RIA Novosti
28 November 2009
Britain will start piping in gas directly from Russia in late 2012, the chief executive of Nord Stream has said.
Matthias Warnig told The Times that Britain already reserved 4 billion cubic meters of gas a year, the equivalent of over 4% of the country's total gas requirements.
The UK is switching from a gas exporter to an importer," he was quoted as saying by the paper. "By 2025 there will be a substantial import need ... Several billion cubic meters per year are already contracted for the U.K. through Nord Stream."
The executive told the paper that the gas would be piped through the Netherlands and Belgium, across the North Sea through pipelines to Norfolk.
The $12 billion pipeline is designed to bypass Ukraine, Poland and Belarus, traditional transit countries fro Russian gas. Construction is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2010.
28 November, 2009
Military Coverup: Washington alters US Air Force document to hide intentions behind military accord with Colombia.
28 November 2009
By Eva Golinger
In an explicit attempt to hide Washington’s military objetives in South America, a US Air Force document submitted to Congress in May 2009 that provoked deep concerns in the region has been modified and re-published on November 16, 2009. The official US Air Force document, revealed and denounced by this author on November 4th, explained the justification for a $46 million request to improve the military installations in one of the seven bases Washington will occupy under the military accord signed on October 30th between Colombia and the United States. The modified document has eliminated all mention of war and military operations in the region, as well as offensive language directed at Colombia’s neighbors, Venezuela and Ecuador. Nevertheless, Washington’s intentions remain the same.
The original Air Force document dated May 2009 outlined the importance of the military base in Palanquero, Colombia to enable “full spectrum military operations” in South America. The original military document also detailed the necessity of investing $46 million to improve the airfield, ramps and other essential installations on the base, converting it into a Cooperative Security Location (CSL) for US military missions in the region.
Original US Air Force document, May 2009:
“Establishing a Cooperative Security Location (CSL) in Palanquero best supports the COCOM’s (Command Combatant’s) Theater Posture Strategy and demonstrates our commitment to this relationship. Development of this CSL provides a unique opportunity for full spectrum operations in a critical sub-region of our hemisphere where security and stability is under constant threat from narcotics funded terrorist insurgencies, anti-US governments, endemic poverty and recurring natural disasters.”
The US Air Force document dated November 16, 2009 and sent to the Congress under the title, “Addendum to reflect terms of the US-Colombia Defense Cooperation Agreement signed on 30 October 2009”, alters the original controversial language, eliminating key terms and references that provoked grave concerns in the region. The November 16th Air Force document makes no mention of establishing a Cooperative Security Location (CSL) in Palanquero, Colombia, however it does consistently refer to Palanquero as a “location”, retaining the original intentions. Furthermore, the monetary request is reduced by a mere $3 million to $43 million, evidencing that the original project remains almost 100% in tact. Congress had previously approved the initial $46 million request made by the Pentagon last Spring, conditioning the funds on the final signing of the US-Colombia military accord, which was solidified on October 30th. But the November 16th US Air Force document makes a clear attempt to disguise the original intentions by eliminating the provocative language referring to “full spectrum military operations in a critical sub-region…where security and stability is under constant threat from…anti-US governments.” That language in particular sparked immediate concerns and accusations regarding Washington’s intentions to utilize Colombia as a launching pad to attack countries such as Venezuela, considered erroneously “anti-US” by many.
The modified US Air Force document of November 16, 2009:
“This project at Palanquero best supports the Combatant Command’s (COCOM) Theater Posture Strategy and demonstrates our commitment to this relationship [with Colombia]. Development of this project provides a unique opportunity to support an important partner in a region of the western hemisphere where security and stability are under constant threat from narcotics funded terrorist insurgencies, endemic poverty and recurring natural disasters.”
The original US Air Force document identified Palanquero as the perfect place to enable the implementation of the US global mobility strategy because it “provides access to the entire South American continent.”
Original US Air Force document from May 2009:
“Palanquero is unquestionably the best site for investing in infrastructure development within Colombia. Its central location is within reach of…operations areas…its isolation maximizes Operational Security (OPSEC) and Force Protection and minimizes the US military profile. The intent is to leverage existing infrastructure to the maximum extent possible, improve the US ability to respond rapidly to crisis, and assure regional access and presence at minimum cost. Palanquero supports the mobility mission by providing access to the entire South American continent with the exception of Cape Horn…”
The modified document dated November 16, 2009 eliminates all references and language refering to the “mobility mission” and “access to the entire South American continent”. However, the global mobility strategy remains an official military policy and defense strategy of the Pentagon, evidenced in the White Paper: Global en Route Strategy of the Air Mobility Command of the US Air Force, and the Pentagon’s budget request and justification submitted in early 2009. Both documents specifically refer to the urgency and necessity of occupying the Palanquero base in Colombia in order to guarantee US global mobility for military operations and missions.
The modified US Air Force document of November 16, 2009 additionally erases all original language refering to Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance operations that would take place from the Palanquero base. Furthermore, all references to “regional access”, “theater security cooperation” and “expeditionary warfare capability” in the region have been eliminated.
Original US Air Force document, May 2009:
“Development of this CSL wil further the strategic partnership forged between the US and Colombia and is in the interest of both nations…A presence will also increase our capability to conduct Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), improve global reach, support logistics requirements, improve partnerships, improve theater security cooperation and expand expeditionary warfare capability.”
Modified US Air Force document, 16 Noviembre 2009:
“Access to Colombia will further its strategic partnership with the United States. Palanquero is unquestionably the best site for investing in infrastructure development within Colombia. Its central location is within reach of counter narco-terrorist operations areas; the runway and existing airfield facilities will reduce construction costs; its isolation maximizes Operational Security (OPSEC) and Force Protection and minimizes the US military profile. The intent is to leverage existing infrastructure to the maximum extent possible, improve the US ability to respond rapidly to crises, and assure access and presence at minimum cost. The taxiway and ramp/apron areas are deficient and in their current configurations severely limit the operational capabilities of this location. Additionally, the operations and support facilities need to be expanded to service a wide array of aircraft that mutually agreed activities may entail.”
Despite the modifications to the US Air Force document more than six months after the original was sent to Congress, the intentions behind the US military agreement with Colombia remain the same. No evidence exists demonstrating a change in the Pentagon’s global mobility strategy - it is an official state policy included in the Global Defense Posture Strategy, in place at the present time. The military base in Palanquero, Colombia has been identified several times in different Pentagon documents as the perfect site – a unique opportunity – to guarantee continental access in South America, facilitating “full spectrum military operations” in Latin America.
Washington can try to erase its language regarding intentions of war, espionage and military operations in Latin America, but the US can’t erase the truth. The original US Air Force document from May 2009 remains the principal justification behind the US-Colombia military accord.
Original US Air Force document, May 2009 available here:
Original document in English:
http://www.centrodealerta.org/documentos_desclasificados/original_in_english_air_for.pdf
Traducción no oficial al español:
http://www.centrodealerta.org/documentos_desclasificados/traduccion_del_documento_de.pdf
Modified US Air Force document, 16 November 2009 original and translation available at:
http://www.centrodealerta.org/noticias/ultima_hora_washington_alte.html
This article is also published in Spanish. Español: http://www.centrodealerta.org/noticias/ultima_hora_washington_alte.html
By Eva Golinger
In an explicit attempt to hide Washington’s military objetives in South America, a US Air Force document submitted to Congress in May 2009 that provoked deep concerns in the region has been modified and re-published on November 16, 2009. The official US Air Force document, revealed and denounced by this author on November 4th, explained the justification for a $46 million request to improve the military installations in one of the seven bases Washington will occupy under the military accord signed on October 30th between Colombia and the United States. The modified document has eliminated all mention of war and military operations in the region, as well as offensive language directed at Colombia’s neighbors, Venezuela and Ecuador. Nevertheless, Washington’s intentions remain the same.
The original Air Force document dated May 2009 outlined the importance of the military base in Palanquero, Colombia to enable “full spectrum military operations” in South America. The original military document also detailed the necessity of investing $46 million to improve the airfield, ramps and other essential installations on the base, converting it into a Cooperative Security Location (CSL) for US military missions in the region.
Original US Air Force document, May 2009:
“Establishing a Cooperative Security Location (CSL) in Palanquero best supports the COCOM’s (Command Combatant’s) Theater Posture Strategy and demonstrates our commitment to this relationship. Development of this CSL provides a unique opportunity for full spectrum operations in a critical sub-region of our hemisphere where security and stability is under constant threat from narcotics funded terrorist insurgencies, anti-US governments, endemic poverty and recurring natural disasters.”
The US Air Force document dated November 16, 2009 and sent to the Congress under the title, “Addendum to reflect terms of the US-Colombia Defense Cooperation Agreement signed on 30 October 2009”, alters the original controversial language, eliminating key terms and references that provoked grave concerns in the region. The November 16th Air Force document makes no mention of establishing a Cooperative Security Location (CSL) in Palanquero, Colombia, however it does consistently refer to Palanquero as a “location”, retaining the original intentions. Furthermore, the monetary request is reduced by a mere $3 million to $43 million, evidencing that the original project remains almost 100% in tact. Congress had previously approved the initial $46 million request made by the Pentagon last Spring, conditioning the funds on the final signing of the US-Colombia military accord, which was solidified on October 30th. But the November 16th US Air Force document makes a clear attempt to disguise the original intentions by eliminating the provocative language referring to “full spectrum military operations in a critical sub-region…where security and stability is under constant threat from…anti-US governments.” That language in particular sparked immediate concerns and accusations regarding Washington’s intentions to utilize Colombia as a launching pad to attack countries such as Venezuela, considered erroneously “anti-US” by many.
The modified US Air Force document of November 16, 2009:
“This project at Palanquero best supports the Combatant Command’s (COCOM) Theater Posture Strategy and demonstrates our commitment to this relationship [with Colombia]. Development of this project provides a unique opportunity to support an important partner in a region of the western hemisphere where security and stability are under constant threat from narcotics funded terrorist insurgencies, endemic poverty and recurring natural disasters.”
The original US Air Force document identified Palanquero as the perfect place to enable the implementation of the US global mobility strategy because it “provides access to the entire South American continent.”
Original US Air Force document from May 2009:
“Palanquero is unquestionably the best site for investing in infrastructure development within Colombia. Its central location is within reach of…operations areas…its isolation maximizes Operational Security (OPSEC) and Force Protection and minimizes the US military profile. The intent is to leverage existing infrastructure to the maximum extent possible, improve the US ability to respond rapidly to crisis, and assure regional access and presence at minimum cost. Palanquero supports the mobility mission by providing access to the entire South American continent with the exception of Cape Horn…”
The modified document dated November 16, 2009 eliminates all references and language refering to the “mobility mission” and “access to the entire South American continent”. However, the global mobility strategy remains an official military policy and defense strategy of the Pentagon, evidenced in the White Paper: Global en Route Strategy of the Air Mobility Command of the US Air Force, and the Pentagon’s budget request and justification submitted in early 2009. Both documents specifically refer to the urgency and necessity of occupying the Palanquero base in Colombia in order to guarantee US global mobility for military operations and missions.
The modified US Air Force document of November 16, 2009 additionally erases all original language refering to Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance operations that would take place from the Palanquero base. Furthermore, all references to “regional access”, “theater security cooperation” and “expeditionary warfare capability” in the region have been eliminated.
Original US Air Force document, May 2009:
“Development of this CSL wil further the strategic partnership forged between the US and Colombia and is in the interest of both nations…A presence will also increase our capability to conduct Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), improve global reach, support logistics requirements, improve partnerships, improve theater security cooperation and expand expeditionary warfare capability.”
Modified US Air Force document, 16 Noviembre 2009:
“Access to Colombia will further its strategic partnership with the United States. Palanquero is unquestionably the best site for investing in infrastructure development within Colombia. Its central location is within reach of counter narco-terrorist operations areas; the runway and existing airfield facilities will reduce construction costs; its isolation maximizes Operational Security (OPSEC) and Force Protection and minimizes the US military profile. The intent is to leverage existing infrastructure to the maximum extent possible, improve the US ability to respond rapidly to crises, and assure access and presence at minimum cost. The taxiway and ramp/apron areas are deficient and in their current configurations severely limit the operational capabilities of this location. Additionally, the operations and support facilities need to be expanded to service a wide array of aircraft that mutually agreed activities may entail.”
Despite the modifications to the US Air Force document more than six months after the original was sent to Congress, the intentions behind the US military agreement with Colombia remain the same. No evidence exists demonstrating a change in the Pentagon’s global mobility strategy - it is an official state policy included in the Global Defense Posture Strategy, in place at the present time. The military base in Palanquero, Colombia has been identified several times in different Pentagon documents as the perfect site – a unique opportunity – to guarantee continental access in South America, facilitating “full spectrum military operations” in Latin America.
Washington can try to erase its language regarding intentions of war, espionage and military operations in Latin America, but the US can’t erase the truth. The original US Air Force document from May 2009 remains the principal justification behind the US-Colombia military accord.
Original US Air Force document, May 2009 available here:
Original document in English:
http://www.centrodealerta.org/documentos_desclasificados/original_in_english_air_for.pdf
Traducción no oficial al español:
http://www.centrodealerta.org/documentos_desclasificados/traduccion_del_documento_de.pdf
Modified US Air Force document, 16 November 2009 original and translation available at:
http://www.centrodealerta.org/noticias/ultima_hora_washington_alte.html
This article is also published in Spanish. Español: http://www.centrodealerta.org/noticias/ultima_hora_washington_alte.html
Filipino candidate files to run despite slaughter.
Associated Press
27 November 2009
By Jim Gomez
Undeterred by the deadly attack that killed 57 in a campaign convoy, Ismael Mangudadatu filed to run for governor of Maguindanao province Friday, heavily guarded by police and soldiers.
His candidacy poses an unprecedented challenge to the Ampatuan clan, which was implicated in Monday's massacre. "Only death can stop me from running," he said.
A day after burying his wife, sisters and many other relatives, Mangudadatu traveled past the spot where they were killed along with supporters and journalists who were stopped and gunned down on their way to file election papers on his behalf. Many of the dead were dumped in mass graves.
"This symbolizes our freedom. I hope this will be the start of our liberation," he said, holding up his certificate of candidacy in front of reporters and hundreds of cheering followers.
His 50-vehicle caravan was escorted by soldiers, a police commander, a senior army general and hundreds of supporters. Mangudadatu was not part of Monday's convoy because of threats on his life. He sent female relatives in the belief that women would be spared.
Prosecutors, delayed by a two-day holiday, said they will file multiple murder charges Tuesday against Andal Ampatuan Jr., heir of the clan that has ruled Maguindanao for years.
Several witnesses came forward, including one of the gunmen who claimed he saw Ampatuan order the killings and fire his weapon, said Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera.
Ampatuan told reporters from his detention cell in Manila that at the time of the massacre he was at the municipal hall in Datu Unsay township, where he's the mayor. He denied any role.
He turned himself in Thursday under threat of military attack on his family's compound.
The clan's patriarch, Andal Ampatuan Sr., and six other family members, including the governor of the autonomous Muslim region, are considered suspects and are not allowed to leave the country, Devanadera said. They were implicated in witnesses' statements, she said, refusing to elaborate.
Police said six senior officers, including the provincial police chief and his deputy, 20 members of Ampatuan township's police station and nearly 400 militiamen were in custody. Not all were considered suspects.
Interior Secretary Ronaldo Punourity said he would seek the replacement of the entire provincial political structure.
Faced with domestic and international outrage over the killings - the bloodiest in recent history - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo authorized a crackdown on the clan that helped her and her allies win the 2004 presidential and 2007 senatorial elections.
Arroyo's ruling party expelled Ampatuan from their ranks, along with his father and a brother, while the president repeatedly vowed justice for the victims.
Devanadera said more than 20 women were among the slain, and the pants of some female victims were unzipped and lowered. Police said, however, that autopsies were not finished and reports of rape were not substantiated.
At least 22 journalists working for newspapers, TV and radio stations in the southern Mindanao region were among the dead. It was the most reporters killed in a single attack anywhere in the world, according to media groups.
Troops and police poured into the rural, impoverished province. Checkpoints were set up along highways and tanks deployed in the provincial capital.
Many hope that the fallout from Monday's massacre will lead to the end of the Ampatuan's violent grip on Maguindanao's politics.
"Our people were like strangled with a rope for a long time," said Arnold Fernandez, administrator of Buluan town, which is led by a Mangudadatu. "We seem to be moving to a new era."
Associated Press writers Oliver Teves, Teresa Cerojano and Hrvoje Hranjski in Manila contributed to this report.
27 November 2009
By Jim Gomez
Undeterred by the deadly attack that killed 57 in a campaign convoy, Ismael Mangudadatu filed to run for governor of Maguindanao province Friday, heavily guarded by police and soldiers.
His candidacy poses an unprecedented challenge to the Ampatuan clan, which was implicated in Monday's massacre. "Only death can stop me from running," he said.
A day after burying his wife, sisters and many other relatives, Mangudadatu traveled past the spot where they were killed along with supporters and journalists who were stopped and gunned down on their way to file election papers on his behalf. Many of the dead were dumped in mass graves.
"This symbolizes our freedom. I hope this will be the start of our liberation," he said, holding up his certificate of candidacy in front of reporters and hundreds of cheering followers.
His 50-vehicle caravan was escorted by soldiers, a police commander, a senior army general and hundreds of supporters. Mangudadatu was not part of Monday's convoy because of threats on his life. He sent female relatives in the belief that women would be spared.
Prosecutors, delayed by a two-day holiday, said they will file multiple murder charges Tuesday against Andal Ampatuan Jr., heir of the clan that has ruled Maguindanao for years.
Several witnesses came forward, including one of the gunmen who claimed he saw Ampatuan order the killings and fire his weapon, said Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera.
Ampatuan told reporters from his detention cell in Manila that at the time of the massacre he was at the municipal hall in Datu Unsay township, where he's the mayor. He denied any role.
He turned himself in Thursday under threat of military attack on his family's compound.
The clan's patriarch, Andal Ampatuan Sr., and six other family members, including the governor of the autonomous Muslim region, are considered suspects and are not allowed to leave the country, Devanadera said. They were implicated in witnesses' statements, she said, refusing to elaborate.
Police said six senior officers, including the provincial police chief and his deputy, 20 members of Ampatuan township's police station and nearly 400 militiamen were in custody. Not all were considered suspects.
Interior Secretary Ronaldo Punourity said he would seek the replacement of the entire provincial political structure.
