By Staff Sergeant Marcus M. Maier
435th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

BOTSWANA – Thirty Ramstein Airmen traveled to the southern region of Africa in early October, 2008 to share their knowledge and experience with counterparts from the Botswana Defense Force (BDF).

The team of U.S. Air Force pilots, navigators, flight engineers, loadmasters and personnel from security forces, supply and public affairs stayed in Botswana four days before continuing on to Cape Town, South Africa, where they participated in an air show.

“We are here on what’s called a theater security cooperation event,” said Colonel Ty Thomas, 86th Operations Group commander.

“The essence is that we work with the BDF, their Air Force in particular, to build an airlift capacity. What they’ve asked us to come down and talk about is our ability to deploy and redeploy air forces, particularly C-130s, for peace-keeping or humanitarian operations.”

During the first day, U.S. and Botswana aircrews participated in discussions and briefings.

“We discussed ways of employing the C-130 and the differences of how we use the airplane and some of the challenges they have,” said Captain Sarah Santoro, a C-130 pilot. “It’s always interesting to see when we go visit places that the mindset is always aircrew to aircrew – no matter what flag they have on their shoulder.”

Members from both countries were eager to compare notes and to learn about each other.

“I was very impressed,” said Staff Sergeant Jesse Levy, a loadmaster with the 37th AS. “They were very professional and enthusiastic. They seemed as happy about us being there as we were. Overall it was a very good experience.”

Levy specifically noticed an immediate sense of camaraderie between the loadmasters from both countries.

“I’d say we are very similar in attitude,” he said. “We both have a high enthusiasm for this job. They really want to get the best training possible, just like we do. Their loadmaster asked a lot of questions about airdrops and about different things that we do. He really wanted to come back and do more training with us. I definitely think they are where they need to be with attitude, but they could really benefit from more training.”

The Americans also noted some differences.

“They do things differently,” said Staff Sergeant David Bell, an engine specialist with the 86th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. “They have a longer technical training than we do.”

He also noted that their maintenance career field is broken down into only three sections, compared to American maintainers who have seven fields of expertise.

“I was impressed to see that they use the same equipment we do,” Sergeant Bell said. “Their aircraft are a lot older, but they have newer engines and the glass cockpit upgrades.”

On the Ramstein Airmen’s last day with the Botswana Defense Force, Botswanan aircrew members were invited to ride along in the U.S. C-130s on a low-level formation training flight.

“This was an incredible opportunity for us,” said Major T. Phuthego, chief pilot for Botswanan C-130 operations. “One of our main challenges is that we are still part of the army. It’s refreshing to get a chance to interact with other members of the aviation community. We look forward to more opportunities to interact with each other. Our goal is to become more proficient in deploying our C-130s for peacekeeping and humanitarian missions around Africa.”

Overall the stay in Botswana was a success, according to Colonel Thomas, who asserted that more training opportunities would be beneficial to both nations.

“I see a future of more training with the BDF in terms of willingness and interest in doing it,” he said. “Several of their officers have expressed a desire for us to continue this relationship. I also think there is a significant amount of value added for us as the U.S. military to remain engaged in the South African region, because it will likely become more and more important as interests and activities in Africa develop.”

Major Sidney Shinn, bilateral affairs officer with the North Carolina National Guard State Partnership Program added that he would like to see unit-level exercises between the BDF and the U.S. Air Force.

“We are committed to our relationship with Botswana and looking to expand it for the long term. Our goal is to assist them to become self-sustaining. We want to become a partner that works alongside them,” Shinn said.

Source: 17th Air Force

By Zakari Musah

Ghana’s general elections, slated for December this year, are very crucial to the people of Ghana as well as the international community. Already, some opinion leaders have started commenting on the elections, thus indicating that all eyes are on Ghana.

Therefore there is the need for the Electoral Commission, an {www:independent} body mandated by the 1992 Constitution of Ghana in Article 45 (c) to conduct and supervise all public elections and referenda in the country to ensure that the elections are free, fair and {www:peaceful} so the out come of the results will be accepted to all parties irrespective of who and which party emerge as the winner.

Ghana remains one of the most peaceful countries in Africa on the score sheet. This year’s elections will be the fifth consecutive elections in the Fourth Republic since 1993 when Ghana returned to constitutional rule. One may ask how this one will be. Well, the onus lies on all Ghanaians.

It is very important not to lose sight of the five Pillars of the National Orientation, Proud to be Ghanaian, Patriotism and Spirit of Ghana First, Positive and a “Can-Do-it” Attitude, Productivity and Accountability and Dedication and Discipline. These should serve as the guiding principles that no matter the situation, the Ghana first Pillar ought to be held in high esteem.

According to the President of the United States of America, George Bush, Ghana is showing Africa that democracy is not a challenge to be feared but a sure path to prosperity and peace. “Ghana and America stand as one in our work to {www:promote} free elections. Ghana is now in the middle of a lively elections season, marked by spirited debate close fought contests which sounds kind of familiar.” “Whatever the outcome, Ghana is showing Africa that democracy is not a challenge to be feared but a sure path to prosperity and peace. Ghana is a model of entrepreneurship, democracy and peace on the continent of Africa.”

These comments were made during President Agyekum Kufuor’s recent visit to the US. Undoubtedly, Ghana, one of the peaceful countries in Africa, is in the spot light as to how the elections will be organized.

These attest to the fact that proper measures ought to be put in place to fore-stall any anomaly that can be {www:detrimental} and lead to the derailment of the peace Ghanaians are enjoying.

