In this issue:

South African President Declines U.S. Invitation, Accepts France's

Powell Calls for Freeing Zimbabwe From 'Tyrant's Grip'

Mbeki on State Visit to Jamaica

Indian Former PM: India sees Africa in Its Future

Obasanjo Nominates World Bank VP as Finance Minister

Broad Strike Against Fuel Price Hike in Nigeria

In New Attack on 'Terrorism,' U.S. Abducts Five in Malawi

U.S. Forcing Kenya To Enact 'Police State' Legislation

Plans for Nile Flood Control, Power Generation

From Volume 2, Issue Number 26 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published July 1, 2003
Africa News Digest

South African President Declines U.S. Invitation, Accepts France's

Instead of coming to Washington for the June 24-27 U.S.-Africa Business Summit—addressed by President Bush and Colin Powell—as the Bush Administration had hoped he would, South African President Thabo Mbeki stayed home to receive French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin June 26. De Villepin conveyed to him French President Jacques Chirac's invitation to make a state visit to France. Mbeki accepted and will visit Nov. 17-19. He is making a state visit to Germany about the same time.

De Villepin discussed a range of African and Middle East topics with South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and met religious and industrial leaders.

In addressing the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament, de Villepin took a swipe at American and British policy toward Zimbabwe, warning against sanctions and interference that could complicate the situation there. "So it is not a question of a country somewhere in the world, with an idea it wants to put into action in one region of Africa, but a matter of having countries around one country with difficulties showing the way to solve it," de Villepin said.

He suggested that France could provide support to South Africa's efforts to solve regional and continental problems, and said, "We support the New Partnership for Africa's Development [NEPAD] and any projects that will help to revive the continent's economy. We are ready to work with Africa on any projects."

De Villepin then visited Nelson Mandela before flying to Ghana to meet President John Kufuor and Foreign Minister Addo Akufo-Addo. Mbeki is currently President of the African Union, and Kufuor is the current President of the Economic Community of West African States.

Powell Calls for Freeing Zimbabwe From 'Tyrant's Grip'

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell called for freeing Zimbabwe "from a tyrant's grip" in a New York Times op-ed June 24, with President Bush's trip to Africa July 7-12 in prospect. Powell's piece is a real tear-jerker about the sufferings of the Zimbabwean people, caused, of course, by a single individual—President Robert Mugabe. Powell is following the Bush Administration line that supports the British campaign to overthrow Mugabe. The Administration isn't grandstanding about the misery in oil states like Angola or Equatorial Guinea.

Powell writes, concerning the recent arrest of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, "His offense? Calling for work stoppages and demonstrations to protest economic hardship and political repression." It's a little disingenuous, when Tsvangirai himself says his purpose is to bring the government down. Powell omits to mention that Tsvangirai was arrested on a charge of treason. Powell even says, "[W]e will continue to assist directly, in many different ways, the brave men and women of Zimbabwe who are resisting tyranny."

Powell admits, however, that the U.S. cannot return Zimbabwe to World Bank/IMF vassal status unless South Africa and other African governments help.

He writes, "Zanu-PF [the ruling party] and the opposition party [of Tsvangirai] can together legislate the Constitutional changes to allow for a transition. With the President gone." His promise that once Mugabe is out, the U.S. and other "donors" would rush in with "generous assistance" to rebuild the country is laughable, given the record in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The theory here, stated by the International Crisis Group in its March 10 report on Zimbabwe, is that the leadership of Mugabe's party can be used against him because it is merely venal. With the end of land redistribution, the collapse of the Zimbabwe economy, and Anglo-American sanctions, Mugabe is running out of plums to hand out; ergo, Mugabe's circle will turn on him to get plums from the Anglo-American "donors."

There is no reason to assume African governments will exert pressure on Mugabe's party to become paid Anglo-American stooges. Some may be willing, but the South African government has contempt for Tsvangirai precisely because he is such a stooge. With Powell's op-ed, the Administration has fired a pop-gun. But, with a recent Presidential Executive Order virtually declaring "regime change" as U.S. national security policy, are there heavier weapons behind the scenes?

Mbeki on State Visit to Jamaica

South African President Thabo Mbeki will pay an official state visit to Jamaica June 29-July 2 and address the Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) July 2. He will hold discussions with Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, and the heads of state and government of 12 other Caribbean countries. Cuba is not among them.

