AFRICA NEWS DIGEST
Netanyahu: Kenya Attacks a 'Golden Opportunity' for Expanding Imperial Wars
In less than a week's time after the dual terror attacks in Mombasa, Kenya on Nov. 28, which killed 10 Kenyan citizens and three Israeli tourists, the blame was placedby media reports quoting officials in the U.S., the United Kingdom, and Israelon Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, on Iraqi terrorists, on a previously unknown "Army of Palestine," and on the Lebanon-based Islamist group Hezbollah. But the common thread of all these reports is that the warhawks in the U.S., Britain, and Israel were using the attacks as an opportunity to push the "preemptive war" doctrine of Vice President Cheney's group in the U.S. Administration, and the Israeli hawks around Israeli Prime Minister Sharon (see article in INDEPTH).
After a series of news reports, President George Bush said, on Dec. 4, "I believe that al-Qaeda was involved in the African bombings, in Kenya." However, a few hours later, a near-denial came from White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, who emphasized, "I think if the President thought it was definite, he would have said, 'It is definite.' " Nonetheless, American neo-conservatives linked to the Israeli right wingincluding some in official positionswere insisting that the "al-Qaeda attack" in Kenya against Israel "proves" Palestinians are part of the Sept. 11 conspiracy.
A leading Israeli newspaper, Ha'aretz, had reported on Nov. 29 that an unknown group, the Army of Palestine, also took responsibility for the attack via Al Manara, the TV station of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
But Ha'aretz on Dec. 4 also reported, "Western intelligence sources say that a Kenyan Muslim who appears on the FBI's list of the 22 most wanted terrorists in the world was behind the attack.... Faisal Abdullah Mohammed is believed to be hiding in Somalia, the sources say."
The day before, the perpetrators were Iraqis, again, according to a Ha'aretz article by the same author, Yossi Melman, quoting the Daily Nation, a Kenyan newspaper.
At the same time, accusations were flying that the Kenyan government had suffered an "intelligence failure," in not warning about an impending attack, but the government there claims that warnings were passed along to foreign governments, including the United States. In Israel, the Mossad has come under criticism for not disclosing it had received prior warnings of possible terror attacks in Mombasa, Kenya. General Yossi Kuperwasser, head of the Israeli military intelligence service, told a parliamentary committee that the Mossad had "received advance information on planned al-Qaeda attacks in Africa and, notably, Mombasa in Kenya," reported Agence France Presse on Dec. 5.
It is well-established that Israeli utopian warmonger Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is anxious to use the Kenya attack as leverage to enable his cronies in Washington (Richard Perle, Assistant Secretary of Defense Doug Feith, and others in the Wolfowitz cabal), to get an okay for Yassir Arafat and all Palestinian leaders to be put on the "preventive assassination" list. Netanyahu called the Kenya attack "a golden opportunity," reported the New York-based Jewish newspaper Forward.
On the U.S. side, Kenya is already the site of a major U.S. military buildup in East Africa, related to positioning for the war against Iraq. In addition to the reports of 2,000 U.S. military forces in Djibouti, U.S. Marines and Kenyan troops were engaged in joint exercises, Operation Edged Mallet, off the Kenyan coast at the time of the Mombasa attacks.
Bush Pushes U.S./Kenya/Ethiopia 'Cooperation' To Stop Terrorism
On Dec. 5 in Washington, President Bush met with President Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia to discuss cooperation with the U.S. against terrorism. In remarks after the meeting, he called the two leaders "people we can count on," and promised, "If we get wind that somebody is thinking about doing something to Ethiopia, we're prepared to work with the Ethiopian government to disrupt any plans."
Bush is sending Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to East Africa this week, and Bush may visit Kenya when he goes to Africa next month.
Before going to Washington, Moi stopped in London, to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Questions have been raised about the unusual format of having President Bush simultaneously meet two foreign Presidents. However, such a meeting fits the pattern of U.S. plans for a wider, possibly permanent, East African military presence that may also involve Eritrea, whose President was also invited to the Dec. 5 meeting. President Moi's Washington trip was scheduled before the Nov. 28 terrorist attacks in Kenya.
It should be noted that elections are scheduled in Kenya for late December, the first expected change of government after President Moi's tenure in office for over two decades.
Kenya Refuses To Let Israel Take Over Investigation
Kenya refuses to turn over physical evidence to Israel in the Nov. 28 attacks on the Israeli-owned hotel and jetliner in Mombasa, a largely Muslim city. The Israeli authorities want parts of the vehicle used to bomb the hotel and the launchers and missile casings from the failed attack on the jetliner. "None of this evidence is going back to Israel. This evidence is our responsibility," said Charles Jamu, a Kenyan bomb specialist, on Dec. 1, according to Associated Press correspondent Matthew Rosenberg.
"American and Israeli leaders both questioned Kenya's ability to conduct a thorough probe," Rosenberg writes, with Raanan Gissin, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, saying the Kenyans weren't prepared for the investigation. Gissin said Israel had the right to take preemptive action against terrorist threats. "For example, if we had a warning from Mombasa, we could take action ... to prevent them from taking those actions. This is something that is required, since we're not alone in this war."
