Africa News Digest
LaRouche: We Must Provide Development Capital for Africa
Democratic Presidential pre-candidate Lyndon LaRouchein the keynote of his campaign webcast in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 12said the world must provide development capital to lift Africa out of its nightmare. The text of his keynote is available in "Need To Know This Week."
British Mercs Seek Investors To Fund Taylor Kidnap
The British mercenary firm Northbridge is seeking investors to fund the kidnapping of Charles Taylor from his asylum in Nigeria. Pasquale Dipofi, director of Northbridge Services Group, told BBC's World Today program Dec. 11, "Any potential investors that are interested, ... we would be willing to split the profits.... I feel that we can execute this operation gracefully.... I don't believe that there would be any casualties involved."
EIR notes that any attempted snatch could actually be, or become, an assassination.
The payoff is the $2 million bounty for kidnapping former Liberian President, warlord, and butcher Taylor, enacted by the U.S. Congress some weeks ago, a measure initiated by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), and voted up without debate. The measure is a slap in the face for the Presidents of Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa, who arranged the asylum as a way to stop the bloodshed in Liberia. The U.S. State Department, also opposed, has said it will not pay the bounty, but may not have the last word. Nigerian Presidential spokesman Femi Fane Kayode told the BBC on Nov. 8, "This is a little bit close to what many of us would describe as state-sponsored terrorism," and Nigeria would resist any such attempt.
Taylor's asylum is likely to be short-lived. Interpol ordered his arrest last week, and the Nigerian House of Representatives' Committee on Foreign Affairs has asked the Presidency to hand Taylor over to Interpol. The Committee is also planning public hearings on Taylor's asylum, because they oppose it. The hearings could effectively legitimate a kidnapping.
A U.S.-sponsored kidnapping of Taylor would confirm the widely held view that the United States is now the world's leading source of state terrorism.
African Leaders Kow-Tow to Blair at Commonwealth Meeting
At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Nigeria, African opposition to the demand of Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, that Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth be extended, collapsed Dec. 7. Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and his government immediately made good on their declaration that they would quit the Commonwealth altogether, if the suspension were not lifted.
African sources have told EIR that the outcome was actually fixed before the meeting began, when Tony Blair met Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the meeting's host, and told him that neither he (Blair) nor the Queen, would attend if Zimbabwe's suspension were not extended.
Governments that did not yield to the Brits included South Africa, Malaysia, Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia, and Tanzania.
The "white commonwealth," as Mugabe refers to the nations which "hijacked" the organization, have issued "benchmarks" they are demanding from Zimbabwe, including a new constitution, and opposition participation in the governmenti.e., regime change. Mugabe said there were other "clubs" Zimbabwe could join, and announced the nation's withdrawal from the Commonwealth. The horse-faced Queen of the British Empire made her appearance in Nigeria after all, with Prime Minister Blair. Both received the greatest respect by the assembled leaders, sans Zimbabwe.
British 'Commonwealth' Does Not Mean 'Commonweal'
The report of the Commonwealth Expert Group on Development and Democracy, submitted to CHOGM in Abuja, Nigeria, described the situation in the Commonwealth as "extremely disturbing," when, in fact, it is catastrophic.
The findings show that a third of the Commonwealth's 2 billion people live on less than $1 a day and nearly two-thirds on less than $2 a day. It also showed that 60% of global HIV cases are in the Commonwealth, and four of the nine most affected countries are in the Commonwealth. Clearly "Commonwealth" has nothing to do with the "common good."
Angry Leaders Challenge Commonwealth Secretary General
Former New Zealand Foreign Minister Don McKinnon was re-elected Commonwealth Secretary General for another four years at CHOGM Dec. 5, but not before some heads of governmentangry over the treatment of Zimbabwe and of themselvesbit him in the butt. They put up a former Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, as a competing candidate, forcing a vote. Kadirgamar won 11 votes against McKinnon's 40.
The British-run Democratic Alliance (DA) party in South Africa was beside itself: "To force a vote about the appointment of the Commonwealth Secretary General ... is unprecedented.... Sadly, it was President Mbeki who has again embarrassed South Africa by voting against Mr. McKinnon," said DA spokesman Graham McIntosh.
McKinnon had announced on March 16, at a Commonwealth diplomats' meeting in London, that the troika of Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Nigerian President Obasanjo, and Mbeki "have now concluded" that continued suspension of Zimbabwe is best. He had not consulted Mbeki and Obasanjo.
London Guardian Worries that Blair Went Too Far
"Mugabe Mania Can Be FatalThe Obsession With Zimbabwe Is Killing the Commonwealth," headlines the London Guardian Dec. 9. Author Cameron Duodo says the "white Commonwealth" forced the Commonwealth Heads of State Meeting (CHOGM) to focus on Zimbabwe, while "just a few kilometers away ... desperately poor peasants depend on agriculture to stay alive.... Large companies from the 'white Commonwealth'... continue to make huge profits" from them.