Indian Former PM: India sees Africa in Its Future

A conference last month in India underlines the importance of the new South-South relations forged by the meetings of Brazil, India and South Africa, reported last month in EIW. Delivering the Second Africa Day Lecture in New Delhi May 27, India's former Prime Minister Kumar Gujral said that New Delhi sees Africa as the continent of the 21st century, according to the Iranian news agency IRNA. Technology, he said, is the key to self-reliance and a nation's security, and the time has come for India and South Africa to give strategic partnership more content.

Obasanjo Nominates World Bank VP as Finance Minister

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, fresh from electoral "victory," has nominated a World Bank vice president as his Finance Minister and hiked fuel prices 65%. Obasanjo has nominated Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the World Bank's corporate secretary and one of its vice presidents, as his Finance Minister. It remains to be seen whether the Nigerian Senate will approve the nomination.

World Bank President James Wolfensohn was elated, according to his World Bank statement June 24: "This is a tremendous honor and opportunity for her to return to her home country at a critical juncture and make a pivotal contribution."

The Harvard-educated Okonjo-Iweala is a 20-year captive of the Bank. From 1997 to 1999, she was the country director responsible for Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, and Mongolia. Since then, she has been director of operations for the Middle East Region.

"Analysts says Okonjo-Iweala will be well placed to work towards bringing Nigeria back under an IMF monitoring program which the country needs to win any relief on its crushing $30 billion foreign debt. Obasanjo terminated an IMF program last year, saying Nigeria would adopt a home-grown economic plan that better served its national interests," according to Reuters June 24.

An IMF deal means more austerity. The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), of which Muhammadu Buhari was the Presidential candidate, has rejected the oil price hike of 65%; and its national executive committee met June 24 to determine a course of action.

Broad Strike Against Fuel Price Hike in Nigeria

Nigeria's labor movement and large sections of the population, including students, professional bodies, and market women, are embarking on what promises to be a major strike against the fuel price hike beginning June 30. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) decided on the work stoppage June 24. Previous steep rises in the price of gasoline have triggered nationwide riots. The protest is backed by two powerful oil unions that have the capacity to shut down Nigeria's oil exports. Banks and airports are expected to be shut by the strike.

Addressing the press following the NLC National Executive Council meeting June 24, NLC president Adams Oshiomhole said labor rejected all the reasons adduced by the Federal government for the hike, insisting that the only reason for fuel scarcity was that Nigeria had relied solely on importation, and abandoned the repair of public refineries. He noted: "The NEC in session believe that 1999 to date is enough to fix the refineries and build new ones." He continued that the Nigerian public wants to know what has happened that this government seems to have resigned to the conclusion that the Nigerian refineries cannot work. "People want to know who got the contract to maintain these refineries" and exactly how much money the Obasanjo government has spent to repair them since 1999.

Students at Lagos State University have joined protests. By June 24 they had barricaded the Lagos-Badagry Expressway to protest the fuel price hike. The students stopped commuter buses. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) June 24 challenged the Federal government to account for the $700 million allegedly earmarked in the last four years for the revamping of the nation's refineries. The university lecturers said in a statement: "A major reason given by government for the increase in 2000, and in 2002 was that it would generate funds for the revamping of refineries. The same reason is being given in 2003. Where did the $700 million go?"

In New Attack on 'Terrorism,' U.S. Abducts Five in Malawi

U.S. authorities secretly flew five men accused by the Bush Administration of ties to Al-Qaeda out of Malawi, in violation of a court order barring their removal. The men, all foreigners to Malawi accused of funnelling money to Al-Qaeda, were arrested the night of June 22 by joint forces of U.S. personnel and Malawi's National Intelligence Bureau.

A judge had issued an emergency injunction the morning of June 23, barring their removal. With no knowledge that the men were already gone, the High Court ruled June 24 that the planned removal was illegal and that the men must be charged or released by June 26.

