
The visiting Liberian delegation led by Deputy Minister of Defence Dionysius Sebwe, Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Suraj Abdurrahman and the Counselor of the Ministry of Defence Wiefued Sayeh also witnessed the depature.
Before the peacekeepers’ send-off, officials patrolled the US aircrafts AMC Charleston 50102 and AMC Charleston 60006 and supervised the loading of the APCs to the aircrafts.
The UNAMID heavily equipped troops will be deployed in Sector One, El Fasher in Darfur.
However, the mandate of Rwanda’s first UN deployment has not been decided yet but Rutaremara said it will be declared by the end of January 2008 after the final deployment.
2 Rwandan peacekeepers die
Meanwhile, two RDF peacekeepers in Darfur died in a car accident yesterday.
Rutaremara confirmed the deaths last evening but didn’t disclose the identities of the dead.
“We’re still holding the names of the deceased. We’ll give you their names after we have informed their next-of-kin,” he said.
“RDF is saddened by the death of its two soldiers and we are sending condolences to the families of the late,” Rutaremara added .
The accident happened at Twahilla Group Site of Sector One in El-Fasher, Darfur.
Six other RDF peacekeepers sustained minor injuries in the accident and were rushed to El-Fashir Hospital, AMIS Force Headquarters.
He said the vehicle in which the peacekeepers were traveling in overturned near their military base as they returned from fetching water.
“The deceased are part of the newly deployed African Union peacekeepers from our 51st battalion that replaced the first battalion during the-just concluded rotation,” Rutaremara said.
The bodies of the deceased are in El-Fasher Hospital mortuary as arrangements to have them flown back home are finalised, he said.
Yesterday’s deaths raise the number of Rwandan peacekeepers who have so far died in Darfur to eight since 2004 when the deployment began.
Entebbe radar monitors Rwandan airspace.
The New Times
Charles Kabooza
25 October 2007
A NEWLY acquired air traffic control radar at Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport monitors large areas outside Uganda including parts of Rwanda, DR Congo, Kenya and Tanzania. According to Richard Mujungu Ruhesi, a senior official with the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (CAA),
the radar monitors flights within a radius of 256 nautical miles central from Entebbe (about 475 miles).
“It is a perfect radar that utilises monopulse technology, the latest so far,” Ruhesi, who is in charge of Communication, Navigation and Surveillance, said during a media tour of the airport on Tuesday.
Monopulse technology captures data at first impulse. The radar cost Uganda about seven million euros (approx. Frw3.8 billion).
Ruhesi said the station normally exchanges air space information with Kigali, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi and Kinshasa daily.
He, however, said the station’s role in regard to flights outside Uganda is limited to monitoring on the radar screen. “We do not communicate with those airlines whatsoever,” he said.
According to Ugandan civil aviation authorities, Entebbe has not had a radar of such magnitude since 1979.
Instead the airport has always relied on a military radar situated some thousand meters away.
The new radar was installed in August this year.
During the media tour, Israeli experts were fixing two other mobile military radars as gap fillers to boost security surveillance that would easily intercept threats over the Ugandan airspace.
The measures are in preparation of the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) due in Kampala next month.
“The mobile radars will be able to detect any airlines that our radar may not detect because of our geography (some areas are hilly whereas others are valleys).
We want to be very careful. Somebody could fly in without being noticed; that is why we are taking extra measures,” Ruhesi said.
The Queen of England Elizabeth II and 53 Heads of State are all expected to use Entebbe airport for CHOGM activities from November 14.
President Paul Kagame has also confirmed he will attend the Commonwealth Business Forum and CHOGM at the invitation of Kampala. Rwanda applied to join Commonwealth, a club composed of UK and its former colonies.
In a related development, the airport’s weather radar is not yet functional despite the country’s allocation of $40m to the refurbishment of most facilities at Entebbe.
A functional weather radar avails airlines instant information on weather, which increases safety in operating aircrafts in Uganda’s airspace.
About two years ago, an aircraft carrying the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement leader Col. John Garang
from Uganda to Southern Sudan crashed killing him instantly, and subsequent reports blamed the incident on bad weather.
However, Ruhesi said in case the weather radar is not yet complete by Commonwealth meetings, the station would rely on satellite surveillance.
Charles Kabooza
25 October 2007
A NEWLY acquired air traffic control radar at Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport monitors large areas outside Uganda including parts of Rwanda, DR Congo, Kenya and Tanzania. According to Richard Mujungu Ruhesi, a senior official with the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (CAA),
the radar monitors flights within a radius of 256 nautical miles central from Entebbe (about 475 miles).
“It is a perfect radar that utilises monopulse technology, the latest so far,” Ruhesi, who is in charge of Communication, Navigation and Surveillance, said during a media tour of the airport on Tuesday.
Monopulse technology captures data at first impulse. The radar cost Uganda about seven million euros (approx. Frw3.8 billion).
Ruhesi said the station normally exchanges air space information with Kigali, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi and Kinshasa daily.
He, however, said the station’s role in regard to flights outside Uganda is limited to monitoring on the radar screen. “We do not communicate with those airlines whatsoever,” he said.
According to Ugandan civil aviation authorities, Entebbe has not had a radar of such magnitude since 1979.
Instead the airport has always relied on a military radar situated some thousand meters away.
The new radar was installed in August this year.
During the media tour, Israeli experts were fixing two other mobile military radars as gap fillers to boost security surveillance that would easily intercept threats over the Ugandan airspace.
The measures are in preparation of the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) due in Kampala next month.
“The mobile radars will be able to detect any airlines that our radar may not detect because of our geography (some areas are hilly whereas others are valleys).
We want to be very careful. Somebody could fly in without being noticed; that is why we are taking extra measures,” Ruhesi said.
The Queen of England Elizabeth II and 53 Heads of State are all expected to use Entebbe airport for CHOGM activities from November 14.
President Paul Kagame has also confirmed he will attend the Commonwealth Business Forum and CHOGM at the invitation of Kampala. Rwanda applied to join Commonwealth, a club composed of UK and its former colonies.
In a related development, the airport’s weather radar is not yet functional despite the country’s allocation of $40m to the refurbishment of most facilities at Entebbe.
A functional weather radar avails airlines instant information on weather, which increases safety in operating aircrafts in Uganda’s airspace.
About two years ago, an aircraft carrying the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement leader Col. John Garang
from Uganda to Southern Sudan crashed killing him instantly, and subsequent reports blamed the incident on bad weather.
However, Ruhesi said in case the weather radar is not yet complete by Commonwealth meetings, the station would rely on satellite surveillance.
US to support Uganda's oil sector.
The New Vision
Emmy Olaki
25 October 2007
The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has commissioned a consultant to Uganda to explore areas where it may provide grant assistance in support of the development of Uganda’s oil and gas sector.
“Potential USTDA actions that could result from the mission include technical assistance programmes, feasibility studies, training activities, and/or orientation visits designed to assist the Government of Uganda in achieving its developmental objectives in the oil and gas sector,” the organisation said in a statement this week.
In a meeting with the Shell director for downstream oil sector recently, energy minister Daudi Migereko, said Uganda lacked personnel to take the industry beyond the drilling stage and asked for assistance in terms of scholarships to build capacity.
“USTDA is prepared to assist Uganda with technical assistance and training on a grant basis as it seeks to harness its oil and gas resources to supplement its industrial and electric power needs,” the statement stated. USTDA has selected RKR Enterprises as the US consulting firm to conduct the mission.
After initial research and information-gathering meetings in the US, RKR Enterprises will travel to Uganda to meet with public and private sector officials to identify opportunities for USTDA assistance.
In particular, RKR Enterprises will explore potential USTDA grant assistance to support the development of a regulatory and institutional framework for the nation’s oil and gas sector and other human capacity building training activities.
Emmy Olaki
25 October 2007
The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has commissioned a consultant to Uganda to explore areas where it may provide grant assistance in support of the development of Uganda’s oil and gas sector.
“Potential USTDA actions that could result from the mission include technical assistance programmes, feasibility studies, training activities, and/or orientation visits designed to assist the Government of Uganda in achieving its developmental objectives in the oil and gas sector,” the organisation said in a statement this week.
In a meeting with the Shell director for downstream oil sector recently, energy minister Daudi Migereko, said Uganda lacked personnel to take the industry beyond the drilling stage and asked for assistance in terms of scholarships to build capacity.