The Guardian's touching concern for the survival of the Commonwealth is a response to the anger of key African leaders. Even Nigerian President Obasanjo, host of the meeting, felt obliged to attack Australian Prime Minister Howard in his closing remarks. (Howard's plane had departed for home an hour before.) Obasanjo said Howard had made a mockery of the Obasanjo-Mbeki-Howard troikacreated at CHOGM 2002 to report on Zimbabwe to CHOGM 2003by acting alone in its name (he used milder language), Australian AAP wire service reported Dec. 9.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa told Reuters Dec. 8, "The Western countries bulldozed the suspension of Zimbabwe." Mozambique's President Joaquim Chissano said, "The organization did not reach this decision by consensus.... [W]e cannot accept these undemocratic procedures," according to AAP.
The Indian Express commented Dec. 8, "Zimbabwe's decision to quit the Commonwealth... appears to have put hardline African states like South Africa, Namibia, and Mozambique on a collision course with hawkish White nations like UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.... [T]he emotional bond that binds the Commonwealth has predictably snapped.... If the impression persists and grows that it is a white-dominated talking shop, the credibility of this institution will get further eroded."
Alas, poor world! No Commonwealth?
Zim Gov't Paper, Ruling Party: Cut Ties With UK, Australia
Zimbabwe's government-run Herald called Dec. 9 for cutting diplomatic ties with Britain and Australia. The next day, a meeting of the ruling ZANU-PF party resolved that ties with Canada, New Zealand, and the United States should also be severed, according to sketchy reports. No action has so far been taken.
The front-page Herald editorial says in part, "The time has now come for Zimbabwe to fully engage Britain head-on by cutting all diplomatic ties with the former colonial master and its sidekick, Australia.... The issue is not the Commonwealth or any other third parties, but Britain and its Prime Minister, Tony Blair."
The editorial continues, "The country's political landscape has been put into disarray following the creation [in 2000] of the British-sponsored Movement for Democratic Change and a host of non-governmental organizations that have sought to cause mayhem and instability in the country by staging foolish demonstrations and media campaigns designed to precipitate instability and undermine the Zimbabwean government."
International posturing about human rights, press freedom, and judicial independence, it says, are "a smokescreen to maintain the colonial grip on Zimbabwe."
As EIR has documented, the charges are all true.
"Zimbabweans," it continues, "should take courage in the fact that they are torchbearers to other African and Third World countries suffering under the yoke of imperialism. Their success will be celebrated throughout the Third World, as it will bring hope to the downtrodden that they also can liberate themselves."
Mugabe: China Offers Paradigm that Zimbabwe Should Support
In his Dec. 2 State-of-the-Nation address to Parliament, President Mugabe said that China was indicating "a new alternative direction, which in fact could be the foundation of a new global paradigm.... Zimbabwe must work for this new paradigm.... We abhor the global high-handedness of the strong and powerful."
Brit-Run Opposition Party in Zimbabwe Losing Key Support
The Zimbabwe Standardan opposition newspaperis concerned that the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the British-run opposition, is losing its grip on the urban areas, the one sector in which it had strong support. The Standard of Dec. 7 quotes unnamed political analysts, who say that of the 12 by-elections since 2000, the MDC has won only three, with the ruling ZANU-PF winning the rest. The analysts note that while the economy is in decline, support for Mugabe is not. The Standard adds, "Again last weekend, against all predictions, ZANU-PF's Ishmael Mutema polled 9,282 votes against his rival ... of the MDC, who garnered 6,038 votes in the Kadoma Central by-election." Kadoma, a city west of Harare, has been a hotbed of opposition. The newspaper discounts intimidation as insufficient to explain the result.
It continues, "University of Zimbabwe political analyst, Heneri Dzinotyiwei believes people are slowly losing confidence in the opposition because it has 'no focus at all.... People need to feel its [MDC's] presence.'... He also attributed ZANU-PF's victory in smaller towns to the issue of land, saying the majority of inhabitants... may have been given land."
Soros: South African Ruling Party Has Too Much Support
Under the headline, "ANC Majority a Threat to Open Society, Says Soros," the Cape Argus of Cape Town, South Africa, reports, "The fact that South Africa has a dominant political party that could gain a two-thirds majority in next year's general election could 'deteriorate' what has become an open society. So says ... George Soros, who was speaking at the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Open Society Foundation for South Africa," held in Cape Town Dec. 4. The Argus reports that Soros has put $185 million into his South Africa projects over the past decade.
Oligarchs like Soros have an uncanny preference for slim majorities, preferably made up of unstable coalitions.
Accelerating Africa-China Trade
The accelerating trade between African countries and China has grown 68% in less than three years. Their trade amounted to $10.6 billion in 2000. By 2002, it had increased to $12.39 billion (17% in 2 years). But the figure increased to $13.39 billion in the first 9 months of 2003, Xinhuanet] reported Dec. 9. Annualized, that is $17.85 billion (68% in three years). Since the growth in trade is accelerating, the final figure for 2003 should be higher.
The first China-Africa Business Conference will be held in Addis Ababa Dec. 14-16. Participants will also attend there the opening ceremony of the Second Ministerial Meeting of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum Dec. 15-16, to be addressed by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.
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