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...Somalia-based al-Qaeda allied group that bombed U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. It might seem appropriate, then, at first glance, that the African Union on Tuesday responded with force to a threat by one of the islands, Anjouan, to secede. Comoran troops backed by an AU force composed of Libyan, Senegalese, Sudanese and Tanzanian soldiers invaded at dawn, under a barrage of mortars and gunfire, and by noon announced that they were in control. But despite the operation's apparent success, it raises as many questions as it answers...
...African Union leaders might be hoping their readiness to use force will demonstrate that the continent is serious about policing itself. In reality, it may send the opposite message. That the AU feels comfortable, albeit after more than a year of diplomacy and sanctions, about attacking Anjouan's airport and roaring into tiny Moutsamoudou town - the entire island has a population of just 240,000 and its biggest claim to prominence is as the world's premier exporter of ylang-ylang flowers - only highlights how uneasy the organization becomes in the face of stiffer opposition...
...Chrysantus Ayangafac, a Pretoria-based researcher from the International Institute of Strategic Studies, argued in a paper this month that even such a limited military intervention "will have high diplomatic, human and financial cost implications for the AU, which it can ill afford. Besides, any sustained military intervention in the country will have to be followed by a robust reconstruction effort, which neither the AU nor the [Comoran] union government can afford." Elsewhere in Africa, AU operations are far more limited, deploying small, ineffective forces in Somalia and Darfur. While the AU did lead efforts to stem post-election violence...
...course, there's nothing unique about the AU's limited ability to enforce stability in trouble spots: The U.S. has not managed to bring peace to Iraq; NATO is deadlocked in Afghanistan; and the United Nations routinely falls short of its ambitions - even with the deployment of the world's biggest peacekeeping force in Sudan and Darfur. The same is true for eastern Congo, where fighting has continued despite the presence of what, until Darfur, was the world's biggest U.N. force. Ditto Rwanda 1994, when the major powers at the U.N. ensured that the organization remained paralyzed...
...responded to a report of an individual trying to break into a Holyoke Street restaurant. The individual claimed they thought the restaurant was open. The officers sent the individual on his or her way. March 10 7:55 p.m.—Officers saw two individuals behaving suspiciously at Au Bon Pain. The individuals were run for outstanding warrants and Miriam Rodriguez, 22, was placed under arrest. March 11 12:12 p.m.—An individual was seen sleeping on a concrete wall near Gund Hall. He or she was issued a trespass warning and was sent...