In this issue:

Sudanese War Widens; New Offensive Launched from East

Sudanese Army Vows To Retake Towns Captured by Rebels

U.S. House of Representatives Demands War Crimes Probe for Sudan

South Africa Fears U.S. Attack on Iraq Would Drive Oil Prices Sky-High

British/U.S. War Party Claims South African Selling Components to Iraq for WMD

Relationship Between Famine and AIDS Exposed in Washington

South African Students Union Wants Alternative to Privatization, IMF

From the Vol.1 No.32 issue of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published October 14, 2002
AFRICA NEWS DIGEST

Sudanese War Widens; New Offensive Launched from East

On Oct. 3, according to a Sudanese government spokesman at the embassy in Berlin, a "well-planned and [well]-timed offensive" took place along the eastern borders of Sudan, on a 180-kilometer front along the border with Eritrea. Hamashkoraib and eight other locations were hit by heavy artillery shelling. The Sudanese embassy statement continued: "Advanced military equipment and intense artillery support from within Eritrean territory, have backed this blunt aggression. Moreover, the area used as a base to launch the aggression against Sudan is a completely [un]inhabitable mountainous desert, lacking water, food and other basic supplies; the only way to make these provisions available in this area comes from Eritrea." The release says the rebel movement announced its capture of some locations "from Asmara" (the Eritrean capital), while the Sudanese military forced the rebels to retreat.

In denouncing the role of Eritrea now, and earlier, the Sudanese embassy release said the "malicious designs of Eritrea set sights on all its neighbors: Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen, and Djibouti."

This new attack came shortly after the rebels took the southern town of Torit. The entire operation, in the south and east, probably could not have been organized without the substantial support of other forces— the U.S., and, reportedly, the Israelis.

Sudanese Army Vows To Retake Towns Captured by Rebels

Sudanese Army spokesman Gen. Mohamed Beshir Suleiman told the press, according to Agence France Presse and Sudanese wires, that Sudanese troops had "destroyed the capabilities" of the SPLA rebels "around Torit," the town in the south the SPLA captured weeks ago. He said government forces "have begun marching to clear the rebel pockets surrounding Hamashkurb," a garrison town near the Eritrean border which they just took, and added, "We will use all our air and ground capability until the enemy gets out of Sudan."

The attacks, both in the south and in the east, have been massive. General Suleiman asserted that the rebels "cannot launch such an attack without the backing of a neighboring country." Sudanese sources have told EIR that forces from Uganda, Kenya, and Israel, were involved in the capture of Torit, which had deployed 9,000 troops. It is reported that talks have gone on between the SPLA and Israeli elements, regarding the possibility of diverting Nile waters to Israel, if and when southern Sudan became independent of the North. Politically and logistically, the U.S. is also said to be backing the renewed rebel offensive.

The fact that the eastern offensive has been mounted from Eritrea, and with Eritrean troops, also indicates the hand of the U.S. and others, since Eritrea, following the conflict with Ethiopia, has been decimated. Alone, it could do nothing.

U.S. House of Representatives Demands War Crimes Probe for Sudan

According to AFP, AP, and Sudanese wires, the U.S. House of Representatives on Oct. 7 approved the Sudan Peace Act, by a vote of 359-8, as if in coordination with the escalating military attacks against Sudan. The Congressional resolution urges the President to downgrade or suspend diplomatic relations unless Sudan makes progress towards peace. It also claims that the names of perpetrators of crimes against humanity are known, and that, therefore, they could be prosecuted.

"The Secretary of State shall collect information about incidents which may constitute crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes, and other violations of international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict in Sudan, including slavery, rape, and aerial bombardment of civilian targets," the bill reads. The resolution, sponsored by Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado), calls for the U.S. to oppose loans to Sudan, cut its access to oil revenues, and seek a UN embargo if, after six months, Sudan is deemed not to be negotiating in good faith in resumed peace talks with the SPLA. Now the bill goes to the Senate.

The Sudanese government in Khartoum reacted angrily to the resolution, calling it a "hostile, biased and religiously motivated bill," which would prolong the war and the suffering in Sudan. The Sudanese statement was issued by the embassy of Sudan in Washington. The statement said that the U.S. had "irrationally" chosen to blame the Sudanese government for the casualties of the 19-year civil war as well as a possible failure of the peace talks, due to resume in the Kenyan town of Machakos shortly.