Faced with domestic and international outrage over the killings - the bloodiest in recent history - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo authorized a crackdown on the clan that helped her and her allies win the 2004 presidential and 2007 senatorial elections.
Arroyo's ruling party expelled Ampatuan from their ranks, along with his father and a brother, while the president repeatedly vowed justice for the victims.
Devanadera said more than 20 women were among the slain, and the pants of some female victims were unzipped and lowered. Police said, however, that autopsies were not finished and reports of rape were not substantiated.
At least 22 journalists working for newspapers, TV and radio stations in the southern Mindanao region were among the dead. It was the most reporters killed in a single attack anywhere in the world, according to media groups.
Troops and police poured into the rural, impoverished province. Checkpoints were set up along highways and tanks deployed in the provincial capital.
Many hope that the fallout from Monday's massacre will lead to the end of the Ampatuan's violent grip on Maguindanao's politics.
"Our people were like strangled with a rope for a long time," said Arnold Fernandez, administrator of Buluan town, which is led by a Mangudadatu. "We seem to be moving to a new era."
Associated Press writers Oliver Teves, Teresa Cerojano and Hrvoje Hranjski in Manila contributed to this report.
Giants compete for Uganda’s oil.
The New Vision
27 November 2009
Tullow Oil, the company with whom Heritage shares two blocks in Uganda on a 50/50 basis, has stated that it has the right to buy its partner’s interests.
The news comes only days after Heritage announced it signed a letter of intent with the Italian company Eni to sell its stake in the two Ugandan blocks at $1.5b.
Tullow says it has the right to pre-empt the sale, meaning that it has the first option to buy Heritage’s interest in the blocks.
“Heritage is obliged to notify Tullow of the final terms and conditions once agreed with Eni,” Brian Glover, the Tullow Oil Uganda boss, said in an exclusive interview on Thursday.
“After reviewing the terms of the agreed deal, Tullow then has a period of time in which to decide whether to purchase Heritage’s interests on the same terms and conditions”
If Tullow chooses to exercise its pre-emptive rights, it will enter into a binding agreement with Heritage for the sale of its interests, he added.
Tullow is looking to sell up to 50% of its own stake. It is particularly looking for investors to help develop the production phase.
After possibly acquiring Heritage’s stake, Glover said, “Tullow could then seek to introduce a new partner to Uganda to support the increased development activities, in a transparent way, through the ongoing data-room process.”
He declined to name the companies they were talking to but said the Government had been informed about the list and had approved it.
To introduce a new partner to Uganda to support the increased development activities, in a transparent way, through the ongoing data-room process.”
He declined to name the companies but said the Ugandan Government had been informed about the list and had approved it.
Earlier this week, Aidan Heavey, the over-all boss of Tullow Oil, told the Sunday Times that potential new partners included “Chinese and major oil companies”.
The projects, approved on Monday, include further testing of wells along the shoreline and beneath Lake Albert, the supply of fuel to a 50MW thermal power plant, and the first oil production from an oilfield.
Tullow’s board has approved the funding for these projects, he said, adding that they planned to invest an additional $500m (sh935b) in Uganda over the next three years.
“These projects represent the turning point for Tullow’s work in Uganda from exploration to development and production activities,” Glover noted.
“Uganda will see crude production and new power generation become a reality in the next two years.”
The agreement to move ahead with the development projects was on account of Tullow’s investment and technical performance, he added.
The Government earlier this week said it had not yet approved the sale of the Ugandan oil fields to Eni, which is partly owned by the Italian government.
Ernest Rubondo, the commissioner in the petroleum exploration and production department, said any transaction related to the oil discovered in the Albertine Graben was “subject to Government approval”.
27 November 2009
Tullow Oil, the company with whom Heritage shares two blocks in Uganda on a 50/50 basis, has stated that it has the right to buy its partner’s interests.
The news comes only days after Heritage announced it signed a letter of intent with the Italian company Eni to sell its stake in the two Ugandan blocks at $1.5b.
Tullow says it has the right to pre-empt the sale, meaning that it has the first option to buy Heritage’s interest in the blocks.
“Heritage is obliged to notify Tullow of the final terms and conditions once agreed with Eni,” Brian Glover, the Tullow Oil Uganda boss, said in an exclusive interview on Thursday.
“After reviewing the terms of the agreed deal, Tullow then has a period of time in which to decide whether to purchase Heritage’s interests on the same terms and conditions”
If Tullow chooses to exercise its pre-emptive rights, it will enter into a binding agreement with Heritage for the sale of its interests, he added.
Tullow is looking to sell up to 50% of its own stake. It is particularly looking for investors to help develop the production phase.
After possibly acquiring Heritage’s stake, Glover said, “Tullow could then seek to introduce a new partner to Uganda to support the increased development activities, in a transparent way, through the ongoing data-room process.”
He declined to name the companies they were talking to but said the Government had been informed about the list and had approved it.
To introduce a new partner to Uganda to support the increased development activities, in a transparent way, through the ongoing data-room process.”
He declined to name the companies but said the Ugandan Government had been informed about the list and had approved it.
Earlier this week, Aidan Heavey, the over-all boss of Tullow Oil, told the Sunday Times that potential new partners included “Chinese and major oil companies”.
The projects, approved on Monday, include further testing of wells along the shoreline and beneath Lake Albert, the supply of fuel to a 50MW thermal power plant, and the first oil production from an oilfield.
Tullow’s board has approved the funding for these projects, he said, adding that they planned to invest an additional $500m (sh935b) in Uganda over the next three years.
“These projects represent the turning point for Tullow’s work in Uganda from exploration to development and production activities,” Glover noted.
“Uganda will see crude production and new power generation become a reality in the next two years.”
The agreement to move ahead with the development projects was on account of Tullow’s investment and technical performance, he added.
The Government earlier this week said it had not yet approved the sale of the Ugandan oil fields to Eni, which is partly owned by the Italian government.
Ernest Rubondo, the commissioner in the petroleum exploration and production department, said any transaction related to the oil discovered in the Albertine Graben was “subject to Government approval”.
26 November, 2009
None So Blind as Those That Will Not See - Great Britain's Support of the Rwandan and Ethiopian Governments an Insult to Universal Human Rights Norms.
Human Rights Watch
Op-Ed
By Jon Elliot
26 November 2009
Britain's ambassador to Rwanda, Nicholas Cannon, gave a revealing insight into British policy on Rwanda in his interview with the Rwandan News Agency (RNA) on 17 November.
British aid to countries like Rwanda and Ethiopia involves significant sums in budget support. In Rwanda's case, this is general budget support, with British taxpayers' money given directly to the central government. As Human Rights Watch and others have long documented, the Rwandan and Ethiopian governments are de facto one-party states. They may allow artificial space for civil society and limited or "in name only" political opposition, but the government and the ruling party are one and the same.
This UK budget support is supposed to underwrite social and economic development. The problem is that it is dispensed with minimal regard for the human rights and governance context. In Rwanda and Ethiopia, especially, independent international groups like Human Rights Watch are increasingly concerned that this kind of aid is underwriting repression.
Britain believes that its aid to Rwanda is morally irreproachable because the stated aim is helping the poorest. Who could reasonably argue with that? The problem lies not in intentions but in execution, and failing to understand the consequences of large sums being handed to authoritarian states without sufficient conditionality.
For one thing, this kind of aid can fuel a massive official patronage machine that includes the power to appoint - and dismiss – officials, channel aid to areas that support the ruling party and away from those that do not, fix the composition of election and other official commissions, and manipulate the composition of parliament and the judiciary. This particularly debilitating form of official corruption is used by repressive governments everywhere to marginalise civil society and eliminate opposition. In countries like Rwanda and Ethiopia, the state (ie, the ruling party) also tends to become the biggest employer.
British officials say that accountability in Rwanda is about preventing aid from being diverted to private bank accounts. It should be about ensuring that citizens have genuine power over issues that affect their daily lives and the means to make the state responsive to their needs. In de facto one-party states like Rwanda and Ethiopia, budgetary aid actually risks making citizens accountable to their ruling parties. Both countries have poor records when it comes to basic freedoms, never mind free and fair elections.
Many in the human rights community see similarities between British aid policy towards states like Rwanda and China's approach to Africa. China's policy is more cynical, propping up unaccountable elites to suit its political and economic interests. It openly dismisses human rights concerns. Mr. Cannon says the UK is different because, for example, it has an intense dialogue with the Rwandans on "problems" in the country. Unfortunately, no-one can independently check that assertion. And Mr. Cannon undermines his own argument by saying that there are "very, very few areas in which you could say there were differences of opinion (between Rwanda and Britain)." He and his government will not even say publicly what they think Rwanda's governance problems are.
Actions speak louder than bland assurances. The UK and other governments have repeatedly turned a blind eye to Rwanda's repression. They kept quiet about last year's Parliamentary elections despite ample evidence of intimidation and fraud. They have stood by as the ruling RPF party has systematically harassed independent journalists and attempted to muzzle the press though a new draconian media law. There has been no meaningful insistence that Kigali amend its "genocide ideology" law that is so broad it makes almost any kind of criticism of the RPF illegal.
Donors have also done next to nothing while human rights defenders and moderate critics of the RPF are intimidated and forced to leave the country and as RPF officials openly interfere in court proceedings. And then there is Rwanda's ongoing and negative role in eastern Congo. Instead, Western officials spin tales about democratic transition, transformation and Rwanda heading in the right direction. Britain has even signed a new long-term budget support deal with the RPF without any meaningful governance benchmarks. British taxpayers should be asking more questions.
In his interview with RNA, Mr. Cannon also misrepresented Human Rights Watch's position on Rwanda's application to join the Commonwealth, which is likely to be approved in the next week or so at a summit in Trinidad and Tobago. He quotes the late Dr. Alison Des Forges, Human Rights Watch's senior Africa advisor and the world's leading expert on the Rwandan genocide, as supporting Rwanda's petition. Dr. Des Forges had four decades of experience working in the region and understood better than most foreign diplomats in Kigali the historical and political context of Rwanda. She frequently expressed concerns about the lack of rule of law, democratic principles, and freedom of expression in Rwanda. The RPF responded by barring her from the country in 2008.
Dr. Des Forges and her colleagues have urged the Commonwealth to insist that Rwanda make meaningful reforms before deciding on the application. She shared some of the concerns of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), which determined Rwanda did not meet the membership criteria. Mr. Cannon criticises the CHRI and instead says a report produced by the Commonwealth Secretary-General's office backs Britain's official support for Rwanda's application. The problem is that the Commonwealth Secretariat says it will not publish this report. Why the lack of basic transparency if its arguments are so overwhelming?
The Commonwealth, like any organisation, has common rules that it expects members to respect. Former Jamaican Prime Minister P.G. Patterson was asked before the 2007 Commonwealth summit in Kampala to recommend benchmarks for assessing future applicants that – like Rwanda - lack historical connections to Britain's former colonial empire. He concluded that such applicants should be considered on a case-by-case basis but that all had to comply with the values, principles and priorities set out in Commonwealth declarations made over the years, among other things a commitment to democratic processes, free and fair elections and representative legislatures, the rule of law, protection of human rights, and freedom of expression.
Others have said that Rwanda should anyway be admitted to the Commonwealth so that it can be helped to improve on its problems. The precedents are not good. The same argument was used before Cameroon joined a while back; yet, under President Biya, Cameroon remains as authoritarian and as disrespectful of basic human rights as ever.
Of course, Mr. Cannon is the messenger in all this. Real responsibility for donor policies lies in their capitals. No-one is suggesting that Western governments should engage in unbridled megaphone diplomacy when confronting Rwanda's negative governance and human rights trajectory. But a bit more honesty and transparency would be a good start. There are some welcome, if tentative and long overdue, signs of this in British statements on Ethiopia.
But if Western donors continue to choose "quiet diplomacy" in Rwanda and Ethiopia they also have to show tangible results and account for these to their own taxpayers. The record to date is tacit appeasement of the RPF's repressive rule in Rwanda – even defending its more egregious behaviour. Sadly, this is just what we have learned to expect from Beijing.
Jon Elliott is the Africa Advocacy Director of Human Rights Watch.
Op-Ed
By Jon Elliot
26 November 2009
Britain's ambassador to Rwanda, Nicholas Cannon, gave a revealing insight into British policy on Rwanda in his interview with the Rwandan News Agency (RNA) on 17 November.
British aid to countries like Rwanda and Ethiopia involves significant sums in budget support. In Rwanda's case, this is general budget support, with British taxpayers' money given directly to the central government. As Human Rights Watch and others have long documented, the Rwandan and Ethiopian governments are de facto one-party states. They may allow artificial space for civil society and limited or "in name only" political opposition, but the government and the ruling party are one and the same.
This UK budget support is supposed to underwrite social and economic development. The problem is that it is dispensed with minimal regard for the human rights and governance context. In Rwanda and Ethiopia, especially, independent international groups like Human Rights Watch are increasingly concerned that this kind of aid is underwriting repression.
Britain believes that its aid to Rwanda is morally irreproachable because the stated aim is helping the poorest. Who could reasonably argue with that? The problem lies not in intentions but in execution, and failing to understand the consequences of large sums being handed to authoritarian states without sufficient conditionality.
For one thing, this kind of aid can fuel a massive official patronage machine that includes the power to appoint - and dismiss – officials, channel aid to areas that support the ruling party and away from those that do not, fix the composition of election and other official commissions, and manipulate the composition of parliament and the judiciary. This particularly debilitating form of official corruption is used by repressive governments everywhere to marginalise civil society and eliminate opposition. In countries like Rwanda and Ethiopia, the state (ie, the ruling party) also tends to become the biggest employer.
British officials say that accountability in Rwanda is about preventing aid from being diverted to private bank accounts. It should be about ensuring that citizens have genuine power over issues that affect their daily lives and the means to make the state responsive to their needs. In de facto one-party states like Rwanda and Ethiopia, budgetary aid actually risks making citizens accountable to their ruling parties. Both countries have poor records when it comes to basic freedoms, never mind free and fair elections.
Many in the human rights community see similarities between British aid policy towards states like Rwanda and China's approach to Africa. China's policy is more cynical, propping up unaccountable elites to suit its political and economic interests. It openly dismisses human rights concerns. Mr. Cannon says the UK is different because, for example, it has an intense dialogue with the Rwandans on "problems" in the country. Unfortunately, no-one can independently check that assertion. And Mr. Cannon undermines his own argument by saying that there are "very, very few areas in which you could say there were differences of opinion (between Rwanda and Britain)." He and his government will not even say publicly what they think Rwanda's governance problems are.
Actions speak louder than bland assurances. The UK and other governments have repeatedly turned a blind eye to Rwanda's repression. They kept quiet about last year's Parliamentary elections despite ample evidence of intimidation and fraud. They have stood by as the ruling RPF party has systematically harassed independent journalists and attempted to muzzle the press though a new draconian media law. There has been no meaningful insistence that Kigali amend its "genocide ideology" law that is so broad it makes almost any kind of criticism of the RPF illegal.
Donors have also done next to nothing while human rights defenders and moderate critics of the RPF are intimidated and forced to leave the country and as RPF officials openly interfere in court proceedings. And then there is Rwanda's ongoing and negative role in eastern Congo. Instead, Western officials spin tales about democratic transition, transformation and Rwanda heading in the right direction. Britain has even signed a new long-term budget support deal with the RPF without any meaningful governance benchmarks. British taxpayers should be asking more questions.
In his interview with RNA, Mr. Cannon also misrepresented Human Rights Watch's position on Rwanda's application to join the Commonwealth, which is likely to be approved in the next week or so at a summit in Trinidad and Tobago. He quotes the late Dr. Alison Des Forges, Human Rights Watch's senior Africa advisor and the world's leading expert on the Rwandan genocide, as supporting Rwanda's petition. Dr. Des Forges had four decades of experience working in the region and understood better than most foreign diplomats in Kigali the historical and political context of Rwanda. She frequently expressed concerns about the lack of rule of law, democratic principles, and freedom of expression in Rwanda. The RPF responded by barring her from the country in 2008.
Dr. Des Forges and her colleagues have urged the Commonwealth to insist that Rwanda make meaningful reforms before deciding on the application. She shared some of the concerns of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), which determined Rwanda did not meet the membership criteria. Mr. Cannon criticises the CHRI and instead says a report produced by the Commonwealth Secretary-General's office backs Britain's official support for Rwanda's application. The problem is that the Commonwealth Secretariat says it will not publish this report. Why the lack of basic transparency if its arguments are so overwhelming?
The Commonwealth, like any organisation, has common rules that it expects members to respect. Former Jamaican Prime Minister P.G. Patterson was asked before the 2007 Commonwealth summit in Kampala to recommend benchmarks for assessing future applicants that – like Rwanda - lack historical connections to Britain's former colonial empire. He concluded that such applicants should be considered on a case-by-case basis but that all had to comply with the values, principles and priorities set out in Commonwealth declarations made over the years, among other things a commitment to democratic processes, free and fair elections and representative legislatures, the rule of law, protection of human rights, and freedom of expression.
Others have said that Rwanda should anyway be admitted to the Commonwealth so that it can be helped to improve on its problems. The precedents are not good. The same argument was used before Cameroon joined a while back; yet, under President Biya, Cameroon remains as authoritarian and as disrespectful of basic human rights as ever.
Of course, Mr. Cannon is the messenger in all this. Real responsibility for donor policies lies in their capitals. No-one is suggesting that Western governments should engage in unbridled megaphone diplomacy when confronting Rwanda's negative governance and human rights trajectory. But a bit more honesty and transparency would be a good start. There are some welcome, if tentative and long overdue, signs of this in British statements on Ethiopia.
But if Western donors continue to choose "quiet diplomacy" in Rwanda and Ethiopia they also have to show tangible results and account for these to their own taxpayers. The record to date is tacit appeasement of the RPF's repressive rule in Rwanda – even defending its more egregious behaviour. Sadly, this is just what we have learned to expect from Beijing.
Jon Elliott is the Africa Advocacy Director of Human Rights Watch.
Museveni, Bahati, named as members of US ‘cult' called "The Family."
The Observer
25 November 2009
President Museveni, Ethics Minister Nsaba Buturo and MP David Bahati have been linked to a shadowy religious fundamentalist group in the United States known as the ‘The Family’.
The group, comprising a number of influential congressmen, senators and other people in strategic positions, works secretively to promote its political, economic and religious ideas, some of them controversial, in the United States and across the world.