“USTDA is prepared to assist Uganda with technical assistance and training on a grant basis as it seeks to harness its oil and gas resources to supplement its industrial and electric power needs,” the statement stated. USTDA has selected RKR Enterprises as the US consulting firm to conduct the mission.
After initial research and information-gathering meetings in the US, RKR Enterprises will travel to Uganda to meet with public and private sector officials to identify opportunities for USTDA assistance.
In particular, RKR Enterprises will explore potential USTDA grant assistance to support the development of a regulatory and institutional framework for the nation’s oil and gas sector and other human capacity building training activities.
Darfur rebels say they kidnap foreign oil workers.
Reuters
24 October 2007
The Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) said on Wednesday it had attacked the Defra oil field in Block 4, one of Sudan’s largest sources of crude, and kidnapped two foreign oil workers.
Sudanese rebel fighters from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) stand guard near the Chadian border July 8, 2007."This is a message to China and Chinese oil companies to stop helping the government with their war in Darfur," said JEM commander Abdel Aziz el-Nur Ashr. He added they had taken two oil workers hostage, one Canadian and one Iraqi.
The Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC) a consortium involving India’s ONGC, China’s CNPC, Malaysia’s Petronas and Sudanese state-owned Sudapet operates in Sudan’s Blocks 1, 2 and 4 and produces the light Nile Blend crude.
It produces around 265,000 barrels per day of Sudan’s total output of more than 500,000 bpd of crude. The area straddles Sudan’s north-south border.
JEM spokesman for the Kordofan region, which neighbours Darfur, Ali al-Wafi Bashar, said the attackers had fought Sudanese forces near the oil installation on Tuesday.
"We took three army vehicles and killed 20 soldiers," he added.
"We want all oil companies to leave Sudan within one week," he said, without giving details.
The region has seen protests by Sudanese demanding more jobs in the oil sector and complaining of environmental damage caused by drilling.
The oil ministry and the army were not immediately able to confirm or deny the attack.
One source in Khartoum’s oil industry confirmed an "incident" but said Nile Blend pumps were running at normal levels.
"There has been no change in the levels of crude," the source said.
This is not the first time Darfur’s rebels have attacked in the neighbouring Kordofan region.
China is the largest investor in Sudan’s oil industry, after most Western companies pulled out during a bitter north-south civil war and after the United States imposed sanctions in 1997.
Rights activists say China’s military cooperation and help in producing oil in Sudan fuelled the north-south war and the newer separate conflict in the western region of Darfur.
24 October 2007
The Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) said on Wednesday it had attacked the Defra oil field in Block 4, one of Sudan’s largest sources of crude, and kidnapped two foreign oil workers.
Sudanese rebel fighters from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) stand guard near the Chadian border July 8, 2007."This is a message to China and Chinese oil companies to stop helping the government with their war in Darfur," said JEM commander Abdel Aziz el-Nur Ashr. He added they had taken two oil workers hostage, one Canadian and one Iraqi.
The Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC) a consortium involving India’s ONGC, China’s CNPC, Malaysia’s Petronas and Sudanese state-owned Sudapet operates in Sudan’s Blocks 1, 2 and 4 and produces the light Nile Blend crude.
It produces around 265,000 barrels per day of Sudan’s total output of more than 500,000 bpd of crude. The area straddles Sudan’s north-south border.
JEM spokesman for the Kordofan region, which neighbours Darfur, Ali al-Wafi Bashar, said the attackers had fought Sudanese forces near the oil installation on Tuesday.
"We took three army vehicles and killed 20 soldiers," he added.
"We want all oil companies to leave Sudan within one week," he said, without giving details.
The region has seen protests by Sudanese demanding more jobs in the oil sector and complaining of environmental damage caused by drilling.
The oil ministry and the army were not immediately able to confirm or deny the attack.
One source in Khartoum’s oil industry confirmed an "incident" but said Nile Blend pumps were running at normal levels.
"There has been no change in the levels of crude," the source said.
This is not the first time Darfur’s rebels have attacked in the neighbouring Kordofan region.
China is the largest investor in Sudan’s oil industry, after most Western companies pulled out during a bitter north-south civil war and after the United States imposed sanctions in 1997.
Rights activists say China’s military cooperation and help in producing oil in Sudan fuelled the north-south war and the newer separate conflict in the western region of Darfur.
Congo president tours Morenci mine.
Eastern Arizona Courier
24 October 2007
Editor's Note: The reader should know that Freeport bought out the Phelps Dodge contract in Congo, which was on the verge of being cancelled as part of the mining contract review. Some of the Directors are also current Directors at Phelps Dodge. Tenke is owned by the Lundin Companies, which is run by Adolph Lundin, a personal friend of President Bush's father.
His Excellency President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Joseph Kabila visited Freeport-McMoRan’s Phelps Dodge Morenci Mine on Tuesday.
President Kabila toured the mine and the company’s Process Technology Center near Safford. Kabila and a delegation from the Congo are scheduled to meet with President George W. Bush later this week.
Freeport McMoRan is the managing shareholder in the Tenke Fungurume Project, which is building a copper and cobalt mine on a 600-square-mile site in the Congo.
Construction on the mine began in 2006 and should be in operation by late 2008. President Kabila requested to visit a copper mine operated by Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. while he was in the U.S.
24 October 2007
Editor's Note: The reader should know that Freeport bought out the Phelps Dodge contract in Congo, which was on the verge of being cancelled as part of the mining contract review. Some of the Directors are also current Directors at Phelps Dodge. Tenke is owned by the Lundin Companies, which is run by Adolph Lundin, a personal friend of President Bush's father.
His Excellency President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Joseph Kabila visited Freeport-McMoRan’s Phelps Dodge Morenci Mine on Tuesday.
President Kabila toured the mine and the company’s Process Technology Center near Safford. Kabila and a delegation from the Congo are scheduled to meet with President George W. Bush later this week.
Freeport McMoRan is the managing shareholder in the Tenke Fungurume Project, which is building a copper and cobalt mine on a 600-square-mile site in the Congo.
Construction on the mine began in 2006 and should be in operation by late 2008. President Kabila requested to visit a copper mine operated by Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. while he was in the U.S.
Zenawi says favourable to keep Ethiopian troops in Somalia.
Sudan Tribune
25 October 2007
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said he is against the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops in the current conditions from Somalia. He pointed out that this move means sabotaging sacrifices paid to stabilize the neighboring country.
Speaking on Tuesday 23 October at the 4th regular meeting of the House of Peoples’ Representatives Meles said total and immediate pull out of the Ethiopian army in Somalia under the circumstances would have been tantamount to sabotaging the sacrifices paid by the army and also rendering valueless Ethiopia’s contributions for peace in Somalia.
Responding to questions concerning the relation of Ethiopia with Somalia, Meles said the Ethiopian army was deployed to Somalia as per a request made by the Transitional Federal Government.
"So, rushing to pull out the army immediately would have entailed a situation for the already dismantled forces of terror in Somalia to regroup, and thereby to render void the sacrifices already made by the Ethiopian army." He said
Somali troops, with crucial aid from neighboring Ethiopia, drove the Council of Islamic Courts out of the capital and the southern Somalia in an offensive that began late last December. But many Somalis resent the presence of Ethiopian forces. Somalia, a Muslim country, and Ethiopia, which has a large Christian population, fought a brutal war in 1977.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi had announced in January 2007 the withdrawal of its troops from Somalia two weeks after after helping the Somali interim government rout Islamists in a two-week war.
The United States and Ethiopia have portrayed the Islamists as linked to and even run by al Qaeda, putting Somalia firmly on the map of the U.S.-led war against terrorism.
Somali Islamists took control of the capital Mogadishu in June 2006 and had imposed sharia law across much of the south.
25 October 2007
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said he is against the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops in the current conditions from Somalia. He pointed out that this move means sabotaging sacrifices paid to stabilize the neighboring country.
Speaking on Tuesday 23 October at the 4th regular meeting of the House of Peoples’ Representatives Meles said total and immediate pull out of the Ethiopian army in Somalia under the circumstances would have been tantamount to sabotaging the sacrifices paid by the army and also rendering valueless Ethiopia’s contributions for peace in Somalia.
Responding to questions concerning the relation of Ethiopia with Somalia, Meles said the Ethiopian army was deployed to Somalia as per a request made by the Transitional Federal Government.
