In this issue:

Anglo-Dutch Financier Cartel Escalates Attacks on Africa

Is BAE Money Behind Latest Sudan Destabilization?

Senegal President: Africa Must Master Food Independence!

Senegal Launches 'Grand Agricultural Offensive' for Food

From Volume 7, Issue Number 21 of EIR Online, Published May 20, 2008
Africa News Digest

Anglo-Dutch Financier Cartel Escalates Attacks on Africa

May 18 (EIRNS)—Frantic that African nations will partner with Asia, to avoid the certain death of nation-states which the Anglo-Dutch imperial crowd is causing, via the IMF and WTO, the imperialists, in the past week, have escalated their campaign against two nations in particular, Sudan and Zimbabwe.

Sudan: As made explicit by the City of London's mouthpiece, the Economist, on May 15, the Anglo-Dutch are now targetting Sudan (which is the nation with the largest land area in Africa—bigger than Western Europe), for dismemberment, resulting from conflicts between the government and regions of the country outside the capital, Khartoum, and between the government and neighboring countries.

The Economist and the anglophile press generally, are pushing the idea that the Darfur conflict could spark a national or regional war, citing an abortive attack on the capital that took place on May 10-11. The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a rebel group based in Darfur, but which promotes a national cause (arguing that the government is not sharing the wealth with outlying regions), attempted an attack against Khartoum by driving across the country; the JEM reached the neighboring city of Omdurman, before they were dispersed by government forces. The attack made no military sense, but came in the context of the Anglo-Dutch strategy to set up the nation for fragmentation. The JEM has vowed to continue attacks throughout the country, a shift from their past position of pretending to fight for the rights of the Darfur region, in western Sudan, along the border with Chad.

The Economist gameplan shows that the campaign carried out by Western nations against Sudan, charging genocide, was only a pretext for destroying the country.

Within a few days, a conflict in Abyei, a town in an oil-producing border region between North and South Sudan, led to violence May 13-14, ending with the destruction of part of the town. The location of the boundary between the North and the South of Sudan, in this particular region, has still not been settled. The conflict in Abyei is being portrayed in the anglophile press as an indication that the agreement in 2005 that ended the protracted civil war, could collapse, and war could flare up again in the South.

On May 15, four Indian oil workers were kidnapped, a foretaste of the kind of activity that could hamper the economy.

Further backing up the Economist's projection of dismantling the state by triggering rebellions, there are anglophile press reports that the attempted attack on the capital by the JEM could lead to fighting in the northern and eastern parts of the country, as well as references to mooted attacks on the Meroe Dam, which is being built on the Nile in northern Sudan, by the Chinese.

After the JEM attack, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said that, "international powers have a secret agenda for undermining the unity of Sudan," and noted that "it has become apparent that the rebel Khalil [leader of the JEM] wishes to achieve political ends that are not associated with the Darfur case." He charged that the JEM and an allied rebel faction "are exploiting the suffering of the people of Darfur to fulfill their ambitions to taking over the government."

Zimbabwe: In the Anglo-Dutch attempt to overthrow the Zimbabwe government, the U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, has abandoned any pretext of being a diplomat, by becoming a fervid supporter of the British-created and -backed opposition MDC party. According to a May 16 BBC broadcast, McGee charged the government with using violence against its own population, in order to enable President Robert Mugabe to win the run-off election for President against Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC. "Violence has spun out of control," McGee said. When BBC asked him if Mugabe could win as a result of violence, McGee responded: "That's exactly what the international community has to avoid." He claimed that, there is "no question that people are being beaten for the way they voted in the last election to ensure that they vote the right way in any run-off here." He maintained that fair elections are not possible, and called for a "force of election monitors in the country, well before the run-off, who would stay here until the results are announced." He made no mention of government assertions that the MDC was carrying out violence to provide a pretext for the kind of intervention that McGee was talking about.

The real issue for the Anglo-Dutch financial cartel in Zimbabwe, however, is not violence. Before the March 29 election results had been announced, McGee said at an April 24 press conference in South Africa, that the United States would lift sanctions and disburse billions of dollars to Zimbabwe, if a new, pro-free-trade government were to take power.

