AFRICA NEWS DIGEST
Blair Kicks Zimbabwe Out of Commonwealth for a Year
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the British establishment are in a fit of rage over the recent election in Zimbabwe, in which President Robert Mugabe defeated British-backed opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai. Refusing to accept the sovereignty of Zimbabwe, and of its election process, Blair has gone on a rampage, succeeding in suspending Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth for one year--having armtwisted Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa to go along with the suspension, albeit without much enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the U.S. State Department, as is so often the case regarding Africa, has followed Britain's lead and joined the chorus of condemnation of Zimbabwe.
Both Obasanjo and Mbeki expressed their desire to continue working with the Mugabe government, which they recognize as legitimate, and to support Mugabe's controversial land reform policy. Great pressure was applied to force the two Presidents to accept the Commonwealth suspension, most especially the threat by Blair to cut off funds for Mbeki's and Obabsanjo's cherished "New Partnership for Africa's Development" (NEPAD). This ill-fated initiative, also backed by Presidents Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria and Abdoulaye of Senegal, is nothing but another attempt by the dying Western financial system to extend its "free-trade/globalization" reach into Africa.
Essentially, Blair told the leaders of South Africa and Nigeria, that NEPAD would be dead in the water at the upcoming meeting of the Group of Eight (U.S., Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, plus Russia), unless they went along with the Zimbabwe suspension. It is the adoption of the axioms of free trade by African leaders themselves, which is their weakness, and which allows them to be vulnerable to Blair's blackmail.
The one-year suspension of Zimbabwe, which is largely symbolic, was orchestrated for Prince Charles, and Blair, to enable them to save face after their tirades against the Commonwealth nations for not condemning in advance the Presidential election of Mugabe--despite the fact that the Organization of Africa Unity (OAU), SADC Ministerial Task Force, and numerous other nations, including Nigeria and South Africa, have accepted the election results.
SPLA Chairman John Garang in D.C., Blasts Sudan Government
John Garang, the chairman of the SPLA rebel movement in southern Sudan, arrived in Washington, D.C. recently and, at a March 15 luncheon, repeatedly labelled the government of Sudan in Khartoum, the "Taliban" of Africa.
Garang and his delegation will be in the U.S. for about three weeks, after spending time in London, where Garang met with Clare Short, Minister of Overseas Development, and Foreign Minister Jack Straw.
At the March 15 luncheon in Washington, Garang reported that he had met with Secretary of State Colin Powell that morning and was going to the White House that afternoon. His accompanying delegation of about dozen included Steve Wondu, the SPLA representative in the U.S., and Riek Machar, to whom Garang deferred at various points in his remarks. Congressman Donald Payne (D-N.J.), the leading advocate on Capitol Hill for the destruction of Sudan as a nation, appeared at the luncheon for ten minutes to show his support.
Garang's line was that Khartoum was frightened by the response of the Bush Administration to the Sept. 11 attacks, "afraid that they might be treated like the Taliban," and that since then they have been trying to find a way to accommodate the Bush Administration. Clearly Garang et al. are afraid that there is some type of rapprochement between the Khartoum government and the U.S., although Garang said he had "full support" from Powell.
Garang also claimed that the SPLA was working on a three-track approach to peace in Sudan: 1) a negotiated political settlement, which would lead to a "new" Sudan not controlled by the "Islamic" regime; 2) a confederated agreement for an interim period, during which the NDA (the almost-defunct National Democratic Alliance) would be built up as an alternative to the NIF (the National Islamic Front); and 3) "peace through development" for the south of the country, investing in infrastructure for the area controlled by the SPLA, which he claims has a population of 10 million.
Garang said that Sudan's improved relations with the U.S. were basically a sham, that the Khartoum government has not changed, and that they are part of al-Qaeda--and should be treated like the Taliban. He claimed that the Khartoum government still supports Osama bin Laden, who stayed with Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustapha Ismail when he was in Sudan years ago. Garang said that later that afternoon, he would tell the White House that the Khartoum government was a "regime of genocide, a threat to the Sudanese people, Africa, and the Middle East."
However, an aide to Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif) said, with disappointment, that President Bush will not allow introduction of any measures that would prevent oil companies working with Sudan, from raising capital in the U.S. markets.
Gen. Tommy Franks claims Al-Qaeda Presence in Somalia
According to UN Integrated Regional Information Networks of March 19, Gen. Tommy Franks, head of the U.S. Central Command, continued his tour of the Horn of Africa over the weekend of March 15-17, with visits to Ethiopia and Djibouti. Before arriving in Ethiopia, Franks visited Eritrea and Kenya for talks with top officials on "combatting terror."
In an interview with BBC in Ethiopia, he said: "We have known of links to al-Qaeda in and through Somalia for a considerable period of time." He added that he could not go into specifics, but the U.S. "will not take off the table the possibility of action against countries of concern."
"We are interested in states where there is a history of terrorist networks, training operations and that sort of thing...."
The General stressed that the U.S. has strong relations with Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya, and Ethiopia, and said they are "very much a part" of the international coalition against terrorism.
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