Fahad Assani, Malawi's director of public prosecutions, said June 24 that he had no idea what to charge the men with, since U.S. officials refused to share any information with him. Assani had been ordered by the court to bring the men for a hearing June 25. "Who can I produce in court?... [T]heir ghosts?... [I]t's the Americans who know where they are." At the June 25 hearings, High Court Judge Frank Kapanda ordered the men released on bail immediately. Muslims protested outside the courtroom. Assani said pressure from the U.S. had forced the government's hand. Malawi has no extradition treaty with the United States.

Authorities said the men included Mahmud Sardar Issa, a Sudanese who heads a charitable organization called the Islamic Zakat Fund Trust in Blantyre. Another was identified as Fahad Ral Bahli, of Saudi Arabia, the director of the Malawi branch of Registered Trustees of the Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Special Committee on Relief. Arif Ulusam, a Turkish man, and an Islamic scholar from Kenya were also among those arrested.

U.S. Forcing Kenya To Enact 'Police State' Legislation

The U.S. tightened the screws on Kenya—closing its Nairobi embassy—to get legislation allowing independent U.S. arrests in the country, legalizing what it has just done in Malawi. The U.S. and Britain demanded that Kenya take eight "anti-terror" measures—measures not made public officially—and put virtual travel bans in place for their own citizens, to pressure the Nairobi government. The U.S. then tightened the screws June 20 by closing its embassy.

But the same day, France followed Belgium and Germany in relaxing its warning to citizens regarding travel to Kenya. The virtual bans had been inspired by the Anglo-American initiative, and combined had shut down 90% of Kenya's tourist trade.

U.S. Ambassador Johnny Carson said, in a TV interview June 19, "We have had ... terrorist activities around the world. In every one of the cases, save Kenya, individuals have been arrested by their governments ... and punished. In Kenya, there has not been a single arrest and conviction.... We believe there are al-Qaeda terrorists in Kenya and some of them are Kenyans."

The UN Secretary General's Special Representative to the Great Lakes Region, Ibrahima Fall, who is not a Kenyan, in addressing a conference at the UN's Nairobi headquarters June 23,said the Nairobi venue for the conference was chosen because Kenya was safe.

But the government responded to the pressure June 21 by halting all flights to Somalia, closing Kenyan airspace to aircraft from Somalia, and carrying out a police swoop in Nairobi's Eastleigh, where thousands of Somali refugees live; more than 100 were arrested. And four Kenyans were charged with murder June 24 in the Mombasa hotel bombing of last November.

With the introduction of an "anti-terror" bill in Parliament, the Nairobi government now claims to have taken all eight of the demanded measures.

Professor Makau Mutua, a prominent Kenyan lawyer, told the Sunday Nation June 29, "If our Parliament passes this law, it will have taken away, with one blow, the basic rights of Kenyans and make irrelevant our quest for a new constitutional order. It ... seeks to create a republic of fear, paranoia and a police state." The Sunday Nation also reported that the chairman of the Law Society of Kenya, Ahmednassir Abdullahi, described the law as unjust, draconian, and in part unconstitutional. The bill, he said, empowered other countries to abuse the sovereignty of the country by allowing them to conduct "haphazard arrests any time and in any place." Both said the law was being imposed by the U.S. and U.K. BBC said the bill provides a 10-year jail term "for those suspected to be in possession of weapons of mass destruction." EIR has not obtained an exact account of the bill's contents.

As a result of the tabling of the anti-terror bill, the U.S. reopened its embassy June 25 and the U.K. lifted its travel advisory June 26, apparently believing that the bill will pass. State-run television reported that 18 MPs from the former ruling KANU party, now in opposition, would not support the bill.

The government's measures come "at a time of rising public protests at ... Washington's bullying tactics," The Nation reported June 23. MP Paul Muite said, "Kenya is not the target of terrorism and has only been an innocent victim. It is [U.S. and U.K.] interests that have made us targets."

Plans for Nile Flood Control, Power Generation

The Nile should serve as a springboard for economic development, ministers from Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt declared in Addis Ababa June 23-24 at a summit to draw up plans for seven projects. Tripartite cooperation was launched two years ago, under the aegis of the Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office (ENTRO) in Addis Ababa.

Among the schemes likely to get underway first are plans for reducing soil erosion and a flood early warning system. The three also agreed to generate electricity from the river. Other project areas are power interconnection, power trade investment, and irrigation and drainage.

All rights reserved © 2003 EIRNS