"So, rushing to pull out the army immediately would have entailed a situation for the already dismantled forces of terror in Somalia to regroup, and thereby to render void the sacrifices already made by the Ethiopian army." He said
Somali troops, with crucial aid from neighboring Ethiopia, drove the Council of Islamic Courts out of the capital and the southern Somalia in an offensive that began late last December. But many Somalis resent the presence of Ethiopian forces. Somalia, a Muslim country, and Ethiopia, which has a large Christian population, fought a brutal war in 1977.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi had announced in January 2007 the withdrawal of its troops from Somalia two weeks after after helping the Somali interim government rout Islamists in a two-week war.
The United States and Ethiopia have portrayed the Islamists as linked to and even run by al Qaeda, putting Somalia firmly on the map of the U.S.-led war against terrorism.
Somali Islamists took control of the capital Mogadishu in June 2006 and had imposed sharia law across much of the south.
Government Revokes Mercenaries' Immunity.
MISNA
24 October 2007
The Iraqi government has revoked the immunity given to foreign security companies operating in the country after a meeting of the Cabinet yesterday. The government has, therefore, abolished the law issued in 2004 by the Coalition for Provisional Authority (CPA), led by then US administrator Paul Bremer (responsible for a series of atrocious policies such as this one since the US occupation began). The law held that “multinational forces, foreign missions, foreign company consultants are to be considered immune from Iraqi legal procedures”. The government spokesman Ali Debbagh announced that the draft for a new norm shall be examined at the next Cabinet meeting. The status of security companies in Iraq, the so called ‘contractors’ (but in all actuality nothing more and nothing less than mercenaries) has raised a long overdue debate over their role in Iraq and in the United States in light of the ‘Blackwater’ scandal after the “company” was implicated in the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad last September. The episode has shed light on other similar episodes.
Many Iraqi citizens consider the private security firms present in the country as veritable private armies operating with complete impunity. The government of Nouri al-Maliki has recently stepped the pressure to try the ‘security contractors’ clashing with the US administration over the issue – just to show who is actually in charge in Iraq. The UN has also opened a dossier on the subject, asking Washington to try those involved in ‘suspicious murders’.
Finally, representative for Iraq’s highest Shiite authority, Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Husaini al-Sistani, also called or limits on the powers of the mercenaries, noting that “these foreign companies show contempt for the lives of innocent citizens while on some occasions the occupation forces have shown the same regrettable attitude committing equally criminal acts”. Meanwhile, the violence in the country continues. Today, nine civilians were killed in Jisr Dyala, south east of Baghdad.
24 October 2007
The Iraqi government has revoked the immunity given to foreign security companies operating in the country after a meeting of the Cabinet yesterday. The government has, therefore, abolished the law issued in 2004 by the Coalition for Provisional Authority (CPA), led by then US administrator Paul Bremer (responsible for a series of atrocious policies such as this one since the US occupation began). The law held that “multinational forces, foreign missions, foreign company consultants are to be considered immune from Iraqi legal procedures”. The government spokesman Ali Debbagh announced that the draft for a new norm shall be examined at the next Cabinet meeting. The status of security companies in Iraq, the so called ‘contractors’ (but in all actuality nothing more and nothing less than mercenaries) has raised a long overdue debate over their role in Iraq and in the United States in light of the ‘Blackwater’ scandal after the “company” was implicated in the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad last September. The episode has shed light on other similar episodes.
Many Iraqi citizens consider the private security firms present in the country as veritable private armies operating with complete impunity. The government of Nouri al-Maliki has recently stepped the pressure to try the ‘security contractors’ clashing with the US administration over the issue – just to show who is actually in charge in Iraq. The UN has also opened a dossier on the subject, asking Washington to try those involved in ‘suspicious murders’.
Finally, representative for Iraq’s highest Shiite authority, Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Husaini al-Sistani, also called or limits on the powers of the mercenaries, noting that “these foreign companies show contempt for the lives of innocent citizens while on some occasions the occupation forces have shown the same regrettable attitude committing equally criminal acts”. Meanwhile, the violence in the country continues. Today, nine civilians were killed in Jisr Dyala, south east of Baghdad.
Somalia Crisis: Saudi Attempt to Mediate
MISNA
24 October 2007
President Abdullahi Youssuf, prime minister Mohammed Gedi and the president of parliament, Aden Mohammed Nur have been invited to Saudi Arabia in an attempt to reach an accord to allow for a resolution of the crisis. Gedi has faced criticisms from the president and parliament is expected to deliver a confidence vote – after at least two postponements – at the end of this week. Sources told MISNA that the latest delay in the vote was consented to allow Gedi to reach an accord that would allow the government to overcome the latest obstacle. So far, three ‘strongmen’ of the Somali parliament have yet reply to the Saudi invitation. In September, the three signed a reconciliation attempt in Jeddah, even as it has not managed to survive internal dissent. Two weeks ago, meanwhile, 22 ministers threatened to resign should Gedi not face parliament for a confidence vote. Gedi is accused of doing little to achieve objectives such as the organization of a census, drafting a Constitution and improving the public administration. Last week, Gedi was called to Addis Ababa where he met local authorities, AU members and the US government.
24 October 2007
President Abdullahi Youssuf, prime minister Mohammed Gedi and the president of parliament, Aden Mohammed Nur have been invited to Saudi Arabia in an attempt to reach an accord to allow for a resolution of the crisis. Gedi has faced criticisms from the president and parliament is expected to deliver a confidence vote – after at least two postponements – at the end of this week. Sources told MISNA that the latest delay in the vote was consented to allow Gedi to reach an accord that would allow the government to overcome the latest obstacle. So far, three ‘strongmen’ of the Somali parliament have yet reply to the Saudi invitation. In September, the three signed a reconciliation attempt in Jeddah, even as it has not managed to survive internal dissent. Two weeks ago, meanwhile, 22 ministers threatened to resign should Gedi not face parliament for a confidence vote. Gedi is accused of doing little to achieve objectives such as the organization of a census, drafting a Constitution and improving the public administration. Last week, Gedi was called to Addis Ababa where he met local authorities, AU members and the US government.
Pentagon link to Equatorial Guinea coup plot
The Guardian
David Leigh, David Pallister and Jamie Wilson
September 27, 2004
Links have been discovered between senior American military officials and the failed coup plot in Equatorial Guinea that has left Sir Mark Thatcher facing trial in South Africa.
Theresa Whelan, a member of the Bush administration in charge of African affairs at the Pentagon, twice met a London-based businessman, Greg Wales, in Washington before the coup attempt. Mr Wales has been accused of being one of its organisers, but has denied any involvement.
A US defence official told Newsweek magazine yesterday: "Mr Wales mentioned in passing _ there might be some trouble brewing in Equatorial Guinea. Specifically, he had heard from some business associates of his that wealthy citizens of the country were planning to flee in case of a crisis."
The regime of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea has accused the US of backing the plot, but the Pentagon denies supporting it. US officials say it was Mr Wales who made all the approaches to them.
Equatorial Guinea official sources claim that last November, when the plot was in its early stages, an Old Estonian mercenary, Simon Mann, paid Mr Wales about $8,000. Mann was subsequently jailed for seven years in Zimbabwe on charges linked to the coup plot.
A few days after the alleged payment, Mr Wales went to Washington for a dinner and conference organised by an influential group of US "private military companies", the IPOA (International Peace Operations Association).
Ms Whelan told the group the Pentagon was keen to see them operate in Africa, saying: "Contractors are here to stay in supporting US national security objectives overseas." They were cheaper, and saved the use of US forces in peacekeeping and training.
She added: "The US can be supportive in trying to ameliorate regional crises without necessarily having to put US troops on the ground, which is often a very difficult political decision _ Sometimes we may not want to be very visible."
IPOA's members include MPRI, a company formed by retired generals. MPRI had already been allowed to compile a survey of Equatorial Guinea's military weaknesses on President Obiang's behalf, overcoming initial objections by the Clinton administration that it would help prop up a dictator.
MPRI persuaded the Pentagon it would be in the US national interest to allow the survey to be done, although the company never went ahead with a planned contract to strengthen Mr Obiang's army.
Mr Wales made his first contact with Ms Whelan at the dinner. The following January his firm, the Sherbourne Foundation, was paid another $35,000 by the coup plotters, according to Equatorial Guinea.