The day after McGee asserted that post-election violence is making a fair run-off vote impossible, Tsvangirai on May 17 added to the histrionics by announcing that he had postponed his return to Zimbabwe to begin campaigning, because an assassination plot made it too dangerous. It cannot be ruled out, however, that the British would organize the assassination of the candidate they have been backing, and blame it on Mugabe, so as to strengthen the anti-Mugabe fervor they have already whipped up. Remember the case of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto's return to Pakistan last December; her assassination was set up by British imperial circles.

Zimbabwe Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa responded to the claims of violence being made by the MDC and its backers: "Whenever there is a claim of an act of politically motivated violence committed, it should be very good that we form joint teams made up of the Zanu-PF [ruling party] and MDC so that we can establish the veracity of these claims."

Is BAE Money Behind Latest Sudan Destabilization?

May 12 (EIRNS)—In light of charges that the government of Chad played a role in the recent rebel military actions in targetting the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, the question must be asked: Was BAE slush fund money behind this latest destabilization?

As EIR documented last year, BAE Systems, the British defense and aerospace giant, has used the "al-Yamamah" deal with Saudi Arabia, and other arms-for-oil barter deals with other countries, to build up a massive off-budget covert fund, which has been used to run British intelligence operations around the globe, since 1985. EIR's estimate is that al-Yamamah alone generated $100 billion in untraceable offshore funds to finance such operations.

In his authorized biography, The Prince, by William Simpson, Prince Bandar freely admitted that the al-Yamamah fund was a geopolitical covert program, involving Saudi Arabia and Great Britain, and that one of the covert programs run through the operation was the arming of Chad, to repel Libyan invaders.

Senegal President: Africa Must Master Food Independence!

May 13 (EIRNS)—Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade calls for Africa not only to become self-sufficient in food production, but to generate food surpluses, in an op-ed published on May 11 in the French daily Journal du Dimanche.

Wade pointed out that, "Every time there is a food crisis in Africa, the proposal is made to put out the fire—without fighting to solve its causes. One sends us airplanes with emergency aid, instead of helping us to produce what we eat." Wade continued, "I intend to use the occasion provided by this crisis to finally ensure our food independence.... The objective is to mobilize populations to achieve a surplus of food production."

Wade described a six-year deal Senegal just signed with India. Senegal will buy 600,000 tons of rice from India this year, which is Senegal's total yearly consumption of rice. However, through "technical assistance, equipment, seeds, and training," provided by India, the deal mandates that next year Senegal will only import 400,000 tons; in the following year, 300,000 tons, etc. Wade says: I will not take financial aid, but if somebody tells me, "We will give you pesticides, seed, and tractors ... I accept." Senegal just adopted two measures in this direction: 1) lifting taxation on all farm revenue over the next five years, and 2) lifting taxation on all imports of farm equipment.

Senegal Launches 'Grand Agricultural Offensive' for Food

PARIS, May 19 (EIRNS)—Senegal was among the African countries recently rocked by food riots, due in particular to a 45% increase in the price of rice. Yet, on-the-ground African sources report that rice was available, both in the shops in Senegal, and offshore on boats. But the owners of the boats and shops neither delivered it, nor made it available for sale, because they were speculating on the price going up! In a May 17 interview in the French daily Libération, Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade explained that Senegal initially became dependent on rice imports during the French colonial period, since France produced rice in Indochina, and used Senegal to produce peanuts for oil.

To bring the hunger crisis to an end, Wade today set forth an ambitious policy for food self-sufficiency, which he called the "Grand Agricultural Offensive for Food and Abundance" (GOANA). The aim of this policy, he said, is to satisfy all our food needs and to fill up our granaries. By next Winter, Senegal should have 2 million tons of corn, 3 million tons of manioc, 500,000 tons of rice, and 2 million tons of other cereals, such as sorghum and millet. 400 million liters of milk, and 43,500 tons of meat should also be produced.

Wade added that the government will take all measures to make quality seed and equipment available to potential producers; some of the equipment has already been imported from India, and more is coming. Wade called on ministers, high-level civil servants, company management, and staff, to cultivate at least 20 hectares of land. He announced also that ships were under way with urea to produce fertilizer. "Why is this possible? Because we have proven we can do it," said Wade, who recalled that in 2003 they increased manioc and corn crops tenfold.

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