According to journalist, academic and author Jeff Sharlett, who has spent years researching on The Family, its core agenda includes fighting homosexuality and abortion, promoting free-market economics and dictatorship, an idea they once termed “totalitarianism for Christ”.
It recruits people in positions of power and influence to promote its agenda and, according to Sharlett, the group has had its sights on Uganda for over 20 years. He also says the group is behind the anti-gay legislation recently tabled in Parliament by Ndorwa West MP, David Bahati, which proposes the death penalty for men who have gay sex with disabled people, under-18s, or when the accused is HIV-positive.
In an extensive interview with National Public Radio (NPR), a privately and publicly funded non-profit radio network in the United States, Jeff Sharlett said that The Family identified President Museveni as their “key man in Africa” in 1986.
Individuals working for both the US government and The Family, he said, undertook trips to Uganda “to reach out to Museveni to make sure that he came into the American sphere of influence [and] that Uganda, in effect, becomes our proxy in the region”.
“They wanted to steer him away from neutrality or leftist sympathies and bring him into conservative American alliances, and they were able to do so. They’ve since promoted Uganda as this bright spot - as I say, as this bright spot for African democracy, despite the fact that under their tutelage, Museveni has slowly shifted away from any even veneer of democracy: imprisoning journalists, tampering with elections, supporting - strongly supporting this Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2009,” he said.
Describing Museveni as a “core” member of the group, Jeff Sharlett alleged that President Museveni visits, spends time and “sits down for counsel” with Doug Coe, the leader of The Family, at the group’s headquarters at a place called The Cedars in Arlington, Virginia.
This Doug Coe, with whom Uganda’s President reportedly consults, is the same man who believes that ruthless dictators such as Hitler, Stalin and Mao mirror Jesus’ central message on power. Sharlett says that Core members of The Family participate in deciding the group’s agenda, a privilege not enjoyed by other members of the group.
More power, less love
One of The Family’s central ideas, according to Jeff Sharlett, is that Jesus Christ’s message was not about love, mercy, justice or forgiveness. Rather, it was about power. The group says that Jesus didn’t come to take sides, he came to take over.
“Doug Coe, the leader of the group, tries to illustrate this, for instance, by saying, sort of posing a puzzle: name three men in the 20th Century who best understood that message of The New Testament. And most people are going to say someone like Martin Luther King, or Bonhoeffer; or maybe the more conservative, they can say, [evangelist] Billy Graham.
And Coe likes to give an answer - Hitler, Stalin and Mao, which just makes your jaw drop. And he will say - he’s quick to say these are evil men, but they understood power. And that message recurs again, and again, and again in The Family,” Sharlett said.
Sharlett, who spent time within The Family as an undercover researcher, given access to its leaders and archives, said that the group actively promotes dictators in pursuit of its economic and other interests. Because of its influence in Washington, the seat of the American government, foreign leaders find it in their interest to associate with the group.
Senator Tom Coburn, who also sits on the Senate Arms Forces Committee, is quoted to have said he has been on a mission to Uganda to “promote the political philosophy of Jesus as taught to him by Doug Coe.”
The group, Jeff Sharlett told NPR, creates “an invisible believing group of God-led politicians who get together and talk with one another about what God wants them to do in their leadership capacity. And that’s the nature of their relationship with Museveni.”
The Family, according to Sharlett, helped the Museveni family and other top politicians to start the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Uganda, to which it sends representatives, as a parallel to the United States National Prayer Breakfast the group has been running since 1935. This is the only group’s public event, which it uses to recruit new members.
The US National Prayer Breakfast has been attended by all American presidents since the 1950s.
Jeff Sharlett says he has established in recent investigations that the group has been channeling money to Uganda to promote its activities, including the anti-gay Bill.
Following paper trails, he discovered that the money was channeled through an “African leadership academy” called Cornerstone which runs a Youth Corps programme described as an “invisible family binding together world leaders” and an organisation called the “African Youth Leadership Forum” associated with MP David Bahati.
“The Family has poured millions of dollars working through a very convoluted chain of linkages passing the money over to Uganda,” he said. According to Jeff Sharlett, in Uganda, Museveni, Buturo and Bahati are not merely under the influence of The Family but they are, in effect, The Family.
The Observer tried to get MP Bahati to shed some light on these claims but he could not be reached on all known telephone numbers. Neither could we speak to Ethics and Integrity Minister, James Nsaba Buturo, as he did not answer his phone.
Presidential Press Secretary, Tamale Mirundi, said he was neither aware of an organisation called The Family nor of any relationship between it and President Museveni. But should such ties exist, Mirundi said, he would not be surprised.
“What would amaze me is if the President were associated with a group that is pro-homosexuality,” Mirundi told The Observer by phone. “But if the President is associated with a group opposed to homosexuality [I would not be amazed] because he has made his position on homosexuality very clear.”
Cash and sex
While The Family claims, on the surface at least, to promote family values, some of its more influential members have been ensnared by high-profile sexual scandals. In the latest scandal, Senator John Ensign of Nevada is alleged to have had an affair with the wife of a top aide, Doug Hampton and, on the advice of The Family, tried to buy Hampton off with $1.2 million.
The Family, also known as The Fellowship, was founded in the United States in 1935. According to its founder, Abraham Verene, God came to him one night in April, 1935, and told him that Christianity has been focusing on the wrong people, the poor and the suffering, “the down and out”.
He commanded him to be a missionary to and for the powerful, the “up and out”, who could then pass off the blessings to everybody else. The group does not maintain a website and prohibits its members from speaking about its activities.
Jeff Sharlett’s 2008 bestseller, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, is the most comprehensive expose of the group yet.
newseditor@observer.com
25 November 2009
President Museveni, Ethics Minister Nsaba Buturo and MP David Bahati have been linked to a shadowy religious fundamentalist group in the United States known as the ‘The Family’.
The group, comprising a number of influential congressmen, senators and other people in strategic positions, works secretively to promote its political, economic and religious ideas, some of them controversial, in the United States and across the world.
According to journalist, academic and author Jeff Sharlett, who has spent years researching on The Family, its core agenda includes fighting homosexuality and abortion, promoting free-market economics and dictatorship, an idea they once termed “totalitarianism for Christ”.
It recruits people in positions of power and influence to promote its agenda and, according to Sharlett, the group has had its sights on Uganda for over 20 years. He also says the group is behind the anti-gay legislation recently tabled in Parliament by Ndorwa West MP, David Bahati, which proposes the death penalty for men who have gay sex with disabled people, under-18s, or when the accused is HIV-positive.
In an extensive interview with National Public Radio (NPR), a privately and publicly funded non-profit radio network in the United States, Jeff Sharlett said that The Family identified President Museveni as their “key man in Africa” in 1986.
Individuals working for both the US government and The Family, he said, undertook trips to Uganda “to reach out to Museveni to make sure that he came into the American sphere of influence [and] that Uganda, in effect, becomes our proxy in the region”.
“They wanted to steer him away from neutrality or leftist sympathies and bring him into conservative American alliances, and they were able to do so. They’ve since promoted Uganda as this bright spot - as I say, as this bright spot for African democracy, despite the fact that under their tutelage, Museveni has slowly shifted away from any even veneer of democracy: imprisoning journalists, tampering with elections, supporting - strongly supporting this Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2009,” he said.
Describing Museveni as a “core” member of the group, Jeff Sharlett alleged that President Museveni visits, spends time and “sits down for counsel” with Doug Coe, the leader of The Family, at the group’s headquarters at a place called The Cedars in Arlington, Virginia.
This Doug Coe, with whom Uganda’s President reportedly consults, is the same man who believes that ruthless dictators such as Hitler, Stalin and Mao mirror Jesus’ central message on power. Sharlett says that Core members of The Family participate in deciding the group’s agenda, a privilege not enjoyed by other members of the group.
More power, less love
One of The Family’s central ideas, according to Jeff Sharlett, is that Jesus Christ’s message was not about love, mercy, justice or forgiveness. Rather, it was about power. The group says that Jesus didn’t come to take sides, he came to take over.
“Doug Coe, the leader of the group, tries to illustrate this, for instance, by saying, sort of posing a puzzle: name three men in the 20th Century who best understood that message of The New Testament. And most people are going to say someone like Martin Luther King, or Bonhoeffer; or maybe the more conservative, they can say, [evangelist] Billy Graham.
And Coe likes to give an answer - Hitler, Stalin and Mao, which just makes your jaw drop. And he will say - he’s quick to say these are evil men, but they understood power. And that message recurs again, and again, and again in The Family,” Sharlett said.
Sharlett, who spent time within The Family as an undercover researcher, given access to its leaders and archives, said that the group actively promotes dictators in pursuit of its economic and other interests. Because of its influence in Washington, the seat of the American government, foreign leaders find it in their interest to associate with the group.
Senator Tom Coburn, who also sits on the Senate Arms Forces Committee, is quoted to have said he has been on a mission to Uganda to “promote the political philosophy of Jesus as taught to him by Doug Coe.”
The group, Jeff Sharlett told NPR, creates “an invisible believing group of God-led politicians who get together and talk with one another about what God wants them to do in their leadership capacity. And that’s the nature of their relationship with Museveni.”
The Family, according to Sharlett, helped the Museveni family and other top politicians to start the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Uganda, to which it sends representatives, as a parallel to the United States National Prayer Breakfast the group has been running since 1935. This is the only group’s public event, which it uses to recruit new members.
The US National Prayer Breakfast has been attended by all American presidents since the 1950s.
Jeff Sharlett says he has established in recent investigations that the group has been channeling money to Uganda to promote its activities, including the anti-gay Bill.
Following paper trails, he discovered that the money was channeled through an “African leadership academy” called Cornerstone which runs a Youth Corps programme described as an “invisible family binding together world leaders” and an organisation called the “African Youth Leadership Forum” associated with MP David Bahati.
“The Family has poured millions of dollars working through a very convoluted chain of linkages passing the money over to Uganda,” he said. According to Jeff Sharlett, in Uganda, Museveni, Buturo and Bahati are not merely under the influence of The Family but they are, in effect, The Family.
The Observer tried to get MP Bahati to shed some light on these claims but he could not be reached on all known telephone numbers. Neither could we speak to Ethics and Integrity Minister, James Nsaba Buturo, as he did not answer his phone.
Presidential Press Secretary, Tamale Mirundi, said he was neither aware of an organisation called The Family nor of any relationship between it and President Museveni. But should such ties exist, Mirundi said, he would not be surprised.
“What would amaze me is if the President were associated with a group that is pro-homosexuality,” Mirundi told The Observer by phone. “But if the President is associated with a group opposed to homosexuality [I would not be amazed] because he has made his position on homosexuality very clear.”
Cash and sex
While The Family claims, on the surface at least, to promote family values, some of its more influential members have been ensnared by high-profile sexual scandals. In the latest scandal, Senator John Ensign of Nevada is alleged to have had an affair with the wife of a top aide, Doug Hampton and, on the advice of The Family, tried to buy Hampton off with $1.2 million.
The Family, also known as The Fellowship, was founded in the United States in 1935. According to its founder, Abraham Verene, God came to him one night in April, 1935, and told him that Christianity has been focusing on the wrong people, the poor and the suffering, “the down and out”.
He commanded him to be a missionary to and for the powerful, the “up and out”, who could then pass off the blessings to everybody else. The group does not maintain a website and prohibits its members from speaking about its activities.
Jeff Sharlett’s 2008 bestseller, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, is the most comprehensive expose of the group yet.
newseditor@observer.com
Ethiopia to offer 14 oil permits next year.
Sudan Tribune
26 November 2009
Ethiopian government is preparing to offer 14 oil and gas exploration permits next years to attract foreign investors to the landlocked country despite the shaky security conditions there.
There are 11 oil firm working the Horn of Africa country but excepted the Malaysia’s state owned Petronas, the oil sector in Ethiopia remains dominated by small companies which facing difficulties to get credit for financing under the current global financial crisis.
"We are still inviting companies to come talk to us about licensing and we hope to have a total of 25 in three year’s time, and that will be enough," said Alemayehu Tegenu Ethiopian Minister for Mines and Energy in an interview with Reuters this week.
The government believes the Ogaden basin, which covers 350,000 sq km (135,100 sq miles), contains gas reserves of some 4 trillion cubic feet. Officials point to neighboring countries such as Sudan and Yemen as evidence there could be major oil deposits under Ethiopia’s deserts.
The minister further pledged that his government would offer incentive packages to companies but added it would depend on the size of the investment.
"Incentives that we can discuss include duty-free imports of machinery and refunds of exploration costs should oil or gas be discovered," Alemayehu said.
He also dismissed reports about threats by the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front adding there would be five basins out of the troubled region.
"There was an attack in 2007 but companies exploring Ogaden are now secured by our military," he said. "We don’t see any problems near our camps and exploration areas. The rebels make claims that aren’t reflected on the ground."
Ogaden rebels attacked an oil field in April 2007 where the separatist group killed 74 people, including nine Chinese employees of Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau, part of Sinopec, China’s biggest refiner and petrochemicals producer.
26 November 2009
Ethiopian government is preparing to offer 14 oil and gas exploration permits next years to attract foreign investors to the landlocked country despite the shaky security conditions there.
There are 11 oil firm working the Horn of Africa country but excepted the Malaysia’s state owned Petronas, the oil sector in Ethiopia remains dominated by small companies which facing difficulties to get credit for financing under the current global financial crisis.
"We are still inviting companies to come talk to us about licensing and we hope to have a total of 25 in three year’s time, and that will be enough," said Alemayehu Tegenu Ethiopian Minister for Mines and Energy in an interview with Reuters this week.
The government believes the Ogaden basin, which covers 350,000 sq km (135,100 sq miles), contains gas reserves of some 4 trillion cubic feet. Officials point to neighboring countries such as Sudan and Yemen as evidence there could be major oil deposits under Ethiopia’s deserts.
The minister further pledged that his government would offer incentive packages to companies but added it would depend on the size of the investment.
"Incentives that we can discuss include duty-free imports of machinery and refunds of exploration costs should oil or gas be discovered," Alemayehu said.
He also dismissed reports about threats by the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front adding there would be five basins out of the troubled region.
"There was an attack in 2007 but companies exploring Ogaden are now secured by our military," he said. "We don’t see any problems near our camps and exploration areas. The rebels make claims that aren’t reflected on the ground."
Ogaden rebels attacked an oil field in April 2007 where the separatist group killed 74 people, including nine Chinese employees of Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau, part of Sinopec, China’s biggest refiner and petrochemicals producer.
25 November, 2009
Ethiopia signs gold mining deal with Saudi company.
Mineweb
24 November 2009
Ethiopia signed a deal on Tuesday for a Saudi firm to extract an estimated 20 tonnes of recoverable gold found in the Horn of African country last month, the mines and energy minister said.
Two firms -- Saudi Arabia's Midroc Gold Co. and Britain's Golden Prospecting Mining Co. -- discovered deposits estimated to contain more than 40 tonnes of gold last month and applied for extraction licences.
"We will sign an extraction agreement with the Saudi company today," Minister for Mines and Energy, Alemayehu Tegenu, told Reuters in an interview, adding it would be mined over 11 years.
"We hope to sign an agreement with the British company next year," he said.
The minister said Sakaro, a mining company wholly-owned by Midroc Gold Co., discovered an estimated 20 tonnes in the Lege-Dembi gold belt. Midroc is owned by Ethiopian-born Saudi business tycoon Sheik Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi.
Golden Prospecting Mining's find of about 23 tonnes is in western Ethiopia.
Under the terms of the deal, Ethiopia gets 5 percent of royalties, takes 2 percent equity and will charge 35 percent tax. The extraction licence expires once 20 tonnes of gold has been extracted.
The Ethiopian government says it has identified possible reserves of up to 500 tonnes in different regions.
The country now makes $105 million a year from gold exports and that could double when Midroc starts its extraction, Alemayehu said.
The Horn of Africa nation has made $450.5 million from about 48 tonnes of gold exports in the last 10 years, according to the National Bank of Ethiopia. (Reporting by Barry Malone; Editing by David Clarke and Anthony Barker)
24 November 2009
Ethiopia signed a deal on Tuesday for a Saudi firm to extract an estimated 20 tonnes of recoverable gold found in the Horn of African country last month, the mines and energy minister said.
Two firms -- Saudi Arabia's Midroc Gold Co. and Britain's Golden Prospecting Mining Co. -- discovered deposits estimated to contain more than 40 tonnes of gold last month and applied for extraction licences.
"We will sign an extraction agreement with the Saudi company today," Minister for Mines and Energy, Alemayehu Tegenu, told Reuters in an interview, adding it would be mined over 11 years.
"We hope to sign an agreement with the British company next year," he said.
The minister said Sakaro, a mining company wholly-owned by Midroc Gold Co., discovered an estimated 20 tonnes in the Lege-Dembi gold belt. Midroc is owned by Ethiopian-born Saudi business tycoon Sheik Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi.
Golden Prospecting Mining's find of about 23 tonnes is in western Ethiopia.
Under the terms of the deal, Ethiopia gets 5 percent of royalties, takes 2 percent equity and will charge 35 percent tax. The extraction licence expires once 20 tonnes of gold has been extracted.
The Ethiopian government says it has identified possible reserves of up to 500 tonnes in different regions.
The country now makes $105 million a year from gold exports and that could double when Midroc starts its extraction, Alemayehu said.
The Horn of Africa nation has made $450.5 million from about 48 tonnes of gold exports in the last 10 years, according to the National Bank of Ethiopia. (Reporting by Barry Malone; Editing by David Clarke and Anthony Barker)
ICTR dismisses IBUKA boycott threats.
25 November 2009
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has defended the judicial process and principles of law over the threat by the umbrella body of genocide survivors in Rwanda (IBUKA) to halt co-operation with the UN Tribunal following last week’s two acquittals of 1994 genocide suspects.
IBUKA on Friday held a demonstration in Kigali against what they subjectively described as “malpractices” by the ICTR and threatened to stop co-operation with it.
“It’s not the first time that an acquittal has occurred and acquittal is a normal process within the justice system,” Roland Amoussouga, ICTR spokesman said Monday, adding that the judges decisions are not made on the basis of vested interests.
“They are based on due process, equity, fairness, transparency, the principles of law, evidence produced and the merit of arguments made by the parties during the judicial proceedings,” he said.
The ICTR spokesman defended the judges, saying they were of high professionalism and integrity. “They are above all independent. It would be wrong for anyone to attack the integrity of the ICTR Judicial process without due regard to the work that is being done,” he stressed.