Mr Wales then organised another meeting at the Pentagon with Ms Whelan. This came on the eve of the day originally planned for the coup, February 19. The Pentagon says the meeting in "mid-to-late February" ranged over many African topics, and that Mr Wales's hints were so general that they did not call for any action to be taken.
Mr Wales, who denies any involvement in the coup plot, has refused to comment on any of these fresh allegations.
The Obiang regime has complained that the US did not warn it of the coup plot, although it received intelligence from South Africa.
The February 19 plan is said to have been aborted after a hired aircraft broke down. The plotters then acquired an old former US Air National Guard Boeing, built to a military specification, that was flown over from Kansas with a crew from Florida for a second coup attempt. But the seller, the US firm Dodson Aviation, says there was no US government involvement in the deal.
Both the US and Britain have extensive oil interests in Equatorial Guinea which, in the words of one US official, is "the new Kuwait".
The Texas company Marathon is building a huge liquefied natural gas plant, of which the British gas firm BG plans to buy much of the output for the next 17 years.
There is a good deal of unofficial sympathy in US military circles for the coup plotters. One of those present at the original IPOA dinner said yesterday, requesting anonymity: "Ethically, you have to want to see Obiang removed.
"It's a real indictment of the international community that they've failed to get rid of him."
David Leigh, David Pallister and Jamie Wilson
September 27, 2004
Links have been discovered between senior American military officials and the failed coup plot in Equatorial Guinea that has left Sir Mark Thatcher facing trial in South Africa.
Theresa Whelan, a member of the Bush administration in charge of African affairs at the Pentagon, twice met a London-based businessman, Greg Wales, in Washington before the coup attempt. Mr Wales has been accused of being one of its organisers, but has denied any involvement.
A US defence official told Newsweek magazine yesterday: "Mr Wales mentioned in passing _ there might be some trouble brewing in Equatorial Guinea. Specifically, he had heard from some business associates of his that wealthy citizens of the country were planning to flee in case of a crisis."
The regime of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea has accused the US of backing the plot, but the Pentagon denies supporting it. US officials say it was Mr Wales who made all the approaches to them.
Equatorial Guinea official sources claim that last November, when the plot was in its early stages, an Old Estonian mercenary, Simon Mann, paid Mr Wales about $8,000. Mann was subsequently jailed for seven years in Zimbabwe on charges linked to the coup plot.
A few days after the alleged payment, Mr Wales went to Washington for a dinner and conference organised by an influential group of US "private military companies", the IPOA (International Peace Operations Association).
Ms Whelan told the group the Pentagon was keen to see them operate in Africa, saying: "Contractors are here to stay in supporting US national security objectives overseas." They were cheaper, and saved the use of US forces in peacekeeping and training.
She added: "The US can be supportive in trying to ameliorate regional crises without necessarily having to put US troops on the ground, which is often a very difficult political decision _ Sometimes we may not want to be very visible."
IPOA's members include MPRI, a company formed by retired generals. MPRI had already been allowed to compile a survey of Equatorial Guinea's military weaknesses on President Obiang's behalf, overcoming initial objections by the Clinton administration that it would help prop up a dictator.
MPRI persuaded the Pentagon it would be in the US national interest to allow the survey to be done, although the company never went ahead with a planned contract to strengthen Mr Obiang's army.
Mr Wales made his first contact with Ms Whelan at the dinner. The following January his firm, the Sherbourne Foundation, was paid another $35,000 by the coup plotters, according to Equatorial Guinea.
Mr Wales then organised another meeting at the Pentagon with Ms Whelan. This came on the eve of the day originally planned for the coup, February 19. The Pentagon says the meeting in "mid-to-late February" ranged over many African topics, and that Mr Wales's hints were so general that they did not call for any action to be taken.
Mr Wales, who denies any involvement in the coup plot, has refused to comment on any of these fresh allegations.
The Obiang regime has complained that the US did not warn it of the coup plot, although it received intelligence from South Africa.
The February 19 plan is said to have been aborted after a hired aircraft broke down. The plotters then acquired an old former US Air National Guard Boeing, built to a military specification, that was flown over from Kansas with a crew from Florida for a second coup attempt. But the seller, the US firm Dodson Aviation, says there was no US government involvement in the deal.
Both the US and Britain have extensive oil interests in Equatorial Guinea which, in the words of one US official, is "the new Kuwait".
The Texas company Marathon is building a huge liquefied natural gas plant, of which the British gas firm BG plans to buy much of the output for the next 17 years.
There is a good deal of unofficial sympathy in US military circles for the coup plotters. One of those present at the original IPOA dinner said yesterday, requesting anonymity: "Ethically, you have to want to see Obiang removed.
"It's a real indictment of the international community that they've failed to get rid of him."
U.S. Companies Urged To Invest in African Infrastructure.
U.S. Department of State
23 October 2007
U.S. and African business leaders and officials are encouraging U.S. companies to take a bolder approach to investment opportunities created by rapid economic growth in Africa.
At an October conference on infrastructure organized by the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), they urged U.S. companies not to wait for an ideal business climate but to consider investing now in up-and-coming sub-Saharan countries.
With lower inflation rates, improved budgets and economic policies, and greater political stability, sub-Saharan nations have a better chance than ever to sustain growth, according to an October report by the International Monetary Fund.
African leaders are particularly keen on foreign investment in infrastructure because their countries cannot afford to develop, modernize or maintain roads, ports, airports, electricity grids and power stations. The needs are great, experts say, because infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa never has been well developed and civil strife often has damaged what existed. To reach international goals of reducing poverty and hunger, African countries need to double their investment in infrastructure to about $40 billion a year, according to the World Bank.
Without substantial infrastructure improvements, African nations will have difficulty diversifying their economies and facilitating international trade, experts say.
The head of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), James Lambright, said that, during his recent trip to South Africa and Namibia, he learned about “immense” infrastructure plans.
“Even if only some of them come to fruition, there will be tremendous need for financing,” he said.
Ex-Im Bank provides loan guarantees, credit insurance and loans to U.S. companies exporting to developing markets.
Complex and capital-intensive infrastructure projects with relatively long payback periods are difficult to put together and finance, experts say, particularly in countries where financial markets are underdeveloped and political risk is high. That is why such projects, which can cost billions, often are developed by public-private partnerships and involve foreign and local partners. Forming such partnerships requires knowledge of local markets and their peculiarities as well as confidence and trust among potential partners.
Lambright said sometimes it is possible to sell capital equipment to a less well-known company in a developing country if that company has a local or regional partner that is better known.
But in many other cases, an honest broker or “deal champion” is necessary to bring together multilateral banks; export credit agencies; private companies, banks or funds; and the host-country government, experts say.
CCA President Stephen Hayes told USINFO that South African banks and investment funds increasingly vie to play such a role for U.S. companies and those based in other nations.
Also, U.S. agencies that support trade have begun targeting infrastructure projects in Africa. By providing technical assistance, credit guarantees and political risk insurance or by financing feasibility studies, they have backed projects ranging from a railway and hydropower and geothermal power stations to telecommunication networks, pipelines and housing projects.
Hayes said U.S. companies can compete successfully in several areas -- such as housing, roads, hotels and water and sanitation systems -- where great opportunities exist.
Yet “we don’t deploy private equity aggressively enough and early enough,” said Robert Mosbacher, the head of the Overseas Private Insurance Corporation (OPIC). OPIC provides political-risk insurance to U.S. companies doing business in developing nations.
Hayes said the United States has not been keeping up with South Africa, China, Europe, India and Gulf countries, which all have been investing heavily in Africa. U.S. corporations’ and banks’ cautious approach to investment in the region stems from predominantly bad publicity it receives in the U.S. media, he said.
Another obstacle is the limited opportunity to finance African projects, particularly those concerning infrastructure, Hayes said.
Hayes sees signs of budding interest in such projects, though. Oracle and Citibank have positioned themselves in South Africa to take advantage of the burgeoning opportunities on the wider African continent, he said. Several Wall Street firms have established investment teams to explore infrastructure opportunities in developing countries that may consider African projects. In addition, Delta Air Lines in December 2006 began the first regular service between Atlanta and Johannesburg and plans to expand U.S. connections to more African destinations. (See related article.)
But Hayes said the U.S. government needs to be more engaged and give more support to U.S. companies to get them to push more aggressively into Africa. So far, he said, it has not supported U.S. private sector efforts as strongly as the governments of China, India and South Africa have supported efforts by their own companies.
