In this issue:

South African Government Plans Use of Anti-Retrovirals

Taylor's Troubles Began When He Cut Off Israeli Diamond Dealers

Futile U.S. Policy Fight Over Liberia

Threat to Taylor: 'Leave Liberia While You Can'

Pentagon Secretive About Its Team in Monrovia

SA Trade Unions Welcome Decision To Improve Infrastructure

Sudan Prepares for Worst Floods in a Century

From Volume 2, Issue Number 32 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published Aug. 12, 2003
Africa News Digest

South African Government Plans Use of Anti-Retrovirals

South Africa will have "a detailed operational plan" for treating HIV/AIDS sufferers with anti-retrovirals by October 1. The report of a joint taskforce of the Health and Treasury departments on HIV/AIDS treatment, was the subject of a special cabinet meeting in Pretoria Aug. 9, after which the announcement was made. The Health Department has been given until October 1 to develop the plan.

The government of President Thabo Mbeki has been slow to act, protecting its sovereign decision-making powers from undue pressures: There is the danger of emptying the Treasury to buy anti-retrovirals (ARVs) for the sick, while defenses against HIV infection in the form of nutrition and infrastructure development go a-begging. There is also the danger of distributing ARVs without education and medical supervision: If patients are not very consistent in taking medication, the HIV becomes quickly resistant to treatment. Several steps toward solving these problems have been taken.

Twenty percent of the country's population of ages 15-49 are infected; 11% of the entire population is infected.

Taylor's Troubles Began When He Cut Off Israeli Diamond Dealers

Liberian President Charles Taylor is not being forced out because of his brutality, terrorism, or tyranny, a well-informed source told EIR July 6. "My take is that while Taylor was cutting the Israelis in on his blood diamonds, he was fine," the source said. "But when he went independent, he was finished. Just like Savimbi in Angola."

Asked whether Taylor has had access to diamonds from Sierra Leone since the UN peacekeeping operation took hold there, the source said that "Taylor has been raking off profits from renegade operations in Sierra Leone and Guinea." (Liberia produces gold, but little in the way of diamonds.)

The alleged link between Taylor and al Qaeda was asserted once more in an Aug. 3 Washington Post article by Douglas Farah, the reporter who originally developed the story. Farah claims in his Aug. 3 article, "[Sierra Leone] Special Court prosecutor David Crane, who earlier served as senior inspector general in the Pentagon, and his chief investigator, Alan White, a former cop and Pentagon investigator, have found compelling evidence that al Qaeda was active in the profitable diamond trade Taylor controlled. In the months before 9/11, al Qaeda sought to protect its financial assets by buying millions of dollars of diamonds from Taylor.... The evidence amassed includes numerous eyewitness accounts, telephone records of calls to Afghanistan, bank records and other documents."

EIR's source responded, "I don't believe in any al Qaeda-Taylor link unless, of course, it involves the Israeli-connected diamond dealers."

EIR notes that, if an al Qaeda link did involve the Israeli dealers, that would explain why, according to the Post's Farah, "Crane and White have been unable to get the CIA or FBI to undertake a serious investigation of the al Qaeda ties. Amazingly, their evidence is largely ignored and dismissed." And, of course, the mass media's standard "charge sheet" against Taylor does not mention al Qaeda.

Futile U.S. Policy Fight Over Liberia

The U.S. policy fight over Liberia is between the neocon "manipulate the actors" policy now in effect, and the liberal imperialists' "send in the Marines" policy. Both will fail. Under the current policy, the Bush administration expects to steer events through its considerable influence over the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)—through such clients as the current ECOWAS chairman, Ghana's President John Kufuor, and the President of West Africa's heavyweight, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria. The Bush administration has a former U.S. Air Force Major General as Kofi Annan's special representative for Liberia, and a small team of Marines with special (unpublicized) qualifications in Monrovia. There is also the U.S. ambassador, in touch with all parties.

The New York Times continues to attack this neocon approach, most recently in an Aug. 8 op-ed entitled, "Send In the Marines," by CFR Fellow Kenneth L. Cain, a UN human rights officer in Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti and Liberia in the 1990s, who writes, "counting on regional forces to bring peace to Liberia without substantial American participation is a mistake, one that will likely come with tragic consequences."

Cain witnessed in 1995-6 the operations of the regional coalition's forces of the time, ECOMOG (ECOWAS Military Observer Group), and says it "supported and armed an ever-growing list of ethnically-based rival rebel factions. The theory was that these factions would thwart the biggest rebel, Charles Taylor, from taking power by force." It backfired, he says. Taylor took all of Liberia except Monrovia, where he was blocked by the coalition. So, the war became a bloody stalemate and the country descended into chaos. The coalition, instead of protecting civilians, protected commercial interests, putting troops near diamond mines and stands of tropical timber.

"In 1997, the West African coalition broke the impasse it itself had created, capitulated to Mr. Taylor, and choreographed a lopsided election on his behalf.... And the cost? More than 100,000 civilian casualties from 1990 to 1997—and the catastrophe before us today." Cain's account of what took place is confirmed in detail by other sources.

Therefore, he says, "the U.S. should immediately deploy at least two dozen mobile, squad-sized Special Forces units" of the kind he witnessed in Haiti. The professionalism of American forces "will raise the bar considerably for everyone.... Witness Sierra Leone. The initial ECOMOG and UN arrangement was on the verge of failure until a very small force of approximately 1,000 British soldiers arrived in 2000. Since then, the situation has stabilized. The triangular combination has been infinitely more effective."