Amoussouga explained that an acquittal could occur anywhere, including Rwanda. “One may understand the frustrations of some people, but this should not be the ground for undermining the integrity of the judicial process and for preventing justice from being rendered to all the victims, suspects, accused persons and the mankind,” he underscored.
“We are all against ICTR’s decisions. Releasing genocide perpetrators is outright denial of genocide, releasing a person like (Protais) Zigiranyirazo, (Emmanuel) Bagambiki, Andre Ntagerura, Ignace Bagilishema, Gen Gratien Kabirigi and others, proves injustice and we are against this, we are protesting this,” New Times quoted a demonstrator chanting from a loudspeaker on Friday.
IBUKA has threatened to end all cooperation with the Tribunal – including stopping to send any more survivors to testify at the court. Protestors demanded Friday that government blocks all ICTR investigators from coming into the country.
On November 16, the Appeals chamber reversed 20-year sentence imposed on Protais Zigiranyirazo, brother-in-law of former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, and instead acquitted him of 1994 genocide charges. The Chamber, presided by the American judge Theodor Meron, ordered an immediate release of Zigiranyirazo.
The upper chamber traced to errors by the lower court when sentencing the suspect in December 2008.
The ICTR lower court ordered immediate release of former head of College Christ-Roi, Father Hormisdas Nsengimana, 55, after finding him not guilty on November 17.
In reaching its conclusions, the Chamber stated that it had assessed all the evidence of the prosecution. ‘'They do not establish Nsengimana's criminal responsibility or impact the Chamber's findings,'' stressed presiding judge Erik Mose from Norway.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has defended the judicial process and principles of law over the threat by the umbrella body of genocide survivors in Rwanda (IBUKA) to halt co-operation with the UN Tribunal following last week’s two acquittals of 1994 genocide suspects.
IBUKA on Friday held a demonstration in Kigali against what they subjectively described as “malpractices” by the ICTR and threatened to stop co-operation with it.
“It’s not the first time that an acquittal has occurred and acquittal is a normal process within the justice system,” Roland Amoussouga, ICTR spokesman said Monday, adding that the judges decisions are not made on the basis of vested interests.
“They are based on due process, equity, fairness, transparency, the principles of law, evidence produced and the merit of arguments made by the parties during the judicial proceedings,” he said.
The ICTR spokesman defended the judges, saying they were of high professionalism and integrity. “They are above all independent. It would be wrong for anyone to attack the integrity of the ICTR Judicial process without due regard to the work that is being done,” he stressed.
Amoussouga explained that an acquittal could occur anywhere, including Rwanda. “One may understand the frustrations of some people, but this should not be the ground for undermining the integrity of the judicial process and for preventing justice from being rendered to all the victims, suspects, accused persons and the mankind,” he underscored.
“We are all against ICTR’s decisions. Releasing genocide perpetrators is outright denial of genocide, releasing a person like (Protais) Zigiranyirazo, (Emmanuel) Bagambiki, Andre Ntagerura, Ignace Bagilishema, Gen Gratien Kabirigi and others, proves injustice and we are against this, we are protesting this,” New Times quoted a demonstrator chanting from a loudspeaker on Friday.
IBUKA has threatened to end all cooperation with the Tribunal – including stopping to send any more survivors to testify at the court. Protestors demanded Friday that government blocks all ICTR investigators from coming into the country.
On November 16, the Appeals chamber reversed 20-year sentence imposed on Protais Zigiranyirazo, brother-in-law of former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, and instead acquitted him of 1994 genocide charges. The Chamber, presided by the American judge Theodor Meron, ordered an immediate release of Zigiranyirazo.
The upper chamber traced to errors by the lower court when sentencing the suspect in December 2008.
The ICTR lower court ordered immediate release of former head of College Christ-Roi, Father Hormisdas Nsengimana, 55, after finding him not guilty on November 17.
In reaching its conclusions, the Chamber stated that it had assessed all the evidence of the prosecution. ‘'They do not establish Nsengimana's criminal responsibility or impact the Chamber's findings,'' stressed presiding judge Erik Mose from Norway.
Text of Balochistan package presented in Pakistani parliament.
Following is the text of the Aghaaz-e-Huqook package presented by Senator Raza Rabbani.
24 November 2009
Preamble
"Conscious, that the provinces have a sense of deprivation, in political and economic structures of the federation;
Recalling, that the provisions of the 1973 constitution in particular relating to the federation-province relationship have been circumvented;
Stating that the financial assistance given by the present federal government in terms of Rs 4.6 billion PSDP support, Rs 2.8 billion paid as arrears of royalty for Uch – pending since 1995, Rs 17.5 billion overdraft of Balochistan written off, realising that this is not a substitute to provincial autonomy;
Acknowledging, that the question of provincial autonomy needs to be revisited and the ownership of the provinces over their resources reasserted in the constitution;
Mindful, of the tumultuous history of the province of Balochistan in the affairs of the federation;
Placing on Record that the present federal government has withdrawn cases and released political workers and helped in identifying the places of detention and release of some of the missing persons;
Determined, to correct the wrongs of history, by conferring the political, economic and cultural rights of the provinces, so that the federation may blossom, and;
Recalling, the documents made from time to time, namely The Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Reconciliation Committee Papers, the interim reports of the Wasim Sajjad and Mushahid Hussain Sayed committees of the Parliamentary Committee on Balochistan, headed by Chaudhary Shujaat, proposals made by the Balochistan chief secretary and the proposals of Mian Raza Rabbani.
The following "proposals" are made:
A. Constitutional-related Matters
1. Constitutional Reform: In terms of the resolutions passed by parliament, the speaker has constituted a parliamentary committee. The said committee has commenced work of considering various amendments in the constitution, including on provincial autonomy, this should be immediately addressed;
2. Constitutional Reform: The quantum, form and scope of provincial autonomy will be determined by the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms, which represents all shades of political opinion in parliament. The following provisions of the constitution on provincial autonomy are under consideration of the committee; (i) Deletion of the Concurrent List from the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution; (ii) Deletion of the Police Order, 2002 and The Balochistan Local Government Ordinance, 2001 from the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution; (iii) Effective implementation of Article 153 of the constitution, Council of Common Interests; (iv) Implementation of Article 160 of the constitution, NFC Award; (v) Implementation of articles 154, 155, 156, 157, 158 and 159 of the constitution.
3. Restructuring of the NFC Award criteria: In the past, the formula was based on population. This has been changed and other criteria such as inverse population ratio, backwardness, poverty and resource generation need to be taken into consideration.
B. Politically-related Matters
4. Release of Political Workers: The federal government in consultation with the provincial government should immediately release all political workers, except those charged under heinous crimes;
5. Political Dialogue: Immediate to the acceptance of all the proposals contained herein, initiation of a political dialogue with all major stakeholders in the political spectrum of the province, to bring them into the mainstream politics.
6. Return of Exiles: The political exiles who return to Pakistan will be facilitated. (Except those involved in acts of terrorism).
7. Provincial Assembly Resolutions: The unanimously passed resolutions of the assembly from 2002 until date, related to the province, be implemented within the legal framework of the constitution.
8. Local Government: The Balochistan Local Government Ordinance needs to be amended by the provincial government keeping in view the administrative needs of the province.
C. Administratively-related Matters
9. Operations by Federal Agencies: The federal government should immediately review the role of federal agencies in the province and stop all such operations that are not related to the pursuit of fighting terrorism;
10. Construction of Cantonments: The federal government should announce, that the presence of the army in Sui will be withdrawn and replaced by the FC in pursuit of peace in the present situation. Proposals should not be formulated for the construction of new cantonments except in frontier areas, wherever required;
11. Commission: A commission should be constituted in respect of the missing persons. The commission should be headed by sitting member of the superior judiciary from Balochistan, including the federal defence, interior ministers and the home minister of the province. The proceedings of such a commission shall be held in camera.
12. Missing Persons: The names of missing persons be identified and following actions be taken immediately, after verification, in any case, if they are found to be in custody. (i) Those persons against whom there are no charges be released. (ii) Those persons against whom there are charges be brought before a court of competent jurisdiction within seven days for trial (effective from the date of promulgation of commission). (iii) Such persons be allowed legal consul of their choice, the government should assist them in this regard in accordance with law. (iv) Family members of such persons be informed accordingly and allowed visiting rights.
13. Judicial Inquiry: Judicial inquiry by the superior judiciary be ordered by the federal government to inquire into: -
a. Murder of Baloch political workers, Ghulam Muhammad, Lala Munir and Munir Ahmed.
b. Target killing in the province.
14. Nawab Akbar Bugti Shaheed: A fact-finding commission, headed by a retired judge of the Supreme or High Court be constituted, to determine the circumstances leading to the death of Nawab Akbar Bugti Shaheed.
15. New Army Cantonments: Construction of new cantonments in Sui and Kohlu be stopped for the time being. Army will be withdrawn from Sui after handing over the duties to FC. FC will also takeover the already constructed Cantonment at Sui.
16. Conversion Of "B" Areas Into "A" Areas: In view of the decision of the provincial government, the policy of conversion of "B" areas into "A" areas may be reviewed from time to time. Urban areas may have regular police.
17. The Role Of Civil Armed Forces:
(i) Frontier Corps; The role of the FC in law enforcement shall be under the chief minister of the province. The powers conferred under the Customs Act shall be withdrawn, (ii) Coast Guard; The CG should perform its primary duty of checking smuggling of arms and narcotics along the coast and the border. The check posts established beyond their territorial limits as prescribed under the law shall be dismantled. An exercise of delimitation of the border areas needs to be undertaken by the federal government, provincial government and the Frontier Corps to give effect to the aforesaid.
18. Check Posts: The various check posts established by the civil armed forces and other related agencies, other than border areas should be in accordance with the directions of the provincial government.
19. Judicial Inquiry: here should be a judicial enquiry by the superior judiciary into the allotment of land at Gwadar,
20. Flood Relief: Some monies are due on the federal government for the flood-affected people of Balochistan, these amounts should be released.
21. Education: Balochistan be given a special quota of scholarships by the Higher Education Commission so that students of the province can pursue studies leading up to local or foreign Masters and PhDs.
D. Economically-related Matters
22. Rationalisation Of The Royalty Formula:
(i) Rationalization of the royalty formula and the Gas Development Surcharge have been done, (ii) The concept of public-private ownership in the areas of a district granted for exploration should be followed. Where contracts are awarded, the said district should be given 15% of revenue to be received by the provincial government, (iii) Due representation should be given to the province on the boards of the PPL; OGDC and Sui Southern Gas, (iv) Distribution companies should be obligated under contract/law to provide on priority basis gas to the district where it is explored, (v) In case of a successful find the federal government shall spend an amount equivalent to 10% of the net profits on development projects in the area. The ascertainment of profits shall be open to scrutiny by independent/third party auditors, (vi) The federal government has released the accrued Production Bonus to the districts producing oil and gas. This policy will be strictly implemented.
23. Mega Projects:
(i) All new mega projects to be initiated with the consent and approval of the provincial government. The share of the province in its profits/benefits to be assured in the contact/agreement, (ii) The concept of public-private ownership in such projects to be followed where ever possible, (iii) In Gwadar, there shall be a free economic zone and political activities in the said zone may be regulated by an appropriate law to be framed in consultation with all the stakeholders, (iv) In Gwadar, all or as far as possible, appointments in BS-1 to 16, should be from the local population, (v) In Gwadar, the local youth should be provided technical training and absorbed in GPA, GDA and Special Economic Zone, (vi) Preference should be given to the qualified local contractors while awarding contracts related to the port, (vii) Compensation and reallocation of all those fishermen, who are being displaced due to the Gwadar Port must be finalised immediately, (ix) The two jetties agreed to be constructed for the fishermen on the eastern and western bays be constructed, (x) A fisheries training centre as required to be established under the 9th Five Year Plan for Balochistan be constructed, (xi) A portion of the revenue collected by the Gwadar Port Authority be allocated for the development of the province, (xii) The chief minister shall be the ex-officio chairman of the Gwadar Development Authority and there shall be seven members from the province on the Board of Directors, (xiii) The provincial government of Balochistan will nominate a person duly qualified to be the Chairman of the Gwadar Development Authority.
24. SUI:
(i) There should be a special development package for the area. (ii) The armed forces should be systematically withdrawn from the area.
25.Employment Opportunities:
(a) The federal government will create, with immediate effect, five thousand additional jobs for the province, (b) (i) The quota for the province as prescribed in the rules/law for employment in government (specially foreign service), semi-government, autonomous/semi-autonomous, corporations and bodies must be strictly complied with. Deficiency if any, needs to be met in a proactive manner, (ii) The Overseas Employment Foundation needs to facilitate the recruitment of skilled or unskilled labour for employment aboard, (iii) The local people living along the coast who meet the criteria should be given jobs in the Coast Guards, (iv) The monitoring of the aforesaid shall be the responsibility of the Senate Standing Committee for Establishment.
26. Gas Development Surcharge: The federal government agrees to pay the arrears of Gas Development Surcharge from 1954 to 1991. This is a total amount of Rs 120 billion payable in 12 years.
27. Ownership in oil and gas companies: In organisations such as PPL, OGDCL and Sui Southern, the province will be able to purchase up to 20% of the right shares when offered in the open market.
28. Sandak Project: The federal government from its 30% shares in the project will immediately give 20% to the province. On completion of the project and when the foreign company withdraws, the project shall be owned exclusively by the province.
29. Uniform Price of Gas: There shall be a uniform price of gas throughout the country for the purpose of calculation of GDS.
30. Fishing Trawlers: Fishing trawlers should be restricted to the authorised limits of 33 kilometres from the coast. This will help promote the small fishermen.
31. Kohlu District: Special incentives should be given to the local tribes to facilitate exploration in the area, which continues to be closed due to security concerns.
32. Poverty Alleviation: In all poverty alleviation schemes, the allocation of the province should be proportional to the percentage of people living below the poverty line.
33. Profit Sharing In Existing Agreements:
(i) It is proposed that existing agreements on projects such as SANDAK, REKODIC and others where agreements have already been negotiated, the federal government may reconsider the agreements concerning the sharing of income, profits or royalty between the federal government and the provincial government.
34. Dera Bugti Internally Displaced Persons: The federal government for the rehabilitation and settlement of the IDPs shall provide a sum of Rs 1 billion.
35. Water Management: The federal government shall immediately undertake schemes, which include the construction of small dams throughout the province but particularly in the districts of Quetta, Pasheen, Qila Abdullah, Qila Saifullah, Zhob etc.
E. Monitoring Mechanism
36. Parliamentary Committee on National Security: It is proposed that the federal government, provincial government and other departments/agencies involved in the implementation of the proposals shall brief the Parliamentary Committee on National Security on the status of implementation on a monthly bases.
37. Parliament: The federal government and the provincial government shall every three months lay a report before both Houses of parliament, separately, on the state of implementation of the proposals. The two Houses shall separately allocate appropriate time for discussion on the said report.
38. The Standing Committee on Establishment Of The Senate Of Pakistan: The Standing Committee on Establishment of the Senate shall present a report every three months on Item No 25. The Senate chairman, after the report has been laid in the Senate, transmit the same to the speaker, National Assembly of Pakistan, for information of that House.
39. Certification: The federal minister for inter-provincial coordination shall at the end of each financial year certify to both the Houses of parliament separately, the amount of monies spent for the implementation of these proposals.
24 November 2009
Preamble
"Conscious, that the provinces have a sense of deprivation, in political and economic structures of the federation;
Recalling, that the provisions of the 1973 constitution in particular relating to the federation-province relationship have been circumvented;
Stating that the financial assistance given by the present federal government in terms of Rs 4.6 billion PSDP support, Rs 2.8 billion paid as arrears of royalty for Uch – pending since 1995, Rs 17.5 billion overdraft of Balochistan written off, realising that this is not a substitute to provincial autonomy;
Acknowledging, that the question of provincial autonomy needs to be revisited and the ownership of the provinces over their resources reasserted in the constitution;
Mindful, of the tumultuous history of the province of Balochistan in the affairs of the federation;
Placing on Record that the present federal government has withdrawn cases and released political workers and helped in identifying the places of detention and release of some of the missing persons;
Determined, to correct the wrongs of history, by conferring the political, economic and cultural rights of the provinces, so that the federation may blossom, and;
Recalling, the documents made from time to time, namely The Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Reconciliation Committee Papers, the interim reports of the Wasim Sajjad and Mushahid Hussain Sayed committees of the Parliamentary Committee on Balochistan, headed by Chaudhary Shujaat, proposals made by the Balochistan chief secretary and the proposals of Mian Raza Rabbani.
The following "proposals" are made:
A. Constitutional-related Matters
1. Constitutional Reform: In terms of the resolutions passed by parliament, the speaker has constituted a parliamentary committee. The said committee has commenced work of considering various amendments in the constitution, including on provincial autonomy, this should be immediately addressed;
2. Constitutional Reform: The quantum, form and scope of provincial autonomy will be determined by the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms, which represents all shades of political opinion in parliament. The following provisions of the constitution on provincial autonomy are under consideration of the committee; (i) Deletion of the Concurrent List from the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution; (ii) Deletion of the Police Order, 2002 and The Balochistan Local Government Ordinance, 2001 from the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution; (iii) Effective implementation of Article 153 of the constitution, Council of Common Interests; (iv) Implementation of Article 160 of the constitution, NFC Award; (v) Implementation of articles 154, 155, 156, 157, 158 and 159 of the constitution.
3. Restructuring of the NFC Award criteria: In the past, the formula was based on population. This has been changed and other criteria such as inverse population ratio, backwardness, poverty and resource generation need to be taken into consideration.
B. Politically-related Matters
4. Release of Political Workers: The federal government in consultation with the provincial government should immediately release all political workers, except those charged under heinous crimes;
5. Political Dialogue: Immediate to the acceptance of all the proposals contained herein, initiation of a political dialogue with all major stakeholders in the political spectrum of the province, to bring them into the mainstream politics.
6. Return of Exiles: The political exiles who return to Pakistan will be facilitated. (Except those involved in acts of terrorism).
7. Provincial Assembly Resolutions: The unanimously passed resolutions of the assembly from 2002 until date, related to the province, be implemented within the legal framework of the constitution.
8. Local Government: The Balochistan Local Government Ordinance needs to be amended by the provincial government keeping in view the administrative needs of the province.
