Alexis Arieff
Analyst in African Affairs
Civilians in Africa’s conflict zones—particularly women and children, but also men—are often vulnerable to sexual violence, including rape, mutilation, and sexual slavery. This violence is carried out by government security forces and non-state actors, including, rebel groups, militias, and criminal organizations. Some abuses appear to be opportunistic, or the product of a larger breakdown in the rule of law and social order that may occur amid conflict. Other incidents of sexual violence appear to be carried out systematically by combatants as a strategic tool to intimidate and humiliate civilian populations seen as sympathetic to opposing factions.
While such abuses are by no means limited to Africa, weak institutions in many African states can mean that victims have little redress; in addition to health and psychological consequences, survivors are also often shunned by their families and communities. The issue has been particularly prevalent in eastern DRC, where security forces, rebel organizations, militias, and other armed groups have inflicted sexual violence upon the civilian population on a massive scale. This report provides a detailed case study of DRC and an index of U.S. programs there.
The issue of sexual violence in conflict is complex, with implications for international programs and policies related to health, humanitarian relief, global women’s issues, the justice sector, the security sector, and multilateral activities. Multiple U.S. government agencies and implementing partners contribute to efforts to prevent and respond to sexual violence in African conflicts, including the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of Justice, and the Department of Defense, among others. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has taken the lead on the Obama Administration’s initiative to address the issue through speeches, official travel, public remarks, writings, and actions at the United Nations. Still, concerns remain among some analysts that programmatic responses to the issue have lacked coordination between donors and among implementers.
The 111th Congress has repeatedly expressed interest in bringing attention to the issue of sexual violence in African conflicts and support for programs to address it through legislation, hearings, and other congressional actions. Potential issues for Congress include the authorization and appropriation of targeted assistance programs and oversight of Administration policies and participation in multilateral activities. Related legislation includes H.Res. 1676 (Carnahan); H.R. 5121 (Clarke); S. 2982 (Kerry); H.R. 4594 (Delahunt); H.Res. 931 (Carson); and H.J.Res. 10 (Jackson-Lee). The “conflict minerals” amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (H.R. 4173, passed into law on July 21, 2010, as P.L. 111-203) references reported links between illicit mining activities and high levels of sexual and genderbased violence in DRC.
For further background, see CRS Report RL34438, International Violence Against Women: U.S. Response and Policy Issues, coordinated by Luisa Blanchfield.
Date of Report: November 30, 2010
Number of Pages: 36
Order Number: R40956
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Nicolas Cook
Specialist in African Affairs
This report provides information on current developments in Ghana and Ghanaian-U.S. relations, which are close. Warm bilateral relations were signaled by President Barack Obama's July 2009 trip to Ghana. Ghana was chosen for his first travel as president to Africa because of its democratic and economic development successes. In Ghana, President Obama made the last of a four-part thematic series of major overseas speeches on key foreign policy issues. The speech in Ghana, to the national parliament, centered on the integral relationship between democracy, good governance, and development in Africa and in the wider developing world. Close ties were also signaled by a trip to Ghana by former President George W. Bush in 2008. While Ghana has not been the focal subject of recent U.S. legislation, hearings, or other major Congressional actions it regularly hosts travel by Members and is widely seen as a key U.S. partner in sub-Saharan Africa.
Ghana's national elections in late 2008 drew international attention because they marked Ghana's fifth consecutive democratic national election, preceded its second democratic transfer of power from one political party to another and, at the presidential level, were reportedly among the closest ever in post-colonial Africa. They signified Ghana's further maturation as a democracy following a transition from “no-party” rule that began in 1992, and were seen as a benchmark for democratic consolidation in Africa following a series of highly contested, volatile elections and other democratic setbacks on the sub-continent.
Ghana is also a stable country in an often volatile sub-region and, along with the United States, has helped to mediate several political and/or military conflicts in West Africa over the last quarter century. These conflicts have caused widespread displacement and humanitarian suffering, which the United States has helped to mitigate through the provision of large amounts of humanitarian assistance. Ghana is also praised for its steady contribution of troops to international peacekeeping operations in Africa and elsewhere and is a recipient of U.S. training aimed at supporting such deployments.
Ghana is often seen as a model for many of the outcomes that U.S. development assistance programs in Africa have long sought to achieve, and hosts bilateral and regional U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) missions. It is a recipient of U.S. assistance under the Obama Administration's new Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative (GHFSI) as well as a President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) country. In 2006, Ghana signed a $547 million U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact.