What Cain and his fellow Limps fail to say, is that, unless an intervention force is willing to support a new government in forcing its own, nationally oriented policies upon foreign commercial interests—interests in gold, diamonds, iron, hardwood, rubber, prostitution, and narcotics—then new incarnations of the Raw Materials Liberation Army and the National Patrimony Bakesale Front will continue to appear, as in the Congo. (Indeed, much of what Cain lays at the door of ECOMOG, was doubtless urged on it by these commercial interests.) It seems that such an intervention is unthinkable without the change in the world economic regime that LaRouche is fighting for, as in his New Bretton Woods proposal.

Threat to Taylor: 'Leave Liberia While You Can'

Kofi Annan's special representative for Liberia, Jacques Paul Klein (a former U.S. Air Force Major General), has issued a clear threat to Taylor. In an interview with Francois Nsenguyumva of Voice of America (VOA), Klein urged Taylor "to leave the country while he can," in Nsenguyumva's paraphrase. VOA headlined the story, "UN Warns Charles Taylor to Leave Liberia Immediately."

Liberian President Charles Taylor says he will hand over power to his Vice President on Monday, Aug. 11. This will mean nothing, if he remains in the country and runs things from behind the scenes. He says he will not go into exile in Nigeria, unless the indictment for crimes against humanity against him is lifted—a virtual impossibility. Presidents Mbeki, Obasanjo (or his foreign minister), Kufuor (Ghana) and Eyedema (Togo) are flying into Monrovia to attend the handing-over ceremony, and to try to get him on a plane headed for Nigeria.

The LURD rebels, meanwhile, say they will not accept Taylor's hand-over to his Vice President, Moses Blah, or the Speaker of Parliament, neither of whom they trust, and want a neutral President. Negotiators say Blah may be replaced by someone unconnected to the Taylor government or any of the rebel organizations within days. LURD had agreed to pull out of the port once peacekeepers arrived, but then told Reuters Aug. 8 that Taylor's forces must first withdraw from the rest of Monrovia. Civilians cannot walk over the bridges to the LURD-held port. The 1,100 tons of food stores in the port have been looted.

The ceasefire that began in Monrovia Aug. 5 continues; fighting continues elsewhere. There are about 800 ECOWAS peacekeepers patrolling Monrovia, but these few have not attempted to patrol the front lines.

Reports say that hunger is worsening on the government-held side (30% of children under five on the government-held side of Monrovia are suffering from acute malnutrition—15% is considered an emergency by aid agency standards). The 42 tons of food flown into Robertsfield International Airport, held by ECOWAS, in recent days are a few drops in the bucket.

Diplomats at the UN say that South Africa, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, along with several West African countries, are willing to contribute troops to the full-fledged UN stabilization force that is targetted to take over October 1, after a comprehensive political settlement has been reached.

Pentagon Secretive About Its Team in Monrovia

The U.S. landed a team of seven in Monrovia July 6. At the Pentagon, a spokesman called the team a "liaison element" with ECOWAS that would, in the paraphrase of Associated Press (AP), help "in a planned several-week build-up of [ECOWAS'] peacekeeping force,... and coordinate civilian contractors who are providing other logistical and humanitarian services." The team reports to the commander aboard the three U.S. warships anchored off the Liberian coast.

A Pentagon official wishing to remain anonymous said, "Do not look at this as a vanguard of more people to come." The team may increase in size, but only to a maximum of 20.

AP's Pauline Jelinek adds, "Pentagon officials declined to provide information on the type of troops in the new liaison team, whether they are Marines or from another service, where they came from, or what their skills are." She writes, "There has been much U.S. activity [in the past few weeks], but much of it has been shrouded in secrecy."

One of the team could be heard on Reuters TV introducing himself to an ECOWAS officer as from the Marine Corps.

SA Trade Unions Welcome Decision To Improve Infrastructure

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has welcomed President Mbeki's July 30 announcement that the Cabinet will invest in the country's infrastructure. Mbeki announced that the Cabinet had decided that large investment was needed in railways and harbors. A document issued at the press briefing stated the government would provide new resources to improve Transnet's rail network. More money will also be put into easing congestion at the Durban, Cape Town, and Port Elizabeth ports. The country's road program will also receive more resources, accompanied by a phased reduction in axle mass limits on the roads, the document said.

Cosatu stated: "These proposals are a concrete outcome of the Growth and Development Summit and a vindication of Cosatu's long-held view that the state and the public sector have to play a dominant role in economic development if we are to achieve the GDS target of halving unemployment by 2014." Cosatu's statement also said that it looks forward to seeing the detailed proposals as soon as possible, so that work can begin without unnecessary delay.

Sudan Prepares for Worst Floods in a Century

Sudan is preparing for the worst floods in a century, according to a report by Pekka Reinikainen of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Aug. 5. There have been—and continue to be—unusually heavy rains in areas feeding the White Nile, the Blue Nile, and their tributaries.

In Khartoum, where White Nile and Blue Nile converge, the levels of the two are continuously increasing. On Aug. 5, their levels exceeded the same-day levels of 1988 (1988 and 1946 witnessed the worst floods of the past 100 years—in 1988, 2 million people lost their homes). Khartoum State is preparing for all possibilities.

Red Crescent branches in the states of Sinnar, Gezira, Elgedarif and White Nile have reported ferocious local floods. But the worst hit so far is the town of Kassala, near the Eritrean border. Two thirds of the population of 500,000 has become homeless since July 30, when the river Gash burst the dikes protecting the town. Kassala teaching hospital is flooded and evacuated. Electricity and telephone/mobile phone infrastructure is wiped out. Two kilometers of the road from Kassala to Khartoum is washed away. The airport, on higher ground, is the remaining lifeline for delivery of relief supplies. Much of the population is huddled on high ground without protection from the elements.

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