On Dec. 1, BBC reported that Kenyan authorities were saying that no links to al-Qaeda had been established from investigations of the first 12 people detained in the Mombasa attacks. But BBC was reporting that unnamed U.S. officials were already saying that they think the Somali-based Al-Ittihad al-Islamiya (AIAI) may have been responsible. AIAI "is a prominent militant organization in the Horn of Africa with links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network," says BBC.
War in Ivory Coast Becomes Spreading Chaos
Two new rebel groups appeared in Ivory Coast about Nov. 28, after the ceasefire between the government and the Cote d'Ivoire Patriotic Movement (MPCI) broke down over the preceding days. Each of the new groupsthe Movement for Justice and Peace (MJP) and Ivorian Popular Movement of the Great West (MPIGO)took credit for taking the city of Danane Nov. 28, just 20 kilometers from the Liberian border. MJP then captured Man, the chief city in the West. MPIGO attacked Toulepleu, south of Man, Nov 30.
There is a sharp contrast between the first rebel movement, the MPCI, and the new ones. The MPCI's demand is that President Laurent Gbagbo step down, and that new electionsin which northerners are allowed to votetake place within six months. The MPCI's policy has been to build support among the northern population by forbidding looting and rape. Apparently, the policy is being widely enforced: They are said to pay for everything they require. (However, the corollary"It is clear that the [MPCI] rebels are getting funds from somewhere"was noted by BBC's correspondent Paul Welsh Nov. 30.)
As for MJP and MPIGO, they say they are fighting to avenge the murder of Gen. Robert Guei, whose tribal homeland is the area they now occupyby overthrowing President Gbagbo. Welsh says MPIGO "appears to be led by one of the late General's sons." There is not the same discipline in this case: "There are reports from Danane and Man of drug-taking and looting among the rebels there. They are said to be scruffy and undisciplined."
Also indicative was a reaction from this quarter after French troops engaged them in combat Nov. 30, to get access to the Man airport: Gato Guillaume Prospere, who said he was a rebel commander, called BBC to say, "If France continues to attack our positions, they will raise the specter of Rwanda here. They have no right to attack us and we will react," BBC reported Dec. 1.
Some of these men came over the Liberian border; some have accents suggesting a Sierra Leone origin. Liberian Information Minister Reginald Goodridge said it was possible that Liberian mercenaries were involved, but the Liberian government does not sanction them, according to The News of Monrovia Dec. 2.
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin announced the departure of Alassane Ouattara, the opposition leader representing the North, with President Gbagbo's permission, according to BBC Nov. 27. Ouattara is a former deputy director of the IMF with extensive ties in the "international community." He had been sheltered in the French Ambassador's residence in Abidjan and was helicoptered out with French military protection.
De Villepin was in Abidjan for talks with Gbagbo to revive negotiations between the government and the MPCI.
WTO Stalls on Allowing Third World Right To Produce AIDS Medicines
As of Nov. 29, the World Trade Organization talks on suspending patents of drugs desperately needed in developing countries, reported by EIW last week, have broken down, according to BBC. The talks in Geneva would allow developing countries to make or import cheap versions of certain drugs otherwise protected by patent under the WTO.
The idea was agreed in principle at WTO talks a year ago. Drugs for HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases are included. Delegates from African countries say "the terms now being discussed are more narrow," according to BBC. But Eduardo Perez Motta, chairman of the talks, said all parties were committed to reaching an agreement by the end of December.
The intransigence of the WTO and the pharmaceutical giants only worsens a policy of genocide against Africa and the developing sector, carried out under the rubric of free trade, raw materials looting, and IMF conditionalitiesas EIR has repeatedly documented. In contrast, EIR founder and U.S. Democratic Party Presidential pre-candidate Lyndon LaRouche, appearing in Mexico in early November, declared the IMF to be bankrupt, and called for the immediate global solution of a New Bretton Woods financial system.
South Africa Plans Universal Treatment for HIV-Infected
South Africa is positioning itself to extend anti-retroviral triple therapy to all infected with HIV, reports the Sunday Independent on Dec. 1. Government, unions, religious leaders, community organizations and AIDS activistsworking through the National Economic, Development and Labour Council (Nedlac)have reached an agreement on a unified, national approach to HIV/AIDS, reports the newspaper.
Business sector negotiators have not yet given their final approval to the wording, but little change is expected. The agreementcovering prevention, treatment, and targets for reduced incidencewill be binding on the government.
"One of the biggest breakthroughs," writes the Sunday Independent, "is an understanding that could see anti-retroviral triple therapy being made available in the public sector some time next year. No deadlines have been set.... However, there is an agreement that the parties ... will return to negotiations after February next year, once a report by the departments of health and finance about the affordability of anti-retrovirals has been completed. Then new discussions will be held about the logistical aspects of providing triple therapy to the estimated 4.7 million South Africans living with HIV."
Recall that South African President Mbeki shocked and angered the Anglo-American powers in spring 2000, by refusing to exhaust the country's budget by spending everything on AIDS medications at astronomical prices. He pointed out that poverty, malnutrition, and lack of public health and sanitation infrastructure also had to be dealt with, to successfully address the scourge. He was backed in this by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu). When the pharmaceutical octopus announced that it would reduce the prices of AIDS drugs (somewhat), Mbeki responded that the offer was not nearly good enough to make the drugs affordable in Africa.
Now that World Trade Organization negotiations may be about to permit developing-sector production and distribution of generics of AIDS medications and some others, South Africa is preparing to make sweeping use of them.
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