C. Administratively-related Matters
9. Operations by Federal Agencies: The federal government should immediately review the role of federal agencies in the province and stop all such operations that are not related to the pursuit of fighting terrorism;
10. Construction of Cantonments: The federal government should announce, that the presence of the army in Sui will be withdrawn and replaced by the FC in pursuit of peace in the present situation. Proposals should not be formulated for the construction of new cantonments except in frontier areas, wherever required;
11. Commission: A commission should be constituted in respect of the missing persons. The commission should be headed by sitting member of the superior judiciary from Balochistan, including the federal defence, interior ministers and the home minister of the province. The proceedings of such a commission shall be held in camera.
12. Missing Persons: The names of missing persons be identified and following actions be taken immediately, after verification, in any case, if they are found to be in custody. (i) Those persons against whom there are no charges be released. (ii) Those persons against whom there are charges be brought before a court of competent jurisdiction within seven days for trial (effective from the date of promulgation of commission). (iii) Such persons be allowed legal consul of their choice, the government should assist them in this regard in accordance with law. (iv) Family members of such persons be informed accordingly and allowed visiting rights.
13. Judicial Inquiry: Judicial inquiry by the superior judiciary be ordered by the federal government to inquire into: -
a. Murder of Baloch political workers, Ghulam Muhammad, Lala Munir and Munir Ahmed.
b. Target killing in the province.
14. Nawab Akbar Bugti Shaheed: A fact-finding commission, headed by a retired judge of the Supreme or High Court be constituted, to determine the circumstances leading to the death of Nawab Akbar Bugti Shaheed.
15. New Army Cantonments: Construction of new cantonments in Sui and Kohlu be stopped for the time being. Army will be withdrawn from Sui after handing over the duties to FC. FC will also takeover the already constructed Cantonment at Sui.
16. Conversion Of "B" Areas Into "A" Areas: In view of the decision of the provincial government, the policy of conversion of "B" areas into "A" areas may be reviewed from time to time. Urban areas may have regular police.
17. The Role Of Civil Armed Forces:
(i) Frontier Corps; The role of the FC in law enforcement shall be under the chief minister of the province. The powers conferred under the Customs Act shall be withdrawn, (ii) Coast Guard; The CG should perform its primary duty of checking smuggling of arms and narcotics along the coast and the border. The check posts established beyond their territorial limits as prescribed under the law shall be dismantled. An exercise of delimitation of the border areas needs to be undertaken by the federal government, provincial government and the Frontier Corps to give effect to the aforesaid.
18. Check Posts: The various check posts established by the civil armed forces and other related agencies, other than border areas should be in accordance with the directions of the provincial government.
19. Judicial Inquiry: here should be a judicial enquiry by the superior judiciary into the allotment of land at Gwadar,
20. Flood Relief: Some monies are due on the federal government for the flood-affected people of Balochistan, these amounts should be released.
21. Education: Balochistan be given a special quota of scholarships by the Higher Education Commission so that students of the province can pursue studies leading up to local or foreign Masters and PhDs.
D. Economically-related Matters
22. Rationalisation Of The Royalty Formula:
(i) Rationalization of the royalty formula and the Gas Development Surcharge have been done, (ii) The concept of public-private ownership in the areas of a district granted for exploration should be followed. Where contracts are awarded, the said district should be given 15% of revenue to be received by the provincial government, (iii) Due representation should be given to the province on the boards of the PPL; OGDC and Sui Southern Gas, (iv) Distribution companies should be obligated under contract/law to provide on priority basis gas to the district where it is explored, (v) In case of a successful find the federal government shall spend an amount equivalent to 10% of the net profits on development projects in the area. The ascertainment of profits shall be open to scrutiny by independent/third party auditors, (vi) The federal government has released the accrued Production Bonus to the districts producing oil and gas. This policy will be strictly implemented.
23. Mega Projects:
(i) All new mega projects to be initiated with the consent and approval of the provincial government. The share of the province in its profits/benefits to be assured in the contact/agreement, (ii) The concept of public-private ownership in such projects to be followed where ever possible, (iii) In Gwadar, there shall be a free economic zone and political activities in the said zone may be regulated by an appropriate law to be framed in consultation with all the stakeholders, (iv) In Gwadar, all or as far as possible, appointments in BS-1 to 16, should be from the local population, (v) In Gwadar, the local youth should be provided technical training and absorbed in GPA, GDA and Special Economic Zone, (vi) Preference should be given to the qualified local contractors while awarding contracts related to the port, (vii) Compensation and reallocation of all those fishermen, who are being displaced due to the Gwadar Port must be finalised immediately, (ix) The two jetties agreed to be constructed for the fishermen on the eastern and western bays be constructed, (x) A fisheries training centre as required to be established under the 9th Five Year Plan for Balochistan be constructed, (xi) A portion of the revenue collected by the Gwadar Port Authority be allocated for the development of the province, (xii) The chief minister shall be the ex-officio chairman of the Gwadar Development Authority and there shall be seven members from the province on the Board of Directors, (xiii) The provincial government of Balochistan will nominate a person duly qualified to be the Chairman of the Gwadar Development Authority.
24. SUI:
(i) There should be a special development package for the area. (ii) The armed forces should be systematically withdrawn from the area.
25.Employment Opportunities:
(a) The federal government will create, with immediate effect, five thousand additional jobs for the province, (b) (i) The quota for the province as prescribed in the rules/law for employment in government (specially foreign service), semi-government, autonomous/semi-autonomous, corporations and bodies must be strictly complied with. Deficiency if any, needs to be met in a proactive manner, (ii) The Overseas Employment Foundation needs to facilitate the recruitment of skilled or unskilled labour for employment aboard, (iii) The local people living along the coast who meet the criteria should be given jobs in the Coast Guards, (iv) The monitoring of the aforesaid shall be the responsibility of the Senate Standing Committee for Establishment.
26. Gas Development Surcharge: The federal government agrees to pay the arrears of Gas Development Surcharge from 1954 to 1991. This is a total amount of Rs 120 billion payable in 12 years.
27. Ownership in oil and gas companies: In organisations such as PPL, OGDCL and Sui Southern, the province will be able to purchase up to 20% of the right shares when offered in the open market.
28. Sandak Project: The federal government from its 30% shares in the project will immediately give 20% to the province. On completion of the project and when the foreign company withdraws, the project shall be owned exclusively by the province.
29. Uniform Price of Gas: There shall be a uniform price of gas throughout the country for the purpose of calculation of GDS.
30. Fishing Trawlers: Fishing trawlers should be restricted to the authorised limits of 33 kilometres from the coast. This will help promote the small fishermen.
31. Kohlu District: Special incentives should be given to the local tribes to facilitate exploration in the area, which continues to be closed due to security concerns.
32. Poverty Alleviation: In all poverty alleviation schemes, the allocation of the province should be proportional to the percentage of people living below the poverty line.
33. Profit Sharing In Existing Agreements:
(i) It is proposed that existing agreements on projects such as SANDAK, REKODIC and others where agreements have already been negotiated, the federal government may reconsider the agreements concerning the sharing of income, profits or royalty between the federal government and the provincial government.
34. Dera Bugti Internally Displaced Persons: The federal government for the rehabilitation and settlement of the IDPs shall provide a sum of Rs 1 billion.
35. Water Management: The federal government shall immediately undertake schemes, which include the construction of small dams throughout the province but particularly in the districts of Quetta, Pasheen, Qila Abdullah, Qila Saifullah, Zhob etc.
E. Monitoring Mechanism
36. Parliamentary Committee on National Security: It is proposed that the federal government, provincial government and other departments/agencies involved in the implementation of the proposals shall brief the Parliamentary Committee on National Security on the status of implementation on a monthly bases.
37. Parliament: The federal government and the provincial government shall every three months lay a report before both Houses of parliament, separately, on the state of implementation of the proposals. The two Houses shall separately allocate appropriate time for discussion on the said report.
38. The Standing Committee on Establishment Of The Senate Of Pakistan: The Standing Committee on Establishment of the Senate shall present a report every three months on Item No 25. The Senate chairman, after the report has been laid in the Senate, transmit the same to the speaker, National Assembly of Pakistan, for information of that House.
39. Certification: The federal minister for inter-provincial coordination shall at the end of each financial year certify to both the Houses of parliament separately, the amount of monies spent for the implementation of these proposals.
24 November, 2009
Blackwater's Secret War in Pakistan.
The Nation
23 November 2009
By Jeremy Scahill
At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, "snatch and grabs" of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help run a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus.
The source, who has worked on covert US military programs for years, including in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has direct knowledge of Blackwater's involvement. He spoke to The Nation on condition of anonymity because the program is classified. The source said that the program is so "compartmentalized" that senior figures within the Obama administration and the US military chain of command may not be aware of its existence.
The White House did not return calls or email messages seeking comment for this story. Capt. John Kirby, the spokesperson for Adm. Michael Mullen, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told The Nation, "We do not discuss current operations one way or the other, regardless of their nature." A defense official, on background, specifically denied that Blackwater performs work on drone strikes or intelligence for JSOC in Pakistan. "We don't have any contracts to do that work for us. We don't contract that kind of work out, period," the official said. "There has not been, and is not now, contracts between JSOC and that organization for these types of services." The previously unreported program, the military intelligence source said, is distinct from the CIA assassination program that the agency's director, Leon Panetta, announced he had canceled in June 2009. "This is a parallel operation to the CIA," said the source. "They are two separate beasts." The program puts Blackwater at the epicenter of a US military operation within the borders of a nation against which the United States has not declared war--knowledge that could further strain the already tense relations between the United States and Pakistan. In 2006, the United States and Pakistan struck a deal that authorized JSOC to enter Pakistan to hunt Osama bin Laden with the understanding that Pakistan would deny it had given permission. Officially, the United States is not supposed to have any active military operations in the country. Blackwater, which recently changed its name to Xe Services and US Training Center, denies the company is operating in Pakistan. "Xe Services has only one employee in Pakistan performing construction oversight for the U.S. Government," Blackwater spokesperson Mark Corallo said in a statement to The Nation, adding that the company has "no other operations of any kind in Pakistan."
A former senior executive at Blackwater confirmed the military intelligence source's claim that the company is working in Pakistan for the CIA and JSOC, the premier counterterrorism and covert operations force within the military. He said that Blackwater is also working for the Pakistani government on a subcontract with an Islamabad-based security firm that puts US Blackwater operatives on the ground with Pakistani forces in counter-terrorism operations, including house raids and border interdictions, in the North-West Frontier Province and elsewhere in Pakistan. This arrangement, the former executive said, allows the Pakistani government to utilize former US Special Operations forces who now work for Blackwater while denying an official US military presence in the country. He also confirmed that Blackwater has a facility in Karachi and has personnel deployed elsewhere in Pakistan. The former executive spoke on condition of anonymity.
His account and that of the military intelligence source were borne out by a US military source who has knowledge of Special Forces actions in Pakistan and Afghanistan. When asked about Blackwater's covert work for JSOC in Pakistan, this source, who also asked for anonymity, told The Nation, "From my information that I have, that is absolutely correct," adding, "There's no question that's occurring."
"It wouldn't surprise me because we've outsourced nearly everything," said Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff from 2002 to 2005, when told of Blackwater's role in Pakistan. Wilkerson said that during his time in the Bush administration, he saw the beginnings of Blackwater's involvement with the sensitive operations of the military and CIA. "Part of this, of course, is an attempt to get around the constraints the Congress has placed on DoD. If you don't have sufficient soldiers to do it, you hire civilians to do it. I mean, it's that simple. It would not surprise me."
The Counterterrorism Tag Team in Karachi
The covert JSOC program with Blackwater in Pakistan dates back to at least 2007, according to the military intelligence source. The current head of JSOC is Vice Adm. William McRaven, who took over the post from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who headed JSOC from 2003 to 2008 before being named the top US commander in Afghanistan. Blackwater's presence in Pakistan is "not really visible, and that's why nobody has cracked down on it," said the source. Blackwater's operations in Pakistan, he said, are not done through State Department contracts or publicly identified Defense contracts. "It's Blackwater via JSOC, and it's a classified no-bid [contract] approved on a rolling basis." The main JSOC/Blackwater facility in Karachi, according to the source, is nondescript: three trailers with various generators, satellite phones and computer systems are used as a makeshift operations center. "It's a very rudimentary operation," says the source. "I would compare it to [CIA] outposts in Kurdistan or any of the Special Forces outposts. It's very bare bones, and that's the point."
Blackwater's work for JSOC in Karachi is coordinated out of a Task Force based at Bagram Air Base in neighboring Afghanistan, according to the military intelligence source. While JSOC technically runs the operations in Karachi, he said, it is largely staffed by former US special operations soldiers working for a division of Blackwater, once known as Blackwater SELECT, and intelligence analysts working for a Blackwater affiliate, Total Intelligence Solutions (TIS), which is owned by Blackwater's founder, Erik Prince. The military source said that the name Blackwater SELECT may have been changed recently. Total Intelligence, which is run out of an office on the ninth floor of a building in the Ballston area of Arlington, Virginia, is staffed by former analysts and operatives from the CIA, DIA, FBI and other agencies. It is modeled after the CIA's counterterrorism center. In Karachi, TIS runs a "media-scouring/open-source network," according to the source. Until recently, Total Intelligence was run by two former top CIA officials, Cofer Black and Robert Richer, both of whom have left the company. In Pakistan, Blackwater is not using either its original name or its new moniker, Xe Services, according to the former Blackwater executive. "They are running most of their work through TIS because the other two [names] have such a stain on them," he said. Corallo, the Blackwater spokesperson, denied that TIS or any other division or affiliate of Blackwater has any personnel in Pakistan.
The US military intelligence source said that Blackwater's classified contracts keep getting renewed at the request of JSOC. Blackwater, he said, is already so deeply entrenched that it has become a staple of the US military operations in Pakistan. According to the former Blackwater executive, "The politics that go with the brand of BW is somewhat set aside because what you're doing is really one military guy to another." Blackwater's first known contract with the CIA for operations in Afghanistan was awarded in 2002 and was for work along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
One of the concerns raised by the military intelligence source is that some Blackwater personnel are being given rolling security clearances above their approved clearances. Using Alternative Compartmentalized Control Measures (ACCMs), he said, the Blackwater personnel are granted clearance to a Special Access Program, the bureaucratic term used to describe highly classified "black" operations. "With an ACCM, the security manager can grant access to you to be exposed to and operate within compartmentalized programs far above 'secret'--even though you have no business doing so," said the source. It allows Blackwater personnel that "do not have the requisite security clearance or do not hold a security clearance whatsoever to participate in classified operations by virtue of trust," he added. "Think of it as an ultra-exclusive level above top secret. That's exactly what it is: a circle of love." Blackwater, therefore, has access to "all source" reports that are culled in part from JSOC units in the field. "That's how a lot of things over the years have been conducted with contractors," said the source. "We have contractors that regularly see things that top policy-makers don't unless they ask."
According to the source, Blackwater has effectively marketed itself as a company whose operatives have "conducted lethal direct action missions and now, for a price, you can have your own planning cell. JSOC just ate that up," he said, adding, "They have a sizable force in Pakistan--not for any nefarious purpose if you really want to look at it that way--but to support a legitimate contract that's classified for JSOC." Blackwater's Pakistan JSOC contracts are secret and are therefore shielded from public oversight, he said. The source is not sure when the arrangement with JSOC began, but he says that a spin-off of Blackwater SELECT "was issued a no-bid contract for support to shooters for a JSOC Task Force and they kept extending it." Some of the Blackwater personnel, he said, work undercover as aid workers. "Nobody even gives them a second thought."
The military intelligence source said that the Blackwater/JSOC Karachi operation is referred to as "Qatar cubed," in reference to the US forward operating base in Qatar that served as the hub for the planning and implementation of the US invasion of Iraq. "This is supposed to be the brave new world," he says. "This is the Jamestown of the new millennium and it's meant to be a lily pad. You can jump off to Uzbekistan, you can jump back over the border, you can jump sideways, you can jump northwest. It's strategically located so that they can get their people wherever they have to without having to wrangle with the military chain of command in Afghanistan, which is convoluted. They don't have to deal with that because they're operating under a classified mandate."
In addition to planning drone strikes and operations against suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban forces in Pakistan for both JSOC and the CIA, the Blackwater team in Karachi also helps plan missions for JSOC inside Uzbekistan against the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, according to the military intelligence source. Blackwater does not actually carry out the operations, he said, which are executed on the ground by JSOC forces. "That piqued my curiosity and really worries me because I don't know if you noticed but I was never told we are at war with Uzbekistan," he said. "So, did I miss something, did Rumsfeld come back into power?"
Pakistan's Military Contracting Maze
Blackwater, according to the military intelligence source, is not doing the actual killing as part of its work in Pakistan. "The SELECT personnel are not going into places with private aircraft and going after targets," he said. "It's not like Blackwater SELECT people are running around assassinating people." Instead, US Special Forces teams carry out the plans developed in part by Blackwater. The military intelligence source drew a distinction between the Blackwater operatives who work for the State Department, which he calls "Blackwater Vanilla," and the seasoned Special Forces veterans who work on the JSOC program. "Good or bad, there's a small number of people who know how to pull off an operation like that. That's probably a good thing," said the source. "It's the Blackwater SELECT people that have and continue to plan these types of operations because they're the only people that know how and they went where the money was. It's not trigger-happy fucks, like some of the PSD [Personal Security Detail] guys. These are not people that believe that Barack Obama is a socialist, these are not people that kill innocent civilians. They're very good at what they do."
The former Blackwater executive, when asked for confirmation that Blackwater forces were not actively killing people in Pakistan, said, "that's not entirely accurate." While he concurred with the military intelligence source's description of the JSOC and CIA programs, he pointed to another role Blackwater is allegedly playing in Pakistan, not for the US government but for Islamabad. According to the executive, Blackwater works on a subcontract for Kestral Logistics, a powerful Pakistani firm, which specializes in military logistical support, private security and intelligence consulting. It is staffed with former high-ranking Pakistani army and government officials. While Kestral's main offices are in Pakistan, it also has branches in several other countries.
A spokesperson for the US State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), which is responsible for issuing licenses to US corporations to provide defense-related services to foreign governments or entities, would neither confirm nor deny for The Nation that Blackwater has a license to work in Pakistan or to work with Kestral. "We cannot help you," said department spokesperson David McKeeby after checking with the relevant DDTC officials. "You'll have to contact the companies directly." Blackwater's Corallo said the company has "no operations of any kind" in Pakistan other than the one employee working for the DoD. Kestral did not respond to inquiries from The Nation.