South Africa Fears U.S. Attack on Iraq Would Drive Oil Prices Sky-High

The South African government knows that a U.S. military attack on Iraq not only risks destabilizing the Mideast, but could cause oil prices to skyrocket, "wrecking our economy and any prospect for Africa's development," writes John Stremlau in the Oct. 8 Business Day of Johannesburg. Stremlau is head of the Department of International Relations, at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Thus, Stremlau continues, the government is working with other developing nations "to stop a political and economic catastrophe. Doing so, though, means challenging the U.S., a nation of unprecedented global military and economic predominance...." Stremlau adds that former President Nelson "Mandela's public denunciation last month of any U.S. action that flouted the UN now seems to have been the keynote in this vital diplomatic campaign, and was an action closely coordinated with President Mbeki's office." Stremlau notes that last week, Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad met with the ambassadors of UN Security Council permanent members France, Russia, and China— just before he left on a trip to the Middle East, to Iran, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.

British/U.S. War Party Claims South African Selling Components to Iraq for WMD

The South African Foreign Ministry on Oct. 10 denounced charges that South Africa was supplying components to Iraq for production of "weapons of mass destruction," which charges have appeared in the U.S. and British press. "These allegations against the South African government and individuals are not only factually incorrect, but may prove to be libelous. These futile attempts are aimed at discrediting the South African government and former President Nelson Mandela by making unsubstantiated allegations and vague aspersions," said the release from the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Deputy Foreign Minister Pahad called the charges "nonsense," and intended to discredit Mandela for his criticism of the Anglo-American plans to attack Iraq.

Britain's Spectator and America's Insight on the News recently ran articles alleging that South Africa was selling aluminum tubes for uranium centrifuges to Iraq, and that the First Secretary at the South African Embassy in Jordan was acting as the local sales representative to the Iraqi procurement agents.

Wrote The Spectator Oct. 5: "Mr. Mandela's country has been busy selling aluminum tubes for uranium enrichment centrifuges to Saddam." The article continued that the action was "bringing significantly closer the day when the entire Middle East, much of Africa, and even Europe will be under the Saddamite nuclear umbrella and thus safe from Bush's aggression.... The willingness of the South African government to sell nuclear material and weapons to Iraq, and their fear of getting caught, could explain the virulent outburst by former South African President Nelson Mandela, who told Newsweek recently that the U.S.— not Saddam Hussein— presents a threat to world peace."

Relationship Between Famine and AIDS Exposed in Washington

In stark contrast to the way Lyndon LaRouche addressed the crisis of Africa in his Oct. 12 interview on The LaRouche Show weekly webcast (see this week's FLASH], "elites" at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., sat by indifferently as UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis, laid out the disaster.

Speaking on Oct. 4, Lewis described his meeting the week before with James Morris, head of the World Food Program, who had just returned from a fact-finding mission to southern Africa, and noted that Morris was "reeling from what he's seen. He had instantly recognized that food was only part of the problem." Lewis then quoted the WFP Mission report: "What the mission team found was shocking. There is a dramatic and complex crisis unfolding in southern Africa. Erratic rainfall and drought can be identified as contributing factors to acute vulnerability, but in many cases the causes of the crisis can be linked to other sources.... Worst of all, southern Africa is being devastated by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.... The relationship between the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the reduced capacity of the people and governments of southern Africa to cope with the current crisis is striking."

Lewis went on to describe consultations he had with others on the WFP mission, notable academics and others: "Let me tell you what I think— I obviously cannot prove— but what I think has happened. I think it is reasonable to argue that AIDS has caused the famine; that what we all feared one day would happen, is happening. So many people, particularly women, have died, or are desperately ill, or whose immune systems are like shrinking parchment, that there simply aren't enough farmers left to plant the seeds, till the soil, harvest the crops, provide the food. We may be witness to one of those appalling, traumatic societal upheavals where the world shifts on its axis. We've been predicting that you can't ravage the 15- to 49-year-old productive age group forever, without reaping the whirlwind. The whirlwind is in southern Africa."

South African Students Union Wants Alternative to Privatization, IMF

According to the Oct. 10 issue of the Lusaka-based Post, the Southern African Students Union (SASU) Congress resolved at a meeting in Windhoek, Namibia, Oct. 5-6 that African governments should abandon neo-liberal policies that are aimed at pleasing imperialists. Zambian National Students Union (ZANUSA) president Godfrey Kumwenda, who represented Zambia at the student conference, said there was clear agreement that the policies put in place to please Western capitalists were a disaster. "The Congress also observed that the role of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Africa, especially in education, health and social delivery systems has left the region in the current poverty levels. We must stop privatization now."

On the issue of NEPAD, the economic plan being pushed by African Presidents Mbeki (South Africa) and Obasanjo (Nigeria), the Congress noted that this initiative lacked African ownership and that students were worried that imperialists were taking over the implementation of the program by beginning to put conditions on it. Kumwenda said students hoped that NEPAD would not end up hijacking the African Union.

In addition, the Congress condemned the role of the U.S. in the Middle East crisis. "U.S. foreign policy is a mess and needs to be reviewed for the interest of world peace. The Congress also condemned the U.S. attempt to attack Iraq," Kumwenda said.

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