In this issue:

Nigeria To Pursue Legal Action vs. Halliburton, Cheney

French Judge Confirms: Kagame Guilty in Rwandan Genocide

'Interior' Tutsis Were Expendable to Kagame

Judge Charges UN Hid Cockpit Evidence for 10 Years

Was Cheney Behind Coup Attempt in Oil-Rich Equatorial Guinea?

Coup Plotter: 'Some Americans' Were His Bosses

Plane Detained in Zimbabwe Linked to Coup Plot

Executive Outcomes Alive and Well, Says Analyst

From Volume 3, Issue Number 11 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published Mar. 16, 2004
Africa News Digest

Nigeria To Pursue Legal Action vs. Halliburton, Cheney

The Nigerian government is "absolutely committed" to pursuing legal action against Halliburton Corp., from the time Dick Cheney was its CEO, and it is by no means to be excluded, that Cheney will be subpoenaed by French lawyers, to testify on the matter, said a Paris-based European influential, who has top-level contacts in Nigeria, and who just returned from a week in the country. "When I got down there, I asked top officials what was going on with the action against Halliburton, in the $180 million deal with Halliburton four and a half years ago, when Cheney was CEO, and they told me, they are absolutely committed to seeing the case through," he said. "The case has been transferred from Geneva to Paris, and they have French lawyers on the case, because Paris was the place where the crime was committed. For the Nigerians, this case is part of the wider efforts, to get hold of the corrupt money from the previous Abacha regime. The Halliburton case involves allegations of massive bribery of Nigerian officials."

French Judge Confirms: Kagame Guilty in Rwandan Genocide

A French judge confirmed Lyndon LaRouche's judgment of years ago, by laying the blame on Rwandan President Paul Kagame for the 1994 shoot-down of a plane carrying President Habyarimana, which sparked the Rwandan bloodbath. Beginning in 1996, LaRouche sponsored a worldwide campaign to expose the Anglo-American interests behind the genocide in the Great Lakes region, with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Paul Kagame as their tools.

Judge Jean-Louis Bruguière, the top anti-terrorist judge of France, will soon issue, in the name of the entire unit in charge of the fight against terrorism, a devastating report on who shot down the Falcon 50 transporting Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira to Kigali, Rwanda, after a regional summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The downing of that plane was the element that ignited the Hutu genocide against the Tutsi population. The report—finished Jan. 30 and not to be disclosed officially until after the ceremonies of the 10th anniversary of the genocide on April 6—was leaked to Le Monde, which put it on its front page March 10, and gave it two full pages. The investigation, initiated by demand of the families of the four French air personnel killed in the downing, began six years ago.

Bruguière lays the blame in no uncertain terms on Kagame as being the main decision-maker behind the downing of the plane. During his investigation, Bruguière heard the testimony of hundreds, launched many foreign investigations, and benefitted from the support of several dissidents of Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR) now living under protection, among whom was a member of the "Network Commando," operating directly under Paul Kagame and in charge of shooting the plane.

When Bruguière's report is turned over to the Paris prosecutor's office, it will have to decide "on issuing international arrest warrants for 'murder in connection with a terrorist operation,' against some 1o of the highest officials of the present Rwandan government, with the exception of President Kagame, who benefits from the immunity accorded all sitting heads of state."

'Interior' Tutsis Were Expendable to Kagame

In testimony before Judge Bruguière, a member of the Network Commando, who was in charge of downing Habyarimana's plane (see above), explained the "inherently monstrous" perspective of the Tutsi opposition movement born outside Rwanda and, revealed that in order to take power, the external Tutsis were ready to sacrifice the "Tutsis on the inside"—i.e., those who remained in Rwanda after many went into exile in 1959, when the Hutus took power. "Paul Kagame had little consideration for the interior Tutsis, whom he likened to the Hutus," stated Captain Abdul Ruzibiza. The "interior Tutsis were potential enemies who had to be eliminated along with the Hutus, in order to be able to take power, which was Paul Kagame's main aim."

Judge Charges UN Hid Cockpit Evidence for 10 Years

A long part of Judge Bruguière's report concentrates on UN sabotage, allegedly under U.S. pressure, of the investigation (see above). Le Monde reporter Stephen Smith recounts March 10 the systematic refusal of the UN to investigate who downed the plane, even though, immediately after the event, the UN Security Council invited the Secretary General to investigate. Ten years later, the UN has still not opened an investigation.

Smith goes through the story of the airplane's black box. Bruguière was able to confirm that the UN had access to the crash site immediately after the plane crash, as was stated by the then Rwandan President on May 7, 1994. The two successive chief prosecutors of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (based in Arusha, Tanzania), Louise Arbor and Carla del Ponte, refused, however, to carry out the second mandate they had been given: "the prosecution of the crimes of war committed by the FPR during their conquest of power in 1994." After her meeting with Paul Kagame in June 2002, Carla del Ponte "suspended all special investigations into the FPR war crimes." Three months later, on Oct. 8, she refused to accept a dossier on the plane attack assembled for her by Rwandan officers wanting to give her proof of the FPR's responsibility.

The story of the Australian investigator for the Arusha tribunal, Michael Hourigan, had been already partially revealed by a Canadian journalist, Steven Edwards, in the Canadian National Post of March 1 and March 31, 2000. In February 1997, Hourigan told his superiors that he had established contact with three members of the FPR army, who had confirmed their participation in a mysterious "network" which prepared or executed the attack on the plane. Ready to quit the Kagame regime, they demanded special security to protect their lives. Hourigan informed Louise Arbour twice of his results and even organized a secure phone briefing to the UN in New York from the U.S. Embassy in Kigali. Days later, a New York UN emissary told Hourigan to meet Louise Arbour at the Hague with all of his evidence. She was apparently furious with him, raving that the Tribunal had no mandate to investigate who downed the plane and questioning the morality of the Senegalese informant who established contact with the three Network members who were by then ready to lead them to the person who actually shot the missiles.