According to federal lobbying records, Kestral recently hired former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Noriega, who served in that post from 2003 to 2005, to lobby the US government, including the State Department, USAID and Congress, on foreign affairs issues "regarding [Kestral's] capabilities to carry out activities of interest to the United States." Noriega was hired through his firm, Vision Americas, which he runs with Christina Rocca, a former CIA operations official who served as assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs from 2001 to 2006 and was deeply involved in shaping US policy toward Pakistan. In October 2009, Kestral paid Vision Americas $15,000 and paid a Vision Americas-affiliated firm, Firecreek Ltd., an equal amount to lobby on defense and foreign policy issues.
For years, Kestral has done a robust business in defense logistics with the Pakistani government and other nations, as well as top US defense companies. Blackwater owner Erik Prince is close with Kestral CEO Liaquat Ali Baig, according to the former Blackwater executive. "Ali and Erik have a pretty close relationship," he said. "They've met many times and struck a deal, and they [offer] mutual support for one another." Working with Kestral, he said, Blackwater has provided convoy security for Defense Department shipments destined for Afghanistan that would arrive in the port at Karachi. Blackwater, according to the former executive, would guard the supplies as they were transported overland from Karachi to Peshawar and then west through the Torkham border crossing, the most important supply route for the US military in Afghanistan.
According to the former executive, Blackwater operatives also integrate with Kestral's forces in sensitive counterterrorism operations in the North-West Frontier Province, where they work in conjunction with the Pakistani Interior Ministry's paramilitary force, known as the Frontier Corps (alternately referred to as "frontier scouts"). The Blackwater personnel are technically advisers, but the former executive said that the line often gets blurred in the field. Blackwater "is providing the actual guidance on how to do [counterterrorism operations] and Kestral's folks are carrying a lot of them out, but they're having the guidance and the overwatch from some BW guys that will actually go out with the teams when they're executing the job," he said. "You can see how that can lead to other things in the border areas." He said that when Blackwater personnel are out with the Pakistani teams, sometimes its men engage in operations against suspected terrorists. "You've got BW guys that are assisting... and they're all going to want to go on the jobs--so they're going to go with them," he said. "So, the things that you're seeing in the news about how this Pakistani military group came in and raided this house or did this or did that--in some of those cases, you're going to have Western folks that are right there at the house, if not in the house." Blackwater, he said, is paid by the Pakistani government through Kestral for consulting services. "That gives the Pakistani government the cover to say, 'Hey, no, we don't have any Westerners doing this. It's all local and our people are doing it.' But it gets them the expertise that Westerners provide for [counterterrorism]-related work."
The military intelligence source confirmed Blackwater works with the Frontier Corps, saying, "There's no real oversight. It's not really on people's radar screen."
In October, in response to Pakistani news reports that a Kestral warehouse in Islamabad was being used to store heavy weapons for Blackwater, the US Embassy in Pakistan released a statement denying the weapons were being used by "a private American security contractor." The statement said, "Kestral Logistics is a private logistics company that handles the importation of equipment and supplies provided by the United States to the Government of Pakistan. All of the equipment and supplies were imported at the request of the Government of Pakistan, which also certified the shipments."
Who is Behind the Drone Attacks?
Since President Barack Obama was inaugurated, the United States has expanded drone bombing raids in Pakistan. Obama first ordered a drone strike against targets in North and South Waziristan on January 23, and the strikes have been conducted consistently ever since. The Obama administration has now surpassed the number of Bush-era strikes in Pakistan and has faced fierce criticism from Pakistan and some US lawmakers over civilian deaths. A drone attack in June killed as many as sixty people attending a Taliban funeral.
In August, the New York Times reported that Blackwater works for the CIA at "hidden bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the company's contractors assemble and load Hellfire missiles and 500-pound laser-guided bombs on remotely piloted Predator aircraft." In February, The Times of London obtained a satellite image of a secret CIA airbase in Shamsi, in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan, showing three drone aircraft. The New York Times also reported that the agency uses a secret base in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, to strike in Pakistan.
The military intelligence source says that the drone strike that reportedly killed Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, his wife and his bodyguards in Waziristan in August was a CIA strike, but that many others attributed in media reports to the CIA are actually JSOC strikes. "Some of these strikes are attributed to OGA [Other Government Agency, intelligence parlance for the CIA], but in reality it's JSOC and their parallel program of UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] because they also have access to UAVs. So when you see some of these hits, especially the ones with high civilian casualties, those are almost always JSOC strikes." The Pentagon has stated bluntly, "There are no US military strike operations being conducted in Pakistan."
The military intelligence source also confirmed that Blackwater continues to work for the CIA on its drone bombing program in Pakistan, as previously reported in the New York Times, but added that Blackwater is working on JSOC's drone bombings as well. "It's Blackwater running the program for both CIA and JSOC," said the source. When civilians are killed, "people go, 'Oh, it's the CIA doing crazy shit again unchecked.' Well, at least 50 percent of the time, that's JSOC [hitting] somebody they've identified through HUMINT [human intelligence] or they've culled the intelligence themselves or it's been shared with them and they take that person out and that's how it works."
The military intelligence source says that the CIA operations are subject to Congressional oversight, unlike the parallel JSOC bombings. "Targeted killings are not the most popular thing in town right now and the CIA knows that," he says. "Contractors and especially JSOC personnel working under a classified mandate are not [overseen by Congress], so they just don't care. If there's one person they're going after and there's thirty-four people in the building, thirty-five people are going to die. That's the mentality." He added, "They're not accountable to anybody and they know that. It's an open secret, but what are you going to do, shut down JSOC?"
In addition to working on covert action planning and drone strikes, Blackwater SELECT also provides private guards to perform the sensitive task of security for secret US drone bases, JSOC camps and Defense Intelligence Agency camps inside Pakistan, according to the military intelligence source.
Mosharraf Zaidi, a well-known Pakistani journalist who has served as a consultant for the UN and European Union in Pakistan and Afghanistan, says that the Blackwater/JSOC program raises serious questions about the norms of international relations. "The immediate question is, How do you define the active pursuit of military objectives in a country with which not only have you not declared war but that is supposedly a front-line non-NATO ally in the US struggle to contain extremist violence coming out of Afghanistan and the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan?" asks Zaidi, who is currently a columnist for The News, the biggest English-language daily in Pakistan. "Let's forget Blackwater for a second. What this is confirming is that there are US military operations in Pakistan that aren't about logistics or getting food to Bagram; that are actually about the exercise of physical violence, physical force inside of Pakistani territory."
JSOC: Rumsfeld and Cheney's Extra Special Force
Colonel Wilkerson said that he is concerned that with General McChrystal's elevation as the military commander of the Afghan war--which is increasingly seeping into Pakistan--there is a concomitant rise in JSOC's power and influence within the military structure. "I don't see how you can escape that; it's just a matter of the way the authority flows and the power flows, and it's inevitable, I think," Wilkerson told The Nation. He added, "I'm alarmed when I see execute orders and combat orders that go out saying that the supporting force is Central Command and the supported force is Special Operations Command," under which JSOC operates. "That's backward. But that's essentially what we have today."
From 2003 to 2008 McChrystal headed JSOC, which is headquartered at Pope Air Force Base and Fort Bragg in North Carolina, where Blackwater's 7,000-acre operating base is also situated. JSOC controls the Army's Delta Force, the Navy's SEAL Team 6, as well as the Army's 75th Ranger Regiment and 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, and the Air Force's 24th Special Tactics Squadron. JSOC performs strike operations, reconnaissance in denied areas and special intelligence missions. Blackwater, which was founded by former Navy SEALs, employs scores of veteran Special Forces operators--which several former military officials pointed to as the basis for Blackwater's alleged contracts with JSOC.
Since 9/11, many top-level Special Forces veterans have taken up employment with private firms, where they can make more money doing the highly specialized work they did in uniform. "The Blackwater individuals have the experience. A lot of these individuals are retired military, and they've been around twenty to thirty years and have experience that the younger Green Beret guys don't," said retired Army Lieut. Col. Jeffrey Addicott, a well-connected military lawyer who served as senior legal counsel for US Army Special Forces. "They're known entities. Everybody knows who they are, what their capabilities are, and they've got the experience. They're very valuable."
"They make much more money being the smarts of these operations, planning hits in various countries and basing it off their experience in Chechnya, Bosnia, Somalia, Ethiopia," said the military intelligence source. "They were there for all of these things, they know what the hell they're talking about. And JSOC has unfortunately lost the institutional capability to plan within, so they hire back people that used to work for them and had already planned and executed these [types of] operations. They hired back people that jumped over to Blackwater SELECT and then pay them exorbitant amounts of money to plan future operations. It's a ridiculous revolving door."
While JSOC has long played a central role in US counterterrorism and covert operations, military and civilian officials who worked at the Defense and State Departments during the Bush administration described in interviews with The Nation an extremely cozy relationship that developed between the executive branch (primarily through Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld) and JSOC. During the Bush era, Special Forces turned into a virtual stand-alone operation that acted outside the military chain of command and in direct coordination with the White House. Throughout the Bush years, it was largely General McChrystal who ran JSOC. "What I was seeing was the development of what I would later see in Iraq and Afghanistan, where Special Operations forces would operate in both theaters without the conventional commander even knowing what they were doing," said Colonel Wilkerson. "That's dangerous, that's very dangerous. You have all kinds of mess when you don't tell the theater commander what you're doing."
Wilkerson said that almost immediately after assuming his role at the State Department under Colin Powell, he saw JSOC being politicized and developing a close relationship with the executive branch. He saw this begin, he said, after his first Delta Force briefing at Fort Bragg. "I think Cheney and Rumsfeld went directly into JSOC. I think they went into JSOC at times, perhaps most frequently, without the SOCOM [Special Operations] commander at the time even knowing it. The receptivity in JSOC was quite good," says Wilkerson. "I think Cheney was actually giving McChrystal instructions, and McChrystal was asking him for instructions." He said the relationship between JSOC and Cheney and Rumsfeld "built up initially because Rumsfeld didn't get the responsiveness. He didn't get the can-do kind of attitude out of the SOCOM commander, and so as Rumsfeld was wont to do, he cut him out and went straight to the horse's mouth. At that point you had JSOC operating as an extension of the [administration] doing things the executive branch--read: Cheney and Rumsfeld--wanted it to do. This would be more or less carte blanche. You need to do it, do it. It was very alarming for me as a conventional soldier."
Wilkerson said the JSOC teams caused diplomatic problems for the United States across the globe. "When these teams started hitting capital cities and other places all around the world, [Rumsfeld] didn't tell the State Department either. The only way we found out about it is our ambassadors started to call us and say, 'Who the hell are these six-foot-four white males with eighteen-inch biceps walking around our capital cities?' So we discovered this, we discovered one in South America, for example, because he actually murdered a taxi driver, and we had to get him out of there real quick. We rendered him--we rendered him home."
As part of their strategy, Rumsfeld and Cheney also created the Strategic Support Branch (SSB), which pulled intelligence resources from the Defense Intelligence Agency and the CIA for use in sensitive JSOC operations. The SSB was created using "reprogrammed" funds "without explicit congressional authority or appropriation," according to the Washington Post. The SSB operated outside the military chain of command and circumvented the CIA's authority on clandestine operations. Rumsfeld created it as part of his war to end "near total dependence on CIA." Under US law, the Defense Department is required to report all deployment orders to Congress. But guidelines issued in January 2005 by former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone stated that Special Operations forces may "conduct clandestine HUMINT operations...before publication" of a deployment order. This effectively gave Rumsfeld unilateral control over clandestine operations.
The military intelligence source said that when Rumsfeld was defense secretary, JSOC was deployed to commit some of the "darkest acts" in part to keep them concealed from Congress. "Everything can be justified as a military operation versus a clandestine intelligence performed by the CIA, which has to be informed to Congress," said the source. "They were aware of that and they knew that, and they would exploit it at every turn and they took full advantage of it. They knew they could act extra-legally and nothing would happen because A, it was sanctioned by DoD at the highest levels, and B, who was going to stop them? They were preparing the battlefield, which was on all of the PowerPoints: 'Preparing the Battlefield.'"
The significance of the flexibility of JSOC's operations inside Pakistan versus the CIA's is best summed up by Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. "Every single intelligence operation and covert action must be briefed to the Congress," she said. "If they are not, that is a violation of the law."
Blackwater: Company Non Grata in Pakistan
For months, the Pakistani media has been flooded with stories about Blackwater's alleged growing presence in the country. For the most part, these stories have been ignored by the US press and denounced as lies or propaganda by US officials in Pakistan. But the reality is that, although many of the stories appear to be wildly exaggerated, Pakistanis have good reason to be concerned about Blackwater's operations in their country. It is no secret in Washington or Islamabad that Blackwater has been a central part of the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan and that the company has been involved--almost from the beginning of the "war on terror"--with clandestine US operations. Indeed, Blackwater is accepting applications for contractors fluent in Urdu and Punjabi. The US Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, has denied Blackwater's presence in the country, stating bluntly in September, "Blackwater is not operating in Pakistan." In her trip to Pakistan in October, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dodged questions from the Pakistani press about Blackwater's rumored Pakistani operations. Pakistan's interior minister, Rehman Malik, said on November 21 he will resign if Blackwater is found operating anywhere in Pakistan.
The Christian Science Monitor recently reported that Blackwater "provides security for a US-backed aid project" in Peshawar, suggesting the company may be based out of the Pearl Continental, a luxury hotel the United States reportedly is considering purchasing to use as a consulate in the city. "We have no contracts in Pakistan," Blackwater spokesperson Stacey DeLuke said recently. "We've been blamed for all that has gone wrong in Peshawar, none of which is true, since we have absolutely no presence there."
Reports of Blackwater's alleged presence in Karachi and elsewhere in the country have been floating around the Pakistani press for months. Hamid Mir, a prominent Pakistani journalist who rose to fame after his 1997 interview with Osama bin Laden, claimed in a recent interview that Blackwater is in Karachi. "The US [intelligence] agencies think that a number of Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders are hiding in Karachi and Peshawar," he said. "That is why [Blackwater] agents are operating in these two cities." Ambassador Patterson has said that the claims of Mir and other Pakistani journalists are "wildly incorrect," saying they had compromised the security of US personnel in Pakistan. On November 20 the Washington Times, citing three current and former US intelligence officials, reported that Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban, has "found refuge from potential U.S. attacks" in Karachi "with the assistance of Pakistan's intelligence service."
In September, the Pakistani press covered a report on Blackwater allegedly submitted by Pakistan's intelligence agencies to the federal interior ministry. In the report, the intelligence agencies reportedly allege that Blackwater was provided houses by a federal minister who is also helping them clear shipments of weapons and vehicles through Karachi's Port Qasim on the coast of the Arabian Sea. The military intelligence source did not confirm this but did say, "The port jives because they have a lot of [former] SEALs and they would revert to what they know: the ocean, instead of flying stuff in."
The Nation cannot independently confirm these allegations and has not seen the Pakistani intelligence report. But according to Pakistani press coverage, the intelligence report also said Blackwater has acquired "bungalows" in the Defense Housing Authority in the city. According to the DHA website, it is a large gated community established "for the welfare of the serving and retired officers of the Armed Forces of Pakistan." Its motto is: "Home for Defenders." The report alleges Blackwater is receiving help from local government officials in Karachi and is using vehicles with license plates traditionally assigned to members of the national and provincial assemblies, meaning local law enforcement will not stop them.
The use of private companies like Blackwater for sensitive operations such as drone strikes or other covert work undoubtedly comes with the benefit of plausible deniability that places an additional barrier in an already deeply flawed system of accountability. When things go wrong, it's the contractors' fault, not the government's. But the widespread use of contractors also raises serious legal questions, particularly when they are a part of lethal, covert actions. "We are using contractors for things that in the past might have been considered to be a violation of the Geneva Convention," said Lt. Col. Addicott, who now runs the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas. "In my opinion, we have pressed the envelope to the breaking limit, and it's almost a fiction that these guys are not in offensive military operations." Addicott added, "If we were subjected to the International Criminal Court, some of these guys could easily be picked up, charged with war crimes and put on trial. That's one of the reasons we're not members of the International Criminal Court."
If there is one quality that has defined Blackwater over the past decade, it is the ability to survive against the odds while simultaneously reinventing and rebranding itself. That is most evident in Afghanistan, where the company continues to work for the US military, the CIA and the State Department despite intense criticism and almost weekly scandals. Blackwater's alleged Pakistan operations, said the military intelligence source, are indicative of its new frontier. "Having learned its lessons after the private security contracting fiasco in Iraq, Blackwater has shifted its operational focus to two venues: protecting things that are in danger and anticipating other places we're going to go as a nation that are dangerous," he said. "It's as simple as that."
23 November 2009
By Jeremy Scahill
At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, "snatch and grabs" of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help run a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus.
The source, who has worked on covert US military programs for years, including in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has direct knowledge of Blackwater's involvement. He spoke to The Nation on condition of anonymity because the program is classified. The source said that the program is so "compartmentalized" that senior figures within the Obama administration and the US military chain of command may not be aware of its existence.
The White House did not return calls or email messages seeking comment for this story. Capt. John Kirby, the spokesperson for Adm. Michael Mullen, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told The Nation, "We do not discuss current operations one way or the other, regardless of their nature." A defense official, on background, specifically denied that Blackwater performs work on drone strikes or intelligence for JSOC in Pakistan. "We don't have any contracts to do that work for us. We don't contract that kind of work out, period," the official said. "There has not been, and is not now, contracts between JSOC and that organization for these types of services." The previously unreported program, the military intelligence source said, is distinct from the CIA assassination program that the agency's director, Leon Panetta, announced he had canceled in June 2009. "This is a parallel operation to the CIA," said the source. "They are two separate beasts." The program puts Blackwater at the epicenter of a US military operation within the borders of a nation against which the United States has not declared war--knowledge that could further strain the already tense relations between the United States and Pakistan. In 2006, the United States and Pakistan struck a deal that authorized JSOC to enter Pakistan to hunt Osama bin Laden with the understanding that Pakistan would deny it had given permission. Officially, the United States is not supposed to have any active military operations in the country. Blackwater, which recently changed its name to Xe Services and US Training Center, denies the company is operating in Pakistan. "Xe Services has only one employee in Pakistan performing construction oversight for the U.S. Government," Blackwater spokesperson Mark Corallo said in a statement to The Nation, adding that the company has "no other operations of any kind in Pakistan."