Lambright of Ex-Im Bank said, however, that there are limits to what the U.S. government can do.
U.S. companies and export credit agencies are disadvantaged, he said, because they are bound by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) good governance regulations and other rules, which do not apply to firms from emerging markets. OECD, with 30 member nations, represents developed countries committed to fostering prosperity and fighting poverty through economic growth and financial stability.
More information on infrastructure investment opportunities in Africa is available on the CCA Web site.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
23 October 2007
U.S. and African business leaders and officials are encouraging U.S. companies to take a bolder approach to investment opportunities created by rapid economic growth in Africa.
At an October conference on infrastructure organized by the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), they urged U.S. companies not to wait for an ideal business climate but to consider investing now in up-and-coming sub-Saharan countries.
With lower inflation rates, improved budgets and economic policies, and greater political stability, sub-Saharan nations have a better chance than ever to sustain growth, according to an October report by the International Monetary Fund.
African leaders are particularly keen on foreign investment in infrastructure because their countries cannot afford to develop, modernize or maintain roads, ports, airports, electricity grids and power stations. The needs are great, experts say, because infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa never has been well developed and civil strife often has damaged what existed. To reach international goals of reducing poverty and hunger, African countries need to double their investment in infrastructure to about $40 billion a year, according to the World Bank.
Without substantial infrastructure improvements, African nations will have difficulty diversifying their economies and facilitating international trade, experts say.
The head of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), James Lambright, said that, during his recent trip to South Africa and Namibia, he learned about “immense” infrastructure plans.
“Even if only some of them come to fruition, there will be tremendous need for financing,” he said.
Ex-Im Bank provides loan guarantees, credit insurance and loans to U.S. companies exporting to developing markets.
Complex and capital-intensive infrastructure projects with relatively long payback periods are difficult to put together and finance, experts say, particularly in countries where financial markets are underdeveloped and political risk is high. That is why such projects, which can cost billions, often are developed by public-private partnerships and involve foreign and local partners. Forming such partnerships requires knowledge of local markets and their peculiarities as well as confidence and trust among potential partners.
Lambright said sometimes it is possible to sell capital equipment to a less well-known company in a developing country if that company has a local or regional partner that is better known.
But in many other cases, an honest broker or “deal champion” is necessary to bring together multilateral banks; export credit agencies; private companies, banks or funds; and the host-country government, experts say.
CCA President Stephen Hayes told USINFO that South African banks and investment funds increasingly vie to play such a role for U.S. companies and those based in other nations.
Also, U.S. agencies that support trade have begun targeting infrastructure projects in Africa. By providing technical assistance, credit guarantees and political risk insurance or by financing feasibility studies, they have backed projects ranging from a railway and hydropower and geothermal power stations to telecommunication networks, pipelines and housing projects.
Hayes said U.S. companies can compete successfully in several areas -- such as housing, roads, hotels and water and sanitation systems -- where great opportunities exist.
Yet “we don’t deploy private equity aggressively enough and early enough,” said Robert Mosbacher, the head of the Overseas Private Insurance Corporation (OPIC). OPIC provides political-risk insurance to U.S. companies doing business in developing nations.
Hayes said the United States has not been keeping up with South Africa, China, Europe, India and Gulf countries, which all have been investing heavily in Africa. U.S. corporations’ and banks’ cautious approach to investment in the region stems from predominantly bad publicity it receives in the U.S. media, he said.
Another obstacle is the limited opportunity to finance African projects, particularly those concerning infrastructure, Hayes said.
Hayes sees signs of budding interest in such projects, though. Oracle and Citibank have positioned themselves in South Africa to take advantage of the burgeoning opportunities on the wider African continent, he said. Several Wall Street firms have established investment teams to explore infrastructure opportunities in developing countries that may consider African projects. In addition, Delta Air Lines in December 2006 began the first regular service between Atlanta and Johannesburg and plans to expand U.S. connections to more African destinations. (See related article.)
But Hayes said the U.S. government needs to be more engaged and give more support to U.S. companies to get them to push more aggressively into Africa. So far, he said, it has not supported U.S. private sector efforts as strongly as the governments of China, India and South Africa have supported efforts by their own companies.
Lambright of Ex-Im Bank said, however, that there are limits to what the U.S. government can do.
U.S. companies and export credit agencies are disadvantaged, he said, because they are bound by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) good governance regulations and other rules, which do not apply to firms from emerging markets. OECD, with 30 member nations, represents developed countries committed to fostering prosperity and fighting poverty through economic growth and financial stability.
More information on infrastructure investment opportunities in Africa is available on the CCA Web site.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
24 October, 2007
Diamond warning over Congo trade.
BBC News
24 October 2007
Mark Doyle
A diamond industry watchdog has called for stricter controls on gemstone exports from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
About $700m - estimated to be half of Congo's foreign exchange earnings - comes from the diamond trade annually.
But a study by Partnership Africa Canada said more could be generated if the mining sector was not dominated by exploitative practices and corruption.
Recent democratic elections gave an opportunity for transparency, it said.
Extortion
While the official value of the sector is comparatively small - less than the turnover of a medium-sized international company - it is below the true value of the gems, the report says.
The Canadian and Congolese researchers suggest that much more could be generated by the industry - bringing in desperately needed revenue for schools and hospitals.
The report said that the industry revolves around diggers - those who usually are poorly paid to cut holes in riverbeds seeking the precious stones.
However, there is a web of people who make money from the sector, the report says, with government officials, traditional chiefs, soldiers, rebels and foreign buyers all living off the backs of the diggers by extorting a percentage.
The report calls for stricter application of existing laws to stop smuggling of diamonds.
Other recommendations include training more Congolese diamond valuers, to discourage middlemen from illegally undervaluing stones, and suggests ways of co-ordinating the fight against fraud.
The study says that the measures could work because last year's UN-backed elections meant there was now greater public input into government policy in the country Congo than at almost any time in the country's history.
But the authors are also realistic, citing a smuggler who described how he slipped diamonds out to Dubai.
And they quote a Congolese mathematics graduate, working as a digger, who described conditions in the mines as "worse than in the Middle Ages".
24 October 2007
Mark Doyle
A diamond industry watchdog has called for stricter controls on gemstone exports from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
About $700m - estimated to be half of Congo's foreign exchange earnings - comes from the diamond trade annually.
But a study by Partnership Africa Canada said more could be generated if the mining sector was not dominated by exploitative practices and corruption.
Recent democratic elections gave an opportunity for transparency, it said.
Extortion
While the official value of the sector is comparatively small - less than the turnover of a medium-sized international company - it is below the true value of the gems, the report says.
The Canadian and Congolese researchers suggest that much more could be generated by the industry - bringing in desperately needed revenue for schools and hospitals.
The report said that the industry revolves around diggers - those who usually are poorly paid to cut holes in riverbeds seeking the precious stones.
However, there is a web of people who make money from the sector, the report says, with government officials, traditional chiefs, soldiers, rebels and foreign buyers all living off the backs of the diggers by extorting a percentage.
The report calls for stricter application of existing laws to stop smuggling of diamonds.
Other recommendations include training more Congolese diamond valuers, to discourage middlemen from illegally undervaluing stones, and suggests ways of co-ordinating the fight against fraud.
The study says that the measures could work because last year's UN-backed elections meant there was now greater public input into government policy in the country Congo than at almost any time in the country's history.
But the authors are also realistic, citing a smuggler who described how he slipped diamonds out to Dubai.
And they quote a Congolese mathematics graduate, working as a digger, who described conditions in the mines as "worse than in the Middle Ages".
Private security firms seek greater peacekeeping role.
IRIN News
24 October 2007
Private military contractors (PMCs) are seeking to play a greater role in peacekeeping in Africa to make up for what they claim to be the inability of UN missions and state militaries to ensure the continent's security and humanitarian development.
During a three-day conference in Nairobi that brought together UN agencies, NGOs, officials of numerous governments and several private sector companies, PMCs said they had much to offer in terms of logistics, personnel and expertise.
Doug Brooks, the president of the International Peace Operations Association (IPOA), an industry body for PMCs, said that while such contractors would not replace existing peace missions, they could enhance peace and stability in regions plagued by protracted conflict such as Sudan's Darfur and Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) North Kivu.
