• The UN and Interpol discussedtransnational organized crime in West Africa, including illicit drug trafficking and the proliferation of illegal arms, as well maritime piracy in Lyon, France on Monday.
• An anti-homosexuality bill is being once again resurrected by the Parliament in Uganda with changes to the provision calling for the death penalty now reduced to a life sentence. On Tuesday, the State Minister for Ethics and Integrity broke up a secret gay rights activist conference because it was “illegal”; while demonstrators gathered to ridicule MPs for their accepting money to buy cars and trying to take the matter out of the public domain.
• Troops in Senegal reportedly clashed with suspected separatist fighters in the Casamance region, killing three soldiers and wounding six others.
• Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb attack that killed at least 11 (some reports saying as many as 17) people in Mogadishu, Somalia on Wednesday near a hotel where lawmakers gather; while an al-Shabaab rebel commander was allegedly killed along with 13 other rebel fighters in an ambush by Kenyan troops in the south. On Thursday, it was reported that al-Qaeda incorporated al-Shabaab into its organization in a “jihadi unity” merger; while more than 1,000 families were displaced from the town of Buuhoodle and nearby villages in eastern Somaliland after heavy fighting between the Somaliland Army and clan militias loyal to the newly created Khatumo State. On Saturday, Kenya Defense Forces announced that al-Qaeda’s merger with al-Shabaab opened the way for other international players involved in the fight against terrorism to take part in the war on al-Shabaab; while the United States announced that it is considering additional assistance to AU mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in the wake of the merger. On Sunday, al Shabaab insurgents reportedly attacked Somali and Kenyan troops stationed in the southern town of Busaar, killing some 10 people. On Monday, Kenya’s Defence Forces said that al-Shabaab’s fighters held demonstrations in areas under their control to display that their new-found alliance with al-Qaeda enjoys local support; while the government called upon the lifting of an arms embargo to help it resist an al-Qaeda insurgency. British insistence that the Somaliland Government attend the upcoming London Conference on Somalia has caused a lot of debate both within and outside the country.
• Swiss-based commodities trader Trafigura is again facing a legal dispute, with South Sudan claiming that Trafigura bought oil that was seized by Sudan, making its ownership suspect. On Wednesday, it was reported that rebel groups fighting the South Sudanese government have been forcing the recruitment of southerners living in Khartoum; while Sudanese President al-Bashir reportedly accused foreign groups of profiting from the crisis in D....

[continued at http://apeaceofconflict.com/2012/02/15/this-week-in-african-conflic...]