Ghana is currently drawing attention because of its recent discovery of sizable reserves of crude oil, and its possible role in contributing to global and U.S. energy security. Oil promises to boost national income and development prospects, but, based on the experience of other oil-rich developing countries, may also pose substantial good governance and resource management challenges, which Ghana is taking measures to address. Oil sector development has caused bilateral commercial friction, principally regarding an attempt by a U.S. oil firm, Kosmos Energy, to sell its stakes in two Ghanaian oil fields. Oil sector issues are discussed at length in this report.
Ghana, like the United States, faces an illicit drugs trafficking threat, notably relating to a rise in cocaine being transported from South America to Europe via West Africa. Shared interest in countering such trafficking is a growing area of U.S.-Ghanaian cooperation. The U.S. embassy in Accra hosts a DEA regional cooperation office, and has established a vetted counternarcotics unit, the first in sub-Saharan Africa, in cooperation with the DEA.
Date of Report: December 1, 2010
Number of Pages: 50
Order Number: RS22809
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Lauren Ploch
Analyst in African Affairs
In recent years, analysts and U.S. policymakers have noted Africa’s growing strategic importance to U.S. interests. Among those interests are the increasing importance of Africa’s natural resources, particularly energy resources, and mounting concern over violent extremist activities and other potential threats posed by uncontrolled spaces, such as piracy and illicit trafficking. In addition, there is ongoing concern for Africa’s many humanitarian crises, armed conflicts, and more general challenges, such as the devastating effect of HIV/AIDS. In 2006, Congress authorized a feasibility study on the creation of a new command for Africa to consolidate current operations and activities on the continent under one commander. Congress has closely monitored the command since its establishment.
On February 6, 2007, the Bush Administration announced the creation of a new unified combatant command, U.S. Africa Command or AFRICOM, to promote U.S. national security objectives in Africa and its surrounding waters. Prior to AFRICOM’s establishment, U.S. military involvement on the continent was divided among three commands: U.S. European Command (EUCOM), U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), and U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM). The command’s area of responsibility (AOR) includes all African countries except Egypt. AFRICOM was officially launched as a sub-unified command under EUCOM on October 1, 2007, and became a stand-alone command on October 1, 2008.
As envisioned by the Department of Defense (DOD), AFRICOM aims to promote U.S. strategic objectives by working with African states and regional organizations to help strengthen regional stability and security through improved security capability and military professionalization. If directed by national command authorities, its military operations would aim to deter aggression and respond to crises.
DOD signaled its intention to locate AFRICOM’s headquarters on the continent early in the planning process, but such a move is unlikely to take place for several years, if at all. The command will operate from Stuttgart, Germany, for the foreseeable future. DOD has stressed that there are no plans to have a significant troop presence on the continent. The East African country of Djibouti, home to the Combined Joint Task Force–Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) at Camp Lemonnier, provides the U.S. military’s only enduring infrastructure in Africa.
The 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in East Africa and more recent attacks have highlighted the threat of terrorism to U.S. interests on the continent. Political instability and civil wars have created vast ungoverned spaces, areas in which some experts allege that terrorist groups may train and operate. Instability also heightens human suffering and retards economic development, which may in turn threaten U.S. economic interests. Africa’s exports of crude oil to the United States are now roughly equal to those of the Middle East, further emphasizing the continent’s strategic importance. This report provides a broad overview of U.S. strategic interests in Africa and the role of U.S. military efforts on the continent as they pertain to the creation of AFRICOM. A discussion of AFRICOM’s mission, its coordination with other government agencies, and its basing and manpower requirements is included.
Date of Report: November 16, 2010
Number of Pages: 45
Order Number: RL34003
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Carol Migdalovitz
Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs
The focus of this report is Algeria, a country in North Africa that is increasingly important for U.S. efforts to counter international terrorism as a key partner in the fight against Al Qaeda linked groups. As an energy producer, it also is a significant source of natural gas for the United States and not a major recipient of U.S. aid.