"The West has been an unreliable peacekeeping operations partner in Africa and this has made the peace missions diverse, unsupported and ineffective," said Brooks.
"It is significantly cheaper to hire expertise and equipment from companies than it is for militaries to attempt to maintain them for years or decades."
PMCs have seen their businesses grow considerably in recent years, thanks largely to contracts for work in Iraq and Afghanistan.
However, they have recently suffered a barrage of bad publicity and criticism from human rights organisations.
A recent Amnesty International report accused the Angolan government and PMCs of resorting to extreme violence to evict squatters from several suburbs of the capital, Luanda, over the last two years.
Photo: Noel E. King/IRIN
The security situation in North Kivu, DRC, has deteriorated significantly, leading to thousands more people being displaced
Ghana-based African Security Dialogue and Research executive director Professor Eboe Hutchful says private security firms are "a factor in the growing depth of crime and related issues" in his country.
In the face of such criticism, Brooks said it was up to host governments to ensure that PMCs operated within a clearly defined legal and regulatory framework. He stressed that IPOA had a code of conduct which its members signed up to.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced on 23 October that her department planned to tighten the regulations governing the PMCs it contracts to bring their rules regarding the use of force more in line with those of the regular US military.
The move came in the wake of the highly publicised fatal shooting of 17 Iraqis in September by guards employed by Blackwater USA, a PMC that participated in the Nairobi meeting.
According to a report prepared for Rice by a US diplomat, PMCs in Iraq currently “operate in an overall environment that is chaotic, unsupervised, deficient in oversight and accountability, and poorly coordinated”.
Mindful of the dangers of impunity seen in Iraq, some analysts in Africa are also pushing for tougher rules.
That the private [security] sector is here to stay is beyond question and because it poses a major concern to Africa, it must be controlled and regulated," a senior researcher with the South African-based Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and human rights lawyer, Sabelo Gumedz, said.
The ISS is researching the role of PMCs in South Africa, Uganda and DRC with a view to establishing a continent-wide regulatory framework.
Editor't Note: I can confirm via a Jeremy Schall interview on PBS that Blackwater is lobbying the State Deptartment for African peacekeeping contracts. If the US can't get acceptance for AFRICOM, this is an ideal way to infiltrate the continent in concert with USAID, who may perform more counterintelligence duties in the future like they did in the 1990s.
24 October 2007
Private military contractors (PMCs) are seeking to play a greater role in peacekeeping in Africa to make up for what they claim to be the inability of UN missions and state militaries to ensure the continent's security and humanitarian development.
During a three-day conference in Nairobi that brought together UN agencies, NGOs, officials of numerous governments and several private sector companies, PMCs said they had much to offer in terms of logistics, personnel and expertise.
Doug Brooks, the president of the International Peace Operations Association (IPOA), an industry body for PMCs, said that while such contractors would not replace existing peace missions, they could enhance peace and stability in regions plagued by protracted conflict such as Sudan's Darfur and Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) North Kivu.
"The West has been an unreliable peacekeeping operations partner in Africa and this has made the peace missions diverse, unsupported and ineffective," said Brooks.
"It is significantly cheaper to hire expertise and equipment from companies than it is for militaries to attempt to maintain them for years or decades."
PMCs have seen their businesses grow considerably in recent years, thanks largely to contracts for work in Iraq and Afghanistan.
However, they have recently suffered a barrage of bad publicity and criticism from human rights organisations.
A recent Amnesty International report accused the Angolan government and PMCs of resorting to extreme violence to evict squatters from several suburbs of the capital, Luanda, over the last two years.
Photo: Noel E. King/IRIN
The security situation in North Kivu, DRC, has deteriorated significantly, leading to thousands more people being displaced
Ghana-based African Security Dialogue and Research executive director Professor Eboe Hutchful says private security firms are "a factor in the growing depth of crime and related issues" in his country.
In the face of such criticism, Brooks said it was up to host governments to ensure that PMCs operated within a clearly defined legal and regulatory framework. He stressed that IPOA had a code of conduct which its members signed up to.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced on 23 October that her department planned to tighten the regulations governing the PMCs it contracts to bring their rules regarding the use of force more in line with those of the regular US military.
The move came in the wake of the highly publicised fatal shooting of 17 Iraqis in September by guards employed by Blackwater USA, a PMC that participated in the Nairobi meeting.
According to a report prepared for Rice by a US diplomat, PMCs in Iraq currently “operate in an overall environment that is chaotic, unsupervised, deficient in oversight and accountability, and poorly coordinated”.
Mindful of the dangers of impunity seen in Iraq, some analysts in Africa are also pushing for tougher rules.
That the private [security] sector is here to stay is beyond question and because it poses a major concern to Africa, it must be controlled and regulated," a senior researcher with the South African-based Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and human rights lawyer, Sabelo Gumedz, said.
The ISS is researching the role of PMCs in South Africa, Uganda and DRC with a view to establishing a continent-wide regulatory framework.
Editor't Note: I can confirm via a Jeremy Schall interview on PBS that Blackwater is lobbying the State Deptartment for African peacekeeping contracts. If the US can't get acceptance for AFRICOM, this is an ideal way to infiltrate the continent in concert with USAID, who may perform more counterintelligence duties in the future like they did in the 1990s.
Nigeria considers oil contracts review.
Financial Times
Matthew Green
October 23 2007
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/435234e8-8184-11dc-9b6f-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1
Nigeria wants to review its contracts with international oil companies as part of a major shake-up in the energy sector, perhaps imposing tougher conditions to exploit soaring global crude prices.
Rilwanu Lukman, chairman of Nigeria’s oil and gas reform committee, said in his first public remarks since taking the job in August that the country might have to revisit some of the ”generous terms” granted to Western majors.
President Umaru Yar’Adua has pledged sweeping changes in the energy sector after winning elections in April, hoping to increase production and solve Nigeria’s chronic fuel and power shortages.
The president appointed Mr Lukman, a former OPEC secretary-general, as a special adviser, hoping he will steer the reforms in Africa’s biggest crude exporter.
Speaking at the Abuja headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the state oil company, Mr Lukman said Nigeria needed to take a new look at agreements with international energy companies.
”We’ve enjoyed a very fruitful relationship with them over a long period of time, and we want to continue to do that,” he said. ”But we have to look at what is on the ground now and see in which way, or ways, we can improve the conditions so the relationship will be even more mutually beneficial to both sides,” he said. ”We may have to give more favourable conditions, we may have to reconsider some of our generous terms.”
Nigeria has a host of agreements with majors including Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron. Many date back several decades to years when oil prices were far lower than the record highs above $90 a barrel hit last week.
Mr Lukman said that agreements due for review included joint ventures signed between the NNPC and oil majors. Such arrangements have generally been used for oil projects in the Niger Delta, many of which date from the 1970s.
Nigeria is also due to renew production sharing agreements negotiated for offshore fields in the early 1990s, when majors began to switch to deep-water fields. Under these accords, oil companies only start sharing revenues with the government after they have recouped the initial cost of their investment.
A surge in unrest by militants in the Niger Delta since early 2006 has cut Nigeria’s output by a fifth, but mismanagement and corruption have blighted the energy sector for decades.
Mr Lukman reiterated the new government’s plans to restructure the NNPC, where a lack of transparency has long hindered progress towards the government’s target of doubling oil production from its current output of about 2m barrels per day.
International energy companies have often complained that the NNPC has failed to pay its share of the cost of joint ventures, causing delays. But Mr Lukman said his committee was exploring ways to raise money in Nigeria and abroad to reduce the burden on the state.
”We have used the oil and gas industry as a kind of national cash cow. Now we want to take a conscious decision to use this resources for an intelligent and pro-active means of actually driving our economy forward.”
Matthew Green
October 23 2007
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/435234e8-8184-11dc-9b6f-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1
Nigeria wants to review its contracts with international oil companies as part of a major shake-up in the energy sector, perhaps imposing tougher conditions to exploit soaring global crude prices.
Rilwanu Lukman, chairman of Nigeria’s oil and gas reform committee, said in his first public remarks since taking the job in August that the country might have to revisit some of the ”generous terms” granted to Western majors.
President Umaru Yar’Adua has pledged sweeping changes in the energy sector after winning elections in April, hoping to increase production and solve Nigeria’s chronic fuel and power shortages.