Disgusted with the UN, these investigators decided to talk to Judge Bruguière. They transmitted to France the internal UN report that the president of the Tribunal, Navanethem Pilay, had refused to communicate to French judicial officers, in which the 10 names of the Network members appeared, confirming all the declarations of the dissidents. In his testimony to Bruguière, Hourigan considers that it was under "U.S. pressure" that the UN decided to ignore that information. On June 19, 2001, Dassault Falcon Services declared that indeed the plane did have a cockpit voice recorder (CVR), contradicting its earlier statements to the contrary. Bruguière then located the person who controlled UN air operations in Kigali from April to December 1994, Roger Lambo, a Canadian. He finally declared, on March 1, 2002, that the CVR had indeed been turned over to the UN offices in Kigali "some two or three months after the loss of the Falcon 50." Under instructions from Andy Sequin, head of the air security unit at the UN, he took it in the diplomatic pouch to Nairobi, whence it was sent to the UN in New York, where it has been sitting since that time.

Was Cheney Behind Coup Attempt in Oil-Rich Equatorial Guinea?

The government of Equatorial Guinea, led by dictator Teodoro Obiang Nguema, after warning of a possible coup attempt for several weeks, deployed the army heavily in Malabo, the capital, on March 6, and barricaded the embassies of Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, and Ghana, and the consulate of Benin. Fifteen plotters were arrested March 7, including at least seven South Africans.

President Obiang has accused multinational companies of backing a coup plot by Severo Moto Nsa, who recently formed a government in exile in Madrid. Moto has planned coups that failed twice in the past.

Obiang recently said, "There are plenty of detractors, plenty of internal and external enemies, above all at this moment in which certain countries that never took an interest in Equatorial Guinea, are now becoming very active." Offshore oil was discovered in the mid-1990s, and Equatorial Guinea is now Africa's third-largest oil producer, with Exxon Mobil and ChevronTexaco being leaders among those having contracts.

The chief suspect as ultimate sponsor for such a coup attempt is the Washington- and Jerusalem-based Institute of Advanced and Strategic Political Studies (IASPS), led by Cheneyites, and its Africa Oil Policy Initiative Group (AOPIG). The job of AOPIG is to clear the path politically for the Cheneyacs to increase the control of U.S. companies over African oil. Exxon Mobil and ChevronTexaco are involved. The Cheneyacs are determined to have transparency of oil funds and the appearances of "democracy" in the target countries. There is neither in Equatorial Guinea, and Obiang has not been responsive to recent pressures in that direction—hence the coup attempt. Obiang recently asked rhetorically, in referring to "our eternal enemies" in a national TV address, "What kind of democracy do they want for Equatorial Guinea?"

Coup Plotter: 'Some Americans' Were His Bosses

A South African coup plotter has implicated "some Americans" as his immediate superiors, in the Equatorial Guinea coup plot. Nick du Toit, identified as the leader of the coup plotters arrested in Malabo, was questioned on national television March 10. He said the plan was to kidnap President Obiang and force him into exile in Spain, and immediately install the (self-appointed) government-in-exile of Severo Moto Nsa, currently in Spain. He said he was recruited by some Americans and a Lebanese to recruit 60 mercenaries and get them to Equatorial Guinea.

Plane Detained in Zimbabwe Linked to Coup Plot

Zimbabwe authorities detained a plane from South Africa March 7 and identified former Executive Outcomes (EO) mercenaries, including Simon Witherspoon and Nicholas du Toit, among the passengers, all of whom were "heavily built males." At the airport to meet them were Simon Mann, also formerly of EO, and Colonel (ret.) Tshinga Dube, CEO of Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI), according to the South African Broadcasting Corp. The purpose was to load $180,000 worth of arms purchased from ZDI. Africa Confidential (Vol. 45, No. 5) says that Dube was at that point playing out a sting since South African intelligence had already tipped off their counterparts in Zimbabwe.

South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said March 10 her department was in no rush to assist the South Africans arrested in Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea. "They are not exactly innocent travellers finding themselves in a difficult situation," she said, and confirmed that "indeed there was a link between the plane and Equatorial Guinea." She said one of those arrested in Equatorial Guinea "has addressed the diplomatic corps and explained what funny things they were doing up there."

Equatorial Guinea's President Obiang said March 9 that South African President Thabo Mbeki had tipped him off about the impending arrival of the mercenaries: "We spoke with the South African President, who warned us that a group of mercenaries was heading towards Equatorial Guinea.... Angola also sent messages to tell us to be vigilant." Mbeki is opposed to any coup in Africa.

Executive Outcomes Alive and Well, Says Analyst

A former security analyst specializing in mercenary activity told the Johannesburg Star March 10 that Simon Witherspoon, former British Special Air Service (SAS) member Simon Mann, and Nicholas du Toit, "formed the basis of the mercenary company Executive Outcomes," in the paraphrase of The Star. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the analyst said, "Executive Outcomes closed shop in 1999, but if Witherspoon and Mann are involved in this operation, then I believe EO's core group is once again operating...."

EIR notes that the IASPS/AOPIG coup operation in Sao Tome in July 2003 used mercenaries of the old Buffalo Battalion, organized in the 1970s by the South African apartheid government to fight in Namibia and Angola.

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