The overall domestic situation in Algeria remains relatively stable. An elected president dominates the political system, but the military, the most significant political force since independence in 1962, still is viewed as the ultimate arbiter of who fills the office. It backed Abdelaziz Bouteflika for the presidency in 1999. He was reelected for a third term in April 2009 and has no clear successor. The voice of the military has been muted publicly since Bouteflika was first selected, but may be heard during presidential succession. Low voter turnout in the May 2007 parliamentary election may have reflected general lack of public faith in the political system as well as common knowledge that the legislature is weak. Authorities specifically boasted of a higher turnout in the 2009 presidential election.
The major domestic problem is terrorism, which has spread beyond Algeria’s borders. It persists at home while Algerian terrorists operate across the southern border in the Sahel and are linked to terrorism abroad. The U.S. State Department lists two Algerian groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). The more notorious and active is Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda in 2006 and may increasingly be described as a criminal-terrorist mutation. Algeria, as the dominant economic and military power in the region, has attempted to take the lead in developing a regional approach to counterterrorism in the Sahel. In addition to addressing the threat, Algiers seeks to prevent foreign, that is, French and U.S., intervention justified by the need to combat terrorists. However, it does welcome other kinds of outside support for the effort.
The Algerian economy is largely based on hydrocarbons, which are overwhelmingly the predominant national export. The revenues they produce have enabled increased public investment but have yet to remedy the country’s significant socioeconomic ills.
President Bouteflika’s tenure has produced an energized foreign policy. Strains in ties with neighboring Morocco continue, mainly due to the unresolved status of the Western Sahara, but also due to a rivalry for regional power. Relations with former colonial power France remain complex and volatile as Algeria and France sometimes compete as much as cooperate in efforts to counter terrorism in the Sahel. U.S.- Algerian relations are generally good and highly focused on counterterrorism as the United States seeks to support regional governments in their fight against AQIM.
See also CRS Report RS20962, Western Sahara: Status of Settlement Efforts, by Carol Migdalovitz..
Date of Report: November 22, 2010
Number of Pages: 17
Order Number: RS21532
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Alexis Arieff
Analyst in African Affairs
Nicolas Cook
Specialist in African Affairs
The past two years have seen a series of deep changes in Guinea’s political landscape, a new experience for a country that had only two presidents in the first fifty years after independence in 1958. In June 2010, Guineans voted in the country’s first presidential election organized by an independent electoral commission and without an incumbent candidate. A presidential run-off poll was held in early November, but provisional results have yet to be certified by the Supreme Court. The election is expected to bring an end to two years of military rule, which began after a junta seized power in December 2008 following the death of Guinea’s long-time president, Lansana Conté. Many Guineans and foreign diplomats also expect the election to provide a stepping-stone toward reforming state institutions and implementing the rule of law, considered a prerequisite for greater private sector investment and increased respect for human rights. At the same time, the election has sparked incidents of ethnic violence and reported abuses by security forces that could threaten the political transition.
A former French colony on West Africa’s Atlantic coast, with a population of about 10 million, Guinea is rich in natural resources but characterized by widespread poverty and limited socioeconomic development. While Guinea has experienced regular episodes of internal political turmoil, it was considered a locus of relative stability during much of the past two decades, a period during which each of its six neighbors suffered armed internal conflicts. At the same time, democratic progress was limited, while popular discontent with the government rose along with instability within the sizable armed forces.
U.S. interests and associated policy challenges in Guinea center on democratization and good governance; counternarcotics issues; security sector reform, bilateral economic interests and relations; regional peace and stability; and socioeconomic and institutional development. The United States suspended some development aid and all security assistance to Guinea in the wake of the 2008 coup. Neither U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) governance and humanitarian assistance programs, which comprised a substantial portion of the U.S. aid budget in Guinea before the coup were affected by the suspension; nor were U.S. contributions toward Guinea’s electoral process. In response to a military crackdown on opposition supporters in September 2009, the United States called for Dadis Camara to step down and announced targeted travel restrictions against CNDD members and selected associates. After a military-led transitional government was formed in January 2010, some U.S. restrictions on security assistance were rolled back, and bilateral aid is expected to increase if the transition to elected government is completed.
Guinea-focused legislation in the 111th Congress has included H.Res. 1013 (Ros-Lehtinen) and S.Res. 345 (Boxer). This report focuses on recent events, U.S.-Guinea bilateral relations, and U.S. policy and assistance. For further analysis, see CRS Report R41200, Guinea’s New Transitional Government: Emerging Issues for U.S. Policy, by Alexis Arieff.
Date of Report: November 24, 2010
Number of Pages: 24
Order Number: R40703
Price: $29.95
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