Thankfully, the Electoral Commission has successfully endorsed seven political parties and an independent candidate to contest for the December 7 Presidential polls. These are New Patriotic Party (npp), National Democratic Congress (NDC), Convention People’s Party (CPP) and Peoples National Convention (PNC). Others are Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) and Reformed Patriotic Democrats (RPD.

Now that the green light has been given to the presidential aspirants to officially campaign to canvas for votes, the duty then lies on the Flag Bearers to educate their supporters and followers to be disciplined and avoid the use of vulgar words which can mar the beauty of the elections.

The underlying causes of election disputes ought to be identified and properly addressed. This is because it has the tendency of derailing democracy in Africa rather than consolidating it. The responsible bodies ought to ensure that {www:proper} measures are put in place to curb election violence which is becoming a menace in Africa and should draw a demarcation between a winner and a loser.

Undoubtedly, in consolidating and expanding democratic rule and strengthening peaceful elections in Africa, the following cannot be overlooked. Transparency in the electoral process, the commitment of the incumbent government in ensuring that transparency, the capacity and commitment of all political parties to respect the rules and accept the outcome of the results as well as the commitment of all political parties not to escalate pre-electoral crisis.

Elections often bring controversy and can contain seeds of conflicts. In other words, conflict is inevitable in elections. However, achieving positive results rest on how the government, the courts, the electoral commission, political parties, the party supporters, the police as well as the media manages election-related conflicts.

Corruption and abuse of power are the canker on the continent of Africa and cannot be ruled out as reasons why some governments refuse to {www:relinquish} power when they lose elections because they fear prosecution.

It is noteworthy that as part of efforts to ensure peaceful upcoming elections, the Director-General of Police Operations, Mr Patrick Timbillah, has called on the personnel of the Security Services to remain neutral at all times.

According to him, neutrality, firmness, fairness, resoluteness and consistency of the personnel, coupled with a high sense of professionalism will win them public confidence and disabuse the minds of people of any suspicion of bias.

The media, the fourth realm of state, have also been brought to the limelight by the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Wood at the 13th Annual Ghana Journalists Association Awards and Dinner Night in Accra. She said one of the pre-conditions for credible elections in December is for Journalists in the country to live up to their role as neutral referees.

Indeed, the observation by the Chief Justice is in the right direction because there is the perception that the media often contribute to election disputes in some parts of the world as a result of bias reportage.

The devastating nature of elections in neighbouring countries such as Angola, Liberia, Somalia, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone among others should be a lesson to Ghanaians to manage this year’s elections to expectation so that Ghana does not become a centre of controversy.

The Zimbabwean electoral crisis a couple of months ago, has left the country in a serious political turmoil despite an agreement reached for power sharing between the ruling ZANU-PF headed by Robert Mugabe and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change headed by Morgan Tsvangirai.

The Zimbabwe election dispute has led to the loss of several lives and properties, with some people displaced. It has the world’s highest inflation record of over 11, 000,000 per cent. The question is does Ghana want to be in this situation? Certainly not.

It will be recalled that early this year, during President Kufuor’s last People’s Assembly in Sekondi-Takoradi in the Western Region, he assured Ghanaians that he is prepared to handover power irrespective of who emerges as winner by legitimate means in the December polls.

This is a very good assurance from the President. All the presidential aspirants and their supporters ought to bear in mind that it is only through legitimate means that one can become President in this democratic era and must therefore respect the verdict of the electorates, since they are the deciders of who becomes the President of the Republic of Ghana.

This is the time to prove to the whole world that indeed, Ghana is the gate way to Africa, by ensuring that the upcoming elections are free, fair, peaceful and democratically accepted without any issue of power sharing.

– Ghana.gov.gh

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Customes and Border Protection
NEWS RELEASE

Sterling, Va. – One of Customs and Border Protection’s primary missions is enforcing America’s agriculture regulations and that fact was made apparent to all 125 passengers from Ethiopia aboard Ethiopian Airways flight 500 on Friday morning, Nov. 14, at Dulles International Airport.

Dubbed Operation Addis, CBP agriculture specialists referred all of flight 500’s passengers for inspection. The inspection resulted in 12 seizures—seven meat seizures of dried beef and pork weighing a combined 40 pounds, and five plant seizures that included mangoes, bananas, oranges, apples, fresh peppers, garden eggs and fresh leaves.

While cutting up the mangoes, CBP agriculture specialists discovered two insect pests, an adult Coleoptera (beetle) and an immature Coleoptera

“Introducing non-indigenous insect species, even if accidental, may have severe consequences on our nation’s vital crops, our farming industry and our economy,” said Christopher Hess, CBP port director for the Port of Washington. “Protecting America’s agriculture is an important mission, one that our agriculture specialists take very seriously.”

CBP conducts random inspection operations on flights arriving from various nations in an effort to intercept high-risk agriculture products.

International travelers should be aware of the rules for bringing items into the country. CBP consolidates travel information on its Travel Web site. ( Travel )

“Travelers need to be aware of what items they can and can’t bring to America, and our CBP Travel Web site is a great resource to assist them,” said Hess.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation’s borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.

Contacts For This News Release
Steve Sapp, CBP Public Affairs Officer
Phone: (956) 289-5954
CBP Headquarters, Office of Public Affairs
1300 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. Room 3.4A
Washington, DC 20229

Things are getting darker by the day for the Woyanne cannibalistic regime in Ethiopia as alliances are being built around it. President Isayas Afeworki’s visit to Sudan opens the door for Ethiopia’s opposition groups to establish relations with the Sudanese regime. This is a good news for the people of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and every peace and freedom loving communities in the Horn of Africa region.