A former senior executive at Blackwater confirmed the military intelligence source's claim that the company is working in Pakistan for the CIA and JSOC, the premier counterterrorism and covert operations force within the military. He said that Blackwater is also working for the Pakistani government on a subcontract with an Islamabad-based security firm that puts US Blackwater operatives on the ground with Pakistani forces in counter-terrorism operations, including house raids and border interdictions, in the North-West Frontier Province and elsewhere in Pakistan. This arrangement, the former executive said, allows the Pakistani government to utilize former US Special Operations forces who now work for Blackwater while denying an official US military presence in the country. He also confirmed that Blackwater has a facility in Karachi and has personnel deployed elsewhere in Pakistan. The former executive spoke on condition of anonymity.
His account and that of the military intelligence source were borne out by a US military source who has knowledge of Special Forces actions in Pakistan and Afghanistan. When asked about Blackwater's covert work for JSOC in Pakistan, this source, who also asked for anonymity, told The Nation, "From my information that I have, that is absolutely correct," adding, "There's no question that's occurring."
"It wouldn't surprise me because we've outsourced nearly everything," said Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff from 2002 to 2005, when told of Blackwater's role in Pakistan. Wilkerson said that during his time in the Bush administration, he saw the beginnings of Blackwater's involvement with the sensitive operations of the military and CIA. "Part of this, of course, is an attempt to get around the constraints the Congress has placed on DoD. If you don't have sufficient soldiers to do it, you hire civilians to do it. I mean, it's that simple. It would not surprise me."
The Counterterrorism Tag Team in Karachi
The covert JSOC program with Blackwater in Pakistan dates back to at least 2007, according to the military intelligence source. The current head of JSOC is Vice Adm. William McRaven, who took over the post from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who headed JSOC from 2003 to 2008 before being named the top US commander in Afghanistan. Blackwater's presence in Pakistan is "not really visible, and that's why nobody has cracked down on it," said the source. Blackwater's operations in Pakistan, he said, are not done through State Department contracts or publicly identified Defense contracts. "It's Blackwater via JSOC, and it's a classified no-bid [contract] approved on a rolling basis." The main JSOC/Blackwater facility in Karachi, according to the source, is nondescript: three trailers with various generators, satellite phones and computer systems are used as a makeshift operations center. "It's a very rudimentary operation," says the source. "I would compare it to [CIA] outposts in Kurdistan or any of the Special Forces outposts. It's very bare bones, and that's the point."
Blackwater's work for JSOC in Karachi is coordinated out of a Task Force based at Bagram Air Base in neighboring Afghanistan, according to the military intelligence source. While JSOC technically runs the operations in Karachi, he said, it is largely staffed by former US special operations soldiers working for a division of Blackwater, once known as Blackwater SELECT, and intelligence analysts working for a Blackwater affiliate, Total Intelligence Solutions (TIS), which is owned by Blackwater's founder, Erik Prince. The military source said that the name Blackwater SELECT may have been changed recently. Total Intelligence, which is run out of an office on the ninth floor of a building in the Ballston area of Arlington, Virginia, is staffed by former analysts and operatives from the CIA, DIA, FBI and other agencies. It is modeled after the CIA's counterterrorism center. In Karachi, TIS runs a "media-scouring/open-source network," according to the source. Until recently, Total Intelligence was run by two former top CIA officials, Cofer Black and Robert Richer, both of whom have left the company. In Pakistan, Blackwater is not using either its original name or its new moniker, Xe Services, according to the former Blackwater executive. "They are running most of their work through TIS because the other two [names] have such a stain on them," he said. Corallo, the Blackwater spokesperson, denied that TIS or any other division or affiliate of Blackwater has any personnel in Pakistan.
The US military intelligence source said that Blackwater's classified contracts keep getting renewed at the request of JSOC. Blackwater, he said, is already so deeply entrenched that it has become a staple of the US military operations in Pakistan. According to the former Blackwater executive, "The politics that go with the brand of BW is somewhat set aside because what you're doing is really one military guy to another." Blackwater's first known contract with the CIA for operations in Afghanistan was awarded in 2002 and was for work along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
One of the concerns raised by the military intelligence source is that some Blackwater personnel are being given rolling security clearances above their approved clearances. Using Alternative Compartmentalized Control Measures (ACCMs), he said, the Blackwater personnel are granted clearance to a Special Access Program, the bureaucratic term used to describe highly classified "black" operations. "With an ACCM, the security manager can grant access to you to be exposed to and operate within compartmentalized programs far above 'secret'--even though you have no business doing so," said the source. It allows Blackwater personnel that "do not have the requisite security clearance or do not hold a security clearance whatsoever to participate in classified operations by virtue of trust," he added. "Think of it as an ultra-exclusive level above top secret. That's exactly what it is: a circle of love." Blackwater, therefore, has access to "all source" reports that are culled in part from JSOC units in the field. "That's how a lot of things over the years have been conducted with contractors," said the source. "We have contractors that regularly see things that top policy-makers don't unless they ask."
According to the source, Blackwater has effectively marketed itself as a company whose operatives have "conducted lethal direct action missions and now, for a price, you can have your own planning cell. JSOC just ate that up," he said, adding, "They have a sizable force in Pakistan--not for any nefarious purpose if you really want to look at it that way--but to support a legitimate contract that's classified for JSOC." Blackwater's Pakistan JSOC contracts are secret and are therefore shielded from public oversight, he said. The source is not sure when the arrangement with JSOC began, but he says that a spin-off of Blackwater SELECT "was issued a no-bid contract for support to shooters for a JSOC Task Force and they kept extending it." Some of the Blackwater personnel, he said, work undercover as aid workers. "Nobody even gives them a second thought."
The military intelligence source said that the Blackwater/JSOC Karachi operation is referred to as "Qatar cubed," in reference to the US forward operating base in Qatar that served as the hub for the planning and implementation of the US invasion of Iraq. "This is supposed to be the brave new world," he says. "This is the Jamestown of the new millennium and it's meant to be a lily pad. You can jump off to Uzbekistan, you can jump back over the border, you can jump sideways, you can jump northwest. It's strategically located so that they can get their people wherever they have to without having to wrangle with the military chain of command in Afghanistan, which is convoluted. They don't have to deal with that because they're operating under a classified mandate."
In addition to planning drone strikes and operations against suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban forces in Pakistan for both JSOC and the CIA, the Blackwater team in Karachi also helps plan missions for JSOC inside Uzbekistan against the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, according to the military intelligence source. Blackwater does not actually carry out the operations, he said, which are executed on the ground by JSOC forces. "That piqued my curiosity and really worries me because I don't know if you noticed but I was never told we are at war with Uzbekistan," he said. "So, did I miss something, did Rumsfeld come back into power?"
Pakistan's Military Contracting Maze
Blackwater, according to the military intelligence source, is not doing the actual killing as part of its work in Pakistan. "The SELECT personnel are not going into places with private aircraft and going after targets," he said. "It's not like Blackwater SELECT people are running around assassinating people." Instead, US Special Forces teams carry out the plans developed in part by Blackwater. The military intelligence source drew a distinction between the Blackwater operatives who work for the State Department, which he calls "Blackwater Vanilla," and the seasoned Special Forces veterans who work on the JSOC program. "Good or bad, there's a small number of people who know how to pull off an operation like that. That's probably a good thing," said the source. "It's the Blackwater SELECT people that have and continue to plan these types of operations because they're the only people that know how and they went where the money was. It's not trigger-happy fucks, like some of the PSD [Personal Security Detail] guys. These are not people that believe that Barack Obama is a socialist, these are not people that kill innocent civilians. They're very good at what they do."
The former Blackwater executive, when asked for confirmation that Blackwater forces were not actively killing people in Pakistan, said, "that's not entirely accurate." While he concurred with the military intelligence source's description of the JSOC and CIA programs, he pointed to another role Blackwater is allegedly playing in Pakistan, not for the US government but for Islamabad. According to the executive, Blackwater works on a subcontract for Kestral Logistics, a powerful Pakistani firm, which specializes in military logistical support, private security and intelligence consulting. It is staffed with former high-ranking Pakistani army and government officials. While Kestral's main offices are in Pakistan, it also has branches in several other countries.
A spokesperson for the US State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), which is responsible for issuing licenses to US corporations to provide defense-related services to foreign governments or entities, would neither confirm nor deny for The Nation that Blackwater has a license to work in Pakistan or to work with Kestral. "We cannot help you," said department spokesperson David McKeeby after checking with the relevant DDTC officials. "You'll have to contact the companies directly." Blackwater's Corallo said the company has "no operations of any kind" in Pakistan other than the one employee working for the DoD. Kestral did not respond to inquiries from The Nation.
According to federal lobbying records, Kestral recently hired former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Noriega, who served in that post from 2003 to 2005, to lobby the US government, including the State Department, USAID and Congress, on foreign affairs issues "regarding [Kestral's] capabilities to carry out activities of interest to the United States." Noriega was hired through his firm, Vision Americas, which he runs with Christina Rocca, a former CIA operations official who served as assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs from 2001 to 2006 and was deeply involved in shaping US policy toward Pakistan. In October 2009, Kestral paid Vision Americas $15,000 and paid a Vision Americas-affiliated firm, Firecreek Ltd., an equal amount to lobby on defense and foreign policy issues.
For years, Kestral has done a robust business in defense logistics with the Pakistani government and other nations, as well as top US defense companies. Blackwater owner Erik Prince is close with Kestral CEO Liaquat Ali Baig, according to the former Blackwater executive. "Ali and Erik have a pretty close relationship," he said. "They've met many times and struck a deal, and they [offer] mutual support for one another." Working with Kestral, he said, Blackwater has provided convoy security for Defense Department shipments destined for Afghanistan that would arrive in the port at Karachi. Blackwater, according to the former executive, would guard the supplies as they were transported overland from Karachi to Peshawar and then west through the Torkham border crossing, the most important supply route for the US military in Afghanistan.
According to the former executive, Blackwater operatives also integrate with Kestral's forces in sensitive counterterrorism operations in the North-West Frontier Province, where they work in conjunction with the Pakistani Interior Ministry's paramilitary force, known as the Frontier Corps (alternately referred to as "frontier scouts"). The Blackwater personnel are technically advisers, but the former executive said that the line often gets blurred in the field. Blackwater "is providing the actual guidance on how to do [counterterrorism operations] and Kestral's folks are carrying a lot of them out, but they're having the guidance and the overwatch from some BW guys that will actually go out with the teams when they're executing the job," he said. "You can see how that can lead to other things in the border areas." He said that when Blackwater personnel are out with the Pakistani teams, sometimes its men engage in operations against suspected terrorists. "You've got BW guys that are assisting... and they're all going to want to go on the jobs--so they're going to go with them," he said. "So, the things that you're seeing in the news about how this Pakistani military group came in and raided this house or did this or did that--in some of those cases, you're going to have Western folks that are right there at the house, if not in the house." Blackwater, he said, is paid by the Pakistani government through Kestral for consulting services. "That gives the Pakistani government the cover to say, 'Hey, no, we don't have any Westerners doing this. It's all local and our people are doing it.' But it gets them the expertise that Westerners provide for [counterterrorism]-related work."
The military intelligence source confirmed Blackwater works with the Frontier Corps, saying, "There's no real oversight. It's not really on people's radar screen."
In October, in response to Pakistani news reports that a Kestral warehouse in Islamabad was being used to store heavy weapons for Blackwater, the US Embassy in Pakistan released a statement denying the weapons were being used by "a private American security contractor." The statement said, "Kestral Logistics is a private logistics company that handles the importation of equipment and supplies provided by the United States to the Government of Pakistan. All of the equipment and supplies were imported at the request of the Government of Pakistan, which also certified the shipments."
Who is Behind the Drone Attacks?
Since President Barack Obama was inaugurated, the United States has expanded drone bombing raids in Pakistan. Obama first ordered a drone strike against targets in North and South Waziristan on January 23, and the strikes have been conducted consistently ever since. The Obama administration has now surpassed the number of Bush-era strikes in Pakistan and has faced fierce criticism from Pakistan and some US lawmakers over civilian deaths. A drone attack in June killed as many as sixty people attending a Taliban funeral.
In August, the New York Times reported that Blackwater works for the CIA at "hidden bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the company's contractors assemble and load Hellfire missiles and 500-pound laser-guided bombs on remotely piloted Predator aircraft." In February, The Times of London obtained a satellite image of a secret CIA airbase in Shamsi, in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan, showing three drone aircraft. The New York Times also reported that the agency uses a secret base in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, to strike in Pakistan.
The military intelligence source says that the drone strike that reportedly killed Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, his wife and his bodyguards in Waziristan in August was a CIA strike, but that many others attributed in media reports to the CIA are actually JSOC strikes. "Some of these strikes are attributed to OGA [Other Government Agency, intelligence parlance for the CIA], but in reality it's JSOC and their parallel program of UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] because they also have access to UAVs. So when you see some of these hits, especially the ones with high civilian casualties, those are almost always JSOC strikes." The Pentagon has stated bluntly, "There are no US military strike operations being conducted in Pakistan."
The military intelligence source also confirmed that Blackwater continues to work for the CIA on its drone bombing program in Pakistan, as previously reported in the New York Times, but added that Blackwater is working on JSOC's drone bombings as well. "It's Blackwater running the program for both CIA and JSOC," said the source. When civilians are killed, "people go, 'Oh, it's the CIA doing crazy shit again unchecked.' Well, at least 50 percent of the time, that's JSOC [hitting] somebody they've identified through HUMINT [human intelligence] or they've culled the intelligence themselves or it's been shared with them and they take that person out and that's how it works."
The military intelligence source says that the CIA operations are subject to Congressional oversight, unlike the parallel JSOC bombings. "Targeted killings are not the most popular thing in town right now and the CIA knows that," he says. "Contractors and especially JSOC personnel working under a classified mandate are not [overseen by Congress], so they just don't care. If there's one person they're going after and there's thirty-four people in the building, thirty-five people are going to die. That's the mentality." He added, "They're not accountable to anybody and they know that. It's an open secret, but what are you going to do, shut down JSOC?"
In addition to working on covert action planning and drone strikes, Blackwater SELECT also provides private guards to perform the sensitive task of security for secret US drone bases, JSOC camps and Defense Intelligence Agency camps inside Pakistan, according to the military intelligence source.
Mosharraf Zaidi, a well-known Pakistani journalist who has served as a consultant for the UN and European Union in Pakistan and Afghanistan, says that the Blackwater/JSOC program raises serious questions about the norms of international relations. "The immediate question is, How do you define the active pursuit of military objectives in a country with which not only have you not declared war but that is supposedly a front-line non-NATO ally in the US struggle to contain extremist violence coming out of Afghanistan and the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan?" asks Zaidi, who is currently a columnist for The News, the biggest English-language daily in Pakistan. "Let's forget Blackwater for a second. What this is confirming is that there are US military operations in Pakistan that aren't about logistics or getting food to Bagram; that are actually about the exercise of physical violence, physical force inside of Pakistani territory."
JSOC: Rumsfeld and Cheney's Extra Special Force
Colonel Wilkerson said that he is concerned that with General McChrystal's elevation as the military commander of the Afghan war--which is increasingly seeping into Pakistan--there is a concomitant rise in JSOC's power and influence within the military structure. "I don't see how you can escape that; it's just a matter of the way the authority flows and the power flows, and it's inevitable, I think," Wilkerson told The Nation. He added, "I'm alarmed when I see execute orders and combat orders that go out saying that the supporting force is Central Command and the supported force is Special Operations Command," under which JSOC operates. "That's backward. But that's essentially what we have today."
From 2003 to 2008 McChrystal headed JSOC, which is headquartered at Pope Air Force Base and Fort Bragg in North Carolina, where Blackwater's 7,000-acre operating base is also situated. JSOC controls the Army's Delta Force, the Navy's SEAL Team 6, as well as the Army's 75th Ranger Regiment and 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, and the Air Force's 24th Special Tactics Squadron. JSOC performs strike operations, reconnaissance in denied areas and special intelligence missions. Blackwater, which was founded by former Navy SEALs, employs scores of veteran Special Forces operators--which several former military officials pointed to as the basis for Blackwater's alleged contracts with JSOC.
Since 9/11, many top-level Special Forces veterans have taken up employment with private firms, where they can make more money doing the highly specialized work they did in uniform. "The Blackwater individuals have the experience. A lot of these individuals are retired military, and they've been around twenty to thirty years and have experience that the younger Green Beret guys don't," said retired Army Lieut. Col. Jeffrey Addicott, a well-connected military lawyer who served as senior legal counsel for US Army Special Forces. "They're known entities. Everybody knows who they are, what their capabilities are, and they've got the experience. They're very valuable."
"They make much more money being the smarts of these operations, planning hits in various countries and basing it off their experience in Chechnya, Bosnia, Somalia, Ethiopia," said the military intelligence source. "They were there for all of these things, they know what the hell they're talking about. And JSOC has unfortunately lost the institutional capability to plan within, so they hire back people that used to work for them and had already planned and executed these [types of] operations. They hired back people that jumped over to Blackwater SELECT and then pay them exorbitant amounts of money to plan future operations. It's a ridiculous revolving door."
While JSOC has long played a central role in US counterterrorism and covert operations, military and civilian officials who worked at the Defense and State Departments during the Bush administration described in interviews with The Nation an extremely cozy relationship that developed between the executive branch (primarily through Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld) and JSOC. During the Bush era, Special Forces turned into a virtual stand-alone operation that acted outside the military chain of command and in direct coordination with the White House. Throughout the Bush years, it was largely General McChrystal who ran JSOC. "What I was seeing was the development of what I would later see in Iraq and Afghanistan, where Special Operations forces would operate in both theaters without the conventional commander even knowing what they were doing," said Colonel Wilkerson. "That's dangerous, that's very dangerous. You have all kinds of mess when you don't tell the theater commander what you're doing."