The president appointed Mr Lukman, a former OPEC secretary-general, as a special adviser, hoping he will steer the reforms in Africa’s biggest crude exporter.
Speaking at the Abuja headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the state oil company, Mr Lukman said Nigeria needed to take a new look at agreements with international energy companies.
”We’ve enjoyed a very fruitful relationship with them over a long period of time, and we want to continue to do that,” he said. ”But we have to look at what is on the ground now and see in which way, or ways, we can improve the conditions so the relationship will be even more mutually beneficial to both sides,” he said. ”We may have to give more favourable conditions, we may have to reconsider some of our generous terms.”
Nigeria has a host of agreements with majors including Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron. Many date back several decades to years when oil prices were far lower than the record highs above $90 a barrel hit last week.
Mr Lukman said that agreements due for review included joint ventures signed between the NNPC and oil majors. Such arrangements have generally been used for oil projects in the Niger Delta, many of which date from the 1970s.
Nigeria is also due to renew production sharing agreements negotiated for offshore fields in the early 1990s, when majors began to switch to deep-water fields. Under these accords, oil companies only start sharing revenues with the government after they have recouped the initial cost of their investment.
A surge in unrest by militants in the Niger Delta since early 2006 has cut Nigeria’s output by a fifth, but mismanagement and corruption have blighted the energy sector for decades.
Mr Lukman reiterated the new government’s plans to restructure the NNPC, where a lack of transparency has long hindered progress towards the government’s target of doubling oil production from its current output of about 2m barrels per day.
International energy companies have often complained that the NNPC has failed to pay its share of the cost of joint ventures, causing delays. But Mr Lukman said his committee was exploring ways to raise money in Nigeria and abroad to reduce the burden on the state.
”We have used the oil and gas industry as a kind of national cash cow. Now we want to take a conscious decision to use this resources for an intelligent and pro-active means of actually driving our economy forward.”
Rwanda, Liberia to strengthen military cooperation.
Panapress
24 October 2007
A strong Liberian military delegation, led by Defence Minister Dionysius Sebwe, arrived here late Tuesday on a three-day visit aimed at forging a military cooperation between the two countries, a reliable source told PANA here Wednesday.
"The delegation is in Rwanda to discuss with their Rwandan colleagues on a possible future cooperation between both countries' armies," Rwandan Army spokesman, Maj. Jill Rutaremara, told reporters.
"Rwanda can help the Liberian Army in many areas, (especially) through military training," he noted.
The Liberian delegation is expected to visit the Rwandan Army military academy in Gako, in the country's South-east, before meeting with the Rwandan Army Chief, Gen. James Kabarebe.
Fifteen Rwandan policemen are serving in the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
24 October 2007
A strong Liberian military delegation, led by Defence Minister Dionysius Sebwe, arrived here late Tuesday on a three-day visit aimed at forging a military cooperation between the two countries, a reliable source told PANA here Wednesday.
"The delegation is in Rwanda to discuss with their Rwandan colleagues on a possible future cooperation between both countries' armies," Rwandan Army spokesman, Maj. Jill Rutaremara, told reporters.
"Rwanda can help the Liberian Army in many areas, (especially) through military training," he noted.
The Liberian delegation is expected to visit the Rwandan Army military academy in Gako, in the country's South-east, before meeting with the Rwandan Army Chief, Gen. James Kabarebe.
Fifteen Rwandan policemen are serving in the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
Burundi Observed Anniversary of Pres. Ndadaye's Death.
Burundi Realites
21 October 2007
On 21 October Burundians commemorated the painful memory of the death of Melchior Ndadaye, the first democratically elected president of Burundi. Fourteen years after this assassination which sparked mass killings which claimed more than 300,000 lives, Burundians still celebrate this painful event in their ethnic ghettos. The 14th anniversary of Ndadaye’s death was commemorated in all provinces of Burundi with less enthusiasm compared to previous years.
The government of Burundi led by President Nkurunziza for the third time has boycotted ceremonies at Kibimba where students were burnt alive in 1993. This place has become a symbolic location for many diehards of the Tutsi minority. Representatives of parents whose children died in Kibimba indicate they will not wait for 22 October to commemorate this painful event as the government goes on boycotting them.
This event was celebrated when the truth and reconciliation commission has not yet been set up. The Head of State campaigned for the start of talks aimed at setting up the peace and reconciliation two months ago and a team to pilot the talks has been appointed.
However, the the talks have not yet started due to the Burundi government’s lack of funds as well as a troubled political situation.
21 October 2007
On 21 October Burundians commemorated the painful memory of the death of Melchior Ndadaye, the first democratically elected president of Burundi. Fourteen years after this assassination which sparked mass killings which claimed more than 300,000 lives, Burundians still celebrate this painful event in their ethnic ghettos. The 14th anniversary of Ndadaye’s death was commemorated in all provinces of Burundi with less enthusiasm compared to previous years.
The government of Burundi led by President Nkurunziza for the third time has boycotted ceremonies at Kibimba where students were burnt alive in 1993. This place has become a symbolic location for many diehards of the Tutsi minority. Representatives of parents whose children died in Kibimba indicate they will not wait for 22 October to commemorate this painful event as the government goes on boycotting them.
This event was celebrated when the truth and reconciliation commission has not yet been set up. The Head of State campaigned for the start of talks aimed at setting up the peace and reconciliation two months ago and a team to pilot the talks has been appointed.
However, the the talks have not yet started due to the Burundi government’s lack of funds as well as a troubled political situation.
Blackwater PR firm aided Chalabi; Works to polish AT&T's image.
The Raw Story
By Muriel Kane
23 October 2007
The firm that "coached" Blackwater CEO Eric Prince for a Congressional hearing previously represented Iraq intelligence launderer Ahmed Chalabi and is now working with AT&T to repair their image in the wake of their involvement in President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program.
The communications firm BKSH, a subsidiary of public relations giant Burson-Marsteller, is run by a man with extremely close ties to the Bush Administration.
The founder and current head of BKSH is Charlie Black, whose ties with the Bush family go back to 1972, when he and Karl Rove were jockeying for control of the College Republicans in a campaign so dirty that George H.W. Bush, then head of the Republican National Committee, had to step in and sort matters out. Black then worked for Ronald Reagan's and George H.W. Bush's presidential campaigns from 1976 to 1992. He served as an adviser to George W. Bush's campaigns in 2000 and 2004 and is often quoted in news stories as an unofficial White House spokesman.
BKSH was representing Iraq exile Ahmed Chalabi as early as 1999 and continued doing so until the invasion of Iraq. An international con-man found guilty in absentia in Jordan for bank scams, Chalabi is most widely known for being one of the key pre-Iraq war intelligence propagandists who supplied skewed information to support the Pentagon's ultra-secretive Office of Special Plans and the now-discredited pre-war reporting of Judith Miller for the New York Times. During 2004, Francis Brooke of the Rendon Group, which had represented Chalabi since the early 90's, was working on contract in Baghdad for BKSH. Then in the summer and fall of 2005, Lincoln Group, which had been tasked by the Pentagon with providing pro-US stories to Iraqi media, was subcontracting the work to BKSH, as the same time as BKSH was registered to represent the government of Iraq as its US lobbyist.
Because of Black's personal ties to the Bush administration, it seems reasonable to wonder whether his lobbying assignments might be selected as much to help his friends there as his nominal clients.
Black is currently working with AT&T in its lobbying campaign to be given retroactive immunity against lawsuits for having assisted the administration in its warrantless wiretapping program.
Larisa Alexandrovna contributed reporting for this article.
By Muriel Kane
23 October 2007
The firm that "coached" Blackwater CEO Eric Prince for a Congressional hearing previously represented Iraq intelligence launderer Ahmed Chalabi and is now working with AT&T to repair their image in the wake of their involvement in President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program.
The communications firm BKSH, a subsidiary of public relations giant Burson-Marsteller, is run by a man with extremely close ties to the Bush Administration.
The founder and current head of BKSH is Charlie Black, whose ties with the Bush family go back to 1972, when he and Karl Rove were jockeying for control of the College Republicans in a campaign so dirty that George H.W. Bush, then head of the Republican National Committee, had to step in and sort matters out. Black then worked for Ronald Reagan's and George H.W. Bush's presidential campaigns from 1976 to 1992. He served as an adviser to George W. Bush's campaigns in 2000 and 2004 and is often quoted in news stories as an unofficial White House spokesman.
BKSH was representing Iraq exile Ahmed Chalabi as early as 1999 and continued doing so until the invasion of Iraq. An international con-man found guilty in absentia in Jordan for bank scams, Chalabi is most widely known for being one of the key pre-Iraq war intelligence propagandists who supplied skewed information to support the Pentagon's ultra-secretive Office of Special Plans and the now-discredited pre-war reporting of Judith Miller for the New York Times. During 2004, Francis Brooke of the Rendon Group, which had represented Chalabi since the early 90's, was working on contract in Baghdad for BKSH. Then in the summer and fall of 2005, Lincoln Group, which had been tasked by the Pentagon with providing pro-US stories to Iraqi media, was subcontracting the work to BKSH, as the same time as BKSH was registered to represent the government of Iraq as its US lobbyist.
Because of Black's personal ties to the Bush administration, it seems reasonable to wonder whether his lobbying assignments might be selected as much to help his friends there as his nominal clients.
Black is currently working with AT&T in its lobbying campaign to be given retroactive immunity against lawsuits for having assisted the administration in its warrantless wiretapping program.
Larisa Alexandrovna contributed reporting for this article.
Most of $1.2 billion to train Iraqi police unaccounted for.
CNN
24 October 2007
The U.S. State Department is unable to account for most of $1.2 billion in funding that it gave to DynCorp International to train Iraqi police, a government report said Tuesday.
An International Police Liaison Officer hired by DynCorp stands near new Iraqi police recruits in Falluja, Iraq.
"The bottom line is that State can't account for where it went," said Glenn D. Furbish, who was involved in putting together the 20-page report for the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction (SIGIR).
The Department of State's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) "did not have the information needed to identify what DynCorp provided under the contract or how funds were spent," the report said.
As a result, the audit agency announced it has suspended its oversight of the agency's project until INL gathers the information.
"Their records are just not detailed," Furbish said Monday in a telephone interview. "From an audit perspective, we've identified the problem; they're working to rectify the problem."
Though Iraqi police have indeed been trained and equipment has been provided under the contract, invoices and supporting paperwork submitted by DynCorp "were in disarray," the report said.
In addition, INL "had not validated the accuracy" of invoices received prior to last October, and "INL does not know specifically what it received for most of the $1.2 billion in expenditures under its DynCorp contract for the Iraqi Police Training Program."
The lack of controls "created an environment vulnerable to waste and fraud," the report said.
Don't Miss
Full interim review of DynCorp spending
Bush wants $142 million more for war
Furbish, an accountant by training who spent two years in Iraq, added, "It's like so much else that happened in Baghdad ... there was just a massive quantity of work and too few people in place to do it. They just essentially did not have the staff to monitor what was going on.
"Bills came in; they paid the bills, but they don't know what they paid for and they don't know what they've gotten."
Furbish, who has carried out audits for the Government Accountability Office for three decades, said the projected time line of three to five years to rectify the problem "is not atypical" for U.S. projects carried out in Iraq since the ouster of President Saddam Hussein.
"Baghdad is its own arena," he said. "Contract control has been a major shortcoming across the board."
In addition to having too few properly trained people, problems arose from the difficulties inherent in traveling within Iraq and from "the rush to get reconstruction activities under way before we actually had a full structure in place to manage them," he said.
Asked whether the full structure is currently in place more than four years after the U.S.-led invasion, he said. "It continues to be a problem."
In a letter to SIGIR, INL Acting Assistant Secretary Elizabeth Verville said her agency has made "significant progress in correcting past contract management problems" and "is dedicated to addressing our past contracting problems and systematically strengthening contract management and oversight."
She said invoice processing delays will be reduced as staffing is beefed up in Baghdad.
State Department spokeswoman Susan Pittman said a number of reforms have been made since January. "We are committed to continuous improvement," she said.
The Washington-based staff of four will soon be increased to 11, and the Baghdad-based staff of five will be augmented to seven "as soon as they all have their clearances," she said.
Still, she acknowledged, it will take years to get the paperwork current. "It isn't an easy process," she said.
"There is a huge need, a huge, urgent need and there were not enough people to be able to fill that void," she said. "That is something that we are in the process of doing."
Gregory Lagana, a spokesman for DynCorp, said the company's work in Iraq is a "really complex program. ... We buy weapons, body armor, vehicles, communications equipment -- that all belongs to the State Department."
Sometimes, he said, "it's coded wrong or double-billed. We actually find a lot of that ourselves in the normal auditing process."
Tuesday's report is the second in a series of financial reviews ordered by Congress and carried out by SIGIR looking into large Iraqi Relief and Reconstruction Fund projects.
The first report, issued three months ago, criticized officials with the U.S. Agency for International Development for lack of oversight of their contract with Bechtel. Bechtel is a privately held, U.S. conglomerate of engineering, construction, and project management companies.
24 October 2007
The U.S. State Department is unable to account for most of $1.2 billion in funding that it gave to DynCorp International to train Iraqi police, a government report said Tuesday.
An International Police Liaison Officer hired by DynCorp stands near new Iraqi police recruits in Falluja, Iraq.
"The bottom line is that State can't account for where it went," said Glenn D. Furbish, who was involved in putting together the 20-page report for the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction (SIGIR).
The Department of State's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) "did not have the information needed to identify what DynCorp provided under the contract or how funds were spent," the report said.
As a result, the audit agency announced it has suspended its oversight of the agency's project until INL gathers the information.
"Their records are just not detailed," Furbish said Monday in a telephone interview. "From an audit perspective, we've identified the problem; they're working to rectify the problem."
Though Iraqi police have indeed been trained and equipment has been provided under the contract, invoices and supporting paperwork submitted by DynCorp "were in disarray," the report said.
In addition, INL "had not validated the accuracy" of invoices received prior to last October, and "INL does not know specifically what it received for most of the $1.2 billion in expenditures under its DynCorp contract for the Iraqi Police Training Program."
The lack of controls "created an environment vulnerable to waste and fraud," the report said.
Don't Miss
Full interim review of DynCorp spending
Bush wants $142 million more for war
Furbish, an accountant by training who spent two years in Iraq, added, "It's like so much else that happened in Baghdad ... there was just a massive quantity of work and too few people in place to do it. They just essentially did not have the staff to monitor what was going on.
"Bills came in; they paid the bills, but they don't know what they paid for and they don't know what they've gotten."
Furbish, who has carried out audits for the Government Accountability Office for three decades, said the projected time line of three to five years to rectify the problem "is not atypical" for U.S. projects carried out in Iraq since the ouster of President Saddam Hussein.
"Baghdad is its own arena," he said. "Contract control has been a major shortcoming across the board."
In addition to having too few properly trained people, problems arose from the difficulties inherent in traveling within Iraq and from "the rush to get reconstruction activities under way before we actually had a full structure in place to manage them," he said.
Asked whether the full structure is currently in place more than four years after the U.S.-led invasion, he said. "It continues to be a problem."
In a letter to SIGIR, INL Acting Assistant Secretary Elizabeth Verville said her agency has made "significant progress in correcting past contract management problems" and "is dedicated to addressing our past contracting problems and systematically strengthening contract management and oversight."
She said invoice processing delays will be reduced as staffing is beefed up in Baghdad.
State Department spokeswoman Susan Pittman said a number of reforms have been made since January. "We are committed to continuous improvement," she said.
The Washington-based staff of four will soon be increased to 11, and the Baghdad-based staff of five will be augmented to seven "as soon as they all have their clearances," she said.
Still, she acknowledged, it will take years to get the paperwork current. "It isn't an easy process," she said.
"There is a huge need, a huge, urgent need and there were not enough people to be able to fill that void," she said. "That is something that we are in the process of doing."
Gregory Lagana, a spokesman for DynCorp, said the company's work in Iraq is a "really complex program. ... We buy weapons, body armor, vehicles, communications equipment -- that all belongs to the State Department."
Sometimes, he said, "it's coded wrong or double-billed. We actually find a lot of that ourselves in the normal auditing process."
Tuesday's report is the second in a series of financial reviews ordered by Congress and carried out by SIGIR looking into large Iraqi Relief and Reconstruction Fund projects.
The first report, issued three months ago, criticized officials with the U.S. Agency for International Development for lack of oversight of their contract with Bechtel. Bechtel is a privately held, U.S. conglomerate of engineering, construction, and project management companies.
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