Wilkerson said that almost immediately after assuming his role at the State Department under Colin Powell, he saw JSOC being politicized and developing a close relationship with the executive branch. He saw this begin, he said, after his first Delta Force briefing at Fort Bragg. "I think Cheney and Rumsfeld went directly into JSOC. I think they went into JSOC at times, perhaps most frequently, without the SOCOM [Special Operations] commander at the time even knowing it. The receptivity in JSOC was quite good," says Wilkerson. "I think Cheney was actually giving McChrystal instructions, and McChrystal was asking him for instructions." He said the relationship between JSOC and Cheney and Rumsfeld "built up initially because Rumsfeld didn't get the responsiveness. He didn't get the can-do kind of attitude out of the SOCOM commander, and so as Rumsfeld was wont to do, he cut him out and went straight to the horse's mouth. At that point you had JSOC operating as an extension of the [administration] doing things the executive branch--read: Cheney and Rumsfeld--wanted it to do. This would be more or less carte blanche. You need to do it, do it. It was very alarming for me as a conventional soldier."
Wilkerson said the JSOC teams caused diplomatic problems for the United States across the globe. "When these teams started hitting capital cities and other places all around the world, [Rumsfeld] didn't tell the State Department either. The only way we found out about it is our ambassadors started to call us and say, 'Who the hell are these six-foot-four white males with eighteen-inch biceps walking around our capital cities?' So we discovered this, we discovered one in South America, for example, because he actually murdered a taxi driver, and we had to get him out of there real quick. We rendered him--we rendered him home."
As part of their strategy, Rumsfeld and Cheney also created the Strategic Support Branch (SSB), which pulled intelligence resources from the Defense Intelligence Agency and the CIA for use in sensitive JSOC operations. The SSB was created using "reprogrammed" funds "without explicit congressional authority or appropriation," according to the Washington Post. The SSB operated outside the military chain of command and circumvented the CIA's authority on clandestine operations. Rumsfeld created it as part of his war to end "near total dependence on CIA." Under US law, the Defense Department is required to report all deployment orders to Congress. But guidelines issued in January 2005 by former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone stated that Special Operations forces may "conduct clandestine HUMINT operations...before publication" of a deployment order. This effectively gave Rumsfeld unilateral control over clandestine operations.
The military intelligence source said that when Rumsfeld was defense secretary, JSOC was deployed to commit some of the "darkest acts" in part to keep them concealed from Congress. "Everything can be justified as a military operation versus a clandestine intelligence performed by the CIA, which has to be informed to Congress," said the source. "They were aware of that and they knew that, and they would exploit it at every turn and they took full advantage of it. They knew they could act extra-legally and nothing would happen because A, it was sanctioned by DoD at the highest levels, and B, who was going to stop them? They were preparing the battlefield, which was on all of the PowerPoints: 'Preparing the Battlefield.'"
The significance of the flexibility of JSOC's operations inside Pakistan versus the CIA's is best summed up by Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. "Every single intelligence operation and covert action must be briefed to the Congress," she said. "If they are not, that is a violation of the law."
Blackwater: Company Non Grata in Pakistan
For months, the Pakistani media has been flooded with stories about Blackwater's alleged growing presence in the country. For the most part, these stories have been ignored by the US press and denounced as lies or propaganda by US officials in Pakistan. But the reality is that, although many of the stories appear to be wildly exaggerated, Pakistanis have good reason to be concerned about Blackwater's operations in their country. It is no secret in Washington or Islamabad that Blackwater has been a central part of the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan and that the company has been involved--almost from the beginning of the "war on terror"--with clandestine US operations. Indeed, Blackwater is accepting applications for contractors fluent in Urdu and Punjabi. The US Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, has denied Blackwater's presence in the country, stating bluntly in September, "Blackwater is not operating in Pakistan." In her trip to Pakistan in October, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dodged questions from the Pakistani press about Blackwater's rumored Pakistani operations. Pakistan's interior minister, Rehman Malik, said on November 21 he will resign if Blackwater is found operating anywhere in Pakistan.
The Christian Science Monitor recently reported that Blackwater "provides security for a US-backed aid project" in Peshawar, suggesting the company may be based out of the Pearl Continental, a luxury hotel the United States reportedly is considering purchasing to use as a consulate in the city. "We have no contracts in Pakistan," Blackwater spokesperson Stacey DeLuke said recently. "We've been blamed for all that has gone wrong in Peshawar, none of which is true, since we have absolutely no presence there."
Reports of Blackwater's alleged presence in Karachi and elsewhere in the country have been floating around the Pakistani press for months. Hamid Mir, a prominent Pakistani journalist who rose to fame after his 1997 interview with Osama bin Laden, claimed in a recent interview that Blackwater is in Karachi. "The US [intelligence] agencies think that a number of Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders are hiding in Karachi and Peshawar," he said. "That is why [Blackwater] agents are operating in these two cities." Ambassador Patterson has said that the claims of Mir and other Pakistani journalists are "wildly incorrect," saying they had compromised the security of US personnel in Pakistan. On November 20 the Washington Times, citing three current and former US intelligence officials, reported that Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban, has "found refuge from potential U.S. attacks" in Karachi "with the assistance of Pakistan's intelligence service."
In September, the Pakistani press covered a report on Blackwater allegedly submitted by Pakistan's intelligence agencies to the federal interior ministry. In the report, the intelligence agencies reportedly allege that Blackwater was provided houses by a federal minister who is also helping them clear shipments of weapons and vehicles through Karachi's Port Qasim on the coast of the Arabian Sea. The military intelligence source did not confirm this but did say, "The port jives because they have a lot of [former] SEALs and they would revert to what they know: the ocean, instead of flying stuff in."
The Nation cannot independently confirm these allegations and has not seen the Pakistani intelligence report. But according to Pakistani press coverage, the intelligence report also said Blackwater has acquired "bungalows" in the Defense Housing Authority in the city. According to the DHA website, it is a large gated community established "for the welfare of the serving and retired officers of the Armed Forces of Pakistan." Its motto is: "Home for Defenders." The report alleges Blackwater is receiving help from local government officials in Karachi and is using vehicles with license plates traditionally assigned to members of the national and provincial assemblies, meaning local law enforcement will not stop them.
The use of private companies like Blackwater for sensitive operations such as drone strikes or other covert work undoubtedly comes with the benefit of plausible deniability that places an additional barrier in an already deeply flawed system of accountability. When things go wrong, it's the contractors' fault, not the government's. But the widespread use of contractors also raises serious legal questions, particularly when they are a part of lethal, covert actions. "We are using contractors for things that in the past might have been considered to be a violation of the Geneva Convention," said Lt. Col. Addicott, who now runs the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas. "In my opinion, we have pressed the envelope to the breaking limit, and it's almost a fiction that these guys are not in offensive military operations." Addicott added, "If we were subjected to the International Criminal Court, some of these guys could easily be picked up, charged with war crimes and put on trial. That's one of the reasons we're not members of the International Criminal Court."
If there is one quality that has defined Blackwater over the past decade, it is the ability to survive against the odds while simultaneously reinventing and rebranding itself. That is most evident in Afghanistan, where the company continues to work for the US military, the CIA and the State Department despite intense criticism and almost weekly scandals. Blackwater's alleged Pakistan operations, said the military intelligence source, are indicative of its new frontier. "Having learned its lessons after the private security contracting fiasco in Iraq, Blackwater has shifted its operational focus to two venues: protecting things that are in danger and anticipating other places we're going to go as a nation that are dangerous," he said. "It's as simple as that."
Germany’s Arrest of FDLR Leaders Leaves Questions of Timing, Jurisdiction.
Foreign Policy Blogs
By Brandon Henander
November 23 6:30 pm EST
Two leaders of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), Ignace Murwanashyaka and his aide Straton Musoni, were arrested in Germany last Tuesday. While the arrests were praised by human rights groups and the international community, many questions still remain regarding the timing, motivation, jurisdiction, and even the charges being brought against the suspected war criminals.
The FDLR is a militia group whose leadership is (allegedly) comprised largely of escaped Rwandan genocidaires and operates in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The FDLR began operations in the DRC in 1994 (Editor's Note- FDLR-FOCA did not form until 2000) and continue to commit atrocities there to this day. Murwanashyaka and Musoni have lived in Germany for years and have directed FDLR operations in the DRC from there with impunity, until now. Germany had dismissed calls for their arrests in the past from the Rwandan government, the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), Interpol and the U.N. Security Council.
Several factors could have played a role in Germany’s decision last week. Tensions between Joseph Kabila's government in the DRC and MONUC have flared recently. MONUC has been accused of both allegedly aiding the FDLR, who they are charged with disarming, and also allegely participating in war crimes committed by DRC national forces (FARDC). On top of that, President Kabila’s legitimacy as the first democratically elected leader of the DRC in decades continues to suffer under the presence of a large foreign force in the east. This has led DRC officials to talk openly of a MONUC exit strategy and setting benchmarks for a troop draw down. Germany currently has no troops serving in the 20,000+ MONUC forces, but the arrests could help assuage criticism on Germany’s part and either precede a drawdown of UN troops or serve as consolation for an extended MONUC presence.
Another driving force could have been last month’s EU Council meeting where it was resolved that members would become fully compliant with two U.N.S.C. Resolutions imposing restrictive measures on fugitive leaders of the FDLR including “financial and travel sanctions”.
Lastly, the German Justice department recently changed heads with Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, a Free Democrat (FDP), taking over from Brigitte Zypries, a Democratic Socialist, at the end of October. Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger served a previous term as the Federal Minister for Justice, from 1992-1996, which happened to coincide with the Rwandan genocide.
It is still not clear exactly what charges are being brought against Murwanashayaka and Musoni. It has been reported that they are being charged with terrorism, war crimes, and crimes against humanity for alleged crimes committed in the DRC. But there has been no word as to whether they will be tried under German, Congolese, or International Law. Meanwhile, Rwanda is asking for jurisdiction to try them for alleged crimes committed during the 1994 Genocide. The German Ministry of Justice refused to comment on these issues.
Editor's Note: Dr. Murwanashayaka has been living in Germany since the late 1980s, when he was studying economics.
By Brandon Henander
November 23 6:30 pm EST
Two leaders of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), Ignace Murwanashyaka and his aide Straton Musoni, were arrested in Germany last Tuesday. While the arrests were praised by human rights groups and the international community, many questions still remain regarding the timing, motivation, jurisdiction, and even the charges being brought against the suspected war criminals.
The FDLR is a militia group whose leadership is (allegedly) comprised largely of escaped Rwandan genocidaires and operates in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The FDLR began operations in the DRC in 1994 (Editor's Note- FDLR-FOCA did not form until 2000) and continue to commit atrocities there to this day. Murwanashyaka and Musoni have lived in Germany for years and have directed FDLR operations in the DRC from there with impunity, until now. Germany had dismissed calls for their arrests in the past from the Rwandan government, the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), Interpol and the U.N. Security Council.
Several factors could have played a role in Germany’s decision last week. Tensions between Joseph Kabila's government in the DRC and MONUC have flared recently. MONUC has been accused of both allegedly aiding the FDLR, who they are charged with disarming, and also allegely participating in war crimes committed by DRC national forces (FARDC). On top of that, President Kabila’s legitimacy as the first democratically elected leader of the DRC in decades continues to suffer under the presence of a large foreign force in the east. This has led DRC officials to talk openly of a MONUC exit strategy and setting benchmarks for a troop draw down. Germany currently has no troops serving in the 20,000+ MONUC forces, but the arrests could help assuage criticism on Germany’s part and either precede a drawdown of UN troops or serve as consolation for an extended MONUC presence.
Another driving force could have been last month’s EU Council meeting where it was resolved that members would become fully compliant with two U.N.S.C. Resolutions imposing restrictive measures on fugitive leaders of the FDLR including “financial and travel sanctions”.
Lastly, the German Justice department recently changed heads with Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, a Free Democrat (FDP), taking over from Brigitte Zypries, a Democratic Socialist, at the end of October. Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger served a previous term as the Federal Minister for Justice, from 1992-1996, which happened to coincide with the Rwandan genocide.
It is still not clear exactly what charges are being brought against Murwanashayaka and Musoni. It has been reported that they are being charged with terrorism, war crimes, and crimes against humanity for alleged crimes committed in the DRC. But there has been no word as to whether they will be tried under German, Congolese, or International Law. Meanwhile, Rwanda is asking for jurisdiction to try them for alleged crimes committed during the 1994 Genocide. The German Ministry of Justice refused to comment on these issues.
Editor's Note: Dr. Murwanashayaka has been living in Germany since the late 1980s, when he was studying economics.
Ugandan Government claims it has yet to okay sale of oil wells to Eni.
The New Vision
23 November 2009
By Ibrahim Kasita
The Ugandan Government claims it has not yet approved the sale of Ugandan oil fields to the Italian company Eni a senior energy ministry official has said.
Ernest Rubondo, the commissioner in the petroleum exploration and production department, said any transaction related to the oil discovered in the Albertine Graben is “subject to Government approval”.
Heritage Oil in a statement yesterday confirmed that it has entered into a letter of intent to sell its interest in two oil blocks to Eni Spa, an Italian company. The two blocks are owned by both Heritage Oil and Tullow Oil in a 50-50% joint venture.
“The Government is still reviewing the documentation and once the review is finished, a decision will be made,” Rubondo said.
Heritage acknowledged that the completion of the $1.5b deal was still subject to approval by a majority of its shareholders and the Ugandan Government.
The statement added that the Government of Uganda had been consulted on the proposed transaction and had indicated its support for Eni’s entrance.
According to the deal, Eni will pay $1.35 billion upfront and a further $150 million in cash or a stake in a producing oil field of a similar value within two years, provided certain conditions are met.
“Following a strategic review, we decided to enter into this letter of intent with Eni as we recognise the very large, multi-billion dollar investment which is required to develop the Albert Basin and the related infrastructure,” Heritage boss Tony Buckingham explained.
Heritage has spent about $150m on its oil and gas interest in Uganda since being awarded its first license in 1997, the company noted.
Proceeds from the sale, it added, would be used to develop Heritage’s existing assets, including non-producing fields in Kurdistan, to make acquisitions and possibly pay out a special dividend to its shareholders. However, the price was below most analysts’ valuations of the Ugandan fields. Analyst Morgan Stanley valued them at $2b.
“The discount reflects Heritage’s cash requirements to fund Kurdistan and perceptions as a forced seller,” Stanley said in a research note.
The Ugandan deal is the latest in a string of African acquisitions by Eni in recent years. The Italian company is currently present in 70 countries, among them in West and North Africa.
Eni is Italy’s largest industrial company with a market capitalisation of $138b as of July 2008. The Italian Government owns a 30% golden share in the company.
However, the firm was embroiled in a controversy involving the Russian energy firm Gazprom and Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s premier.
Under the deal, signed in May 2005, the Russian energy giant would receive direct access to the gas distribution market in a major European country.
It had the full support of the then Russian President Vladimir Putin and Berlusconi.
But two month after the signing, the two chief executive officers announced that the deal was cancelled.
This was after the Italian parliament questioned the legitimacy of the arrangement when it became known that one-third of the shares in the trading company Central Energy Italian Gas Holding belonged to Bruno Mentasti-Grinelli, who happened to be Berlusconi’s old friend and partner. In 2009, the European Commission filed formal antitrust charges against Eni. The commission believes that Eni has conspired to keep competitors from using its gas pipelines.
Eni’s involvement in Uganda could be good news for Italian energy engineering company Saipem, which is controlled by Eni. Saipem has considerable experience in pipelines and often works closely with Eni.
Most of the oil produced in Uganda is likely to be exported to international markets, requiring the construction of a pipeline to the Kenyan coast.
As the oil under Lake Albert is waxy, the pipeline will need to be heated, making it an expensive project - a project beyond most explorers’ competence.
23 November 2009
By Ibrahim Kasita
The Ugandan Government claims it has not yet approved the sale of Ugandan oil fields to the Italian company Eni a senior energy ministry official has said.
Ernest Rubondo, the commissioner in the petroleum exploration and production department, said any transaction related to the oil discovered in the Albertine Graben is “subject to Government approval”.
Heritage Oil in a statement yesterday confirmed that it has entered into a letter of intent to sell its interest in two oil blocks to Eni Spa, an Italian company. The two blocks are owned by both Heritage Oil and Tullow Oil in a 50-50% joint venture.
“The Government is still reviewing the documentation and once the review is finished, a decision will be made,” Rubondo said.
Heritage acknowledged that the completion of the $1.5b deal was still subject to approval by a majority of its shareholders and the Ugandan Government.
The statement added that the Government of Uganda had been consulted on the proposed transaction and had indicated its support for Eni’s entrance.
According to the deal, Eni will pay $1.35 billion upfront and a further $150 million in cash or a stake in a producing oil field of a similar value within two years, provided certain conditions are met.
“Following a strategic review, we decided to enter into this letter of intent with Eni as we recognise the very large, multi-billion dollar investment which is required to develop the Albert Basin and the related infrastructure,” Heritage boss Tony Buckingham explained.
Heritage has spent about $150m on its oil and gas interest in Uganda since being awarded its first license in 1997, the company noted.
Proceeds from the sale, it added, would be used to develop Heritage’s existing assets, including non-producing fields in Kurdistan, to make acquisitions and possibly pay out a special dividend to its shareholders. However, the price was below most analysts’ valuations of the Ugandan fields. Analyst Morgan Stanley valued them at $2b.
“The discount reflects Heritage’s cash requirements to fund Kurdistan and perceptions as a forced seller,” Stanley said in a research note.
The Ugandan deal is the latest in a string of African acquisitions by Eni in recent years. The Italian company is currently present in 70 countries, among them in West and North Africa.
Eni is Italy’s largest industrial company with a market capitalisation of $138b as of July 2008. The Italian Government owns a 30% golden share in the company.
However, the firm was embroiled in a controversy involving the Russian energy firm Gazprom and Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s premier.
Under the deal, signed in May 2005, the Russian energy giant would receive direct access to the gas distribution market in a major European country.
It had the full support of the then Russian President Vladimir Putin and Berlusconi.
But two month after the signing, the two chief executive officers announced that the deal was cancelled.
This was after the Italian parliament questioned the legitimacy of the arrangement when it became known that one-third of the shares in the trading company Central Energy Italian Gas Holding belonged to Bruno Mentasti-Grinelli, who happened to be Berlusconi’s old friend and partner. In 2009, the European Commission filed formal antitrust charges against Eni. The commission believes that Eni has conspired to keep competitors from using its gas pipelines.
Eni’s involvement in Uganda could be good news for Italian energy engineering company Saipem, which is controlled by Eni. Saipem has considerable experience in pipelines and often works closely with Eni.
Most of the oil produced in Uganda is likely to be exported to international markets, requiring the construction of a pipeline to the Kenyan coast.
As the oil under Lake Albert is waxy, the pipeline will need to be heated, making it an expensive project - a project beyond most explorers’ competence.
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