Africa News Digest
Sudan Welcomes Powell and Annan to Darfur
Sudan's Foreign Minister Mostafa Osman Ismail told reporters June 29 that Sudan welcomes the visits of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and is prepared to work with the international community to find a solution to the conflict in Darfur province. He said he hoped that, during Powell's visit, they could agree on how to disarm the Jinjaweed militias. He added that he hoped these visits would be helpful to the people of Darfur, and not simply be used to put pressure on the government, AFP reported from Khartoum June 29.
On arrival, Powell went straight into a meeting with President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. In a speech in Khartoum shortly before Powell arrived, Bashir said his government would redouble its efforts to secure access to the needy for relief agencies. Bashir has appointed Interior Minister Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein as his special representative in Darfur. His work began June 24, with a visit to the region. Hussein told reporters that his mission was to ensure the safety of the citizens from all forms of violence, the delivery of humanitarian assistance, and the security of the villages to allow the displaced to return before the rainy season begins.
During his plane trip from Turkey to Sudan, Powell told reporters that "We need to see action promptly.... People are dying and the death rate is going to go up significantly.... We see indicators and elements that would start to move you toward a genocidal conclusion, but we're not there yet." In saying so, he was responding to a combination of U.S. lobbies that is up to its usual business of Saddam-izing Bashir's government. The Executive Director of Africa Action in Washington, Salih Booker, in a press release June 29, called Powell's trip "dangerously naive," "rejected attempts at 'constructive engagement,'" and said Powell should call it "genocide." Booker is calling for U.S. troops to be sent in from Djibouti.
Powell, at a press conference with Foreign Minister Ismail, said, "Unless we see more movement soon ... it may be necessary for the international community to begin considering other actions, to include Security Council action."
Kofi Annan arrives in Khartoum June 30 for a three-day visit.
African Infrastructure Takes Small, But Important Steps Forward
The following infrastructure developments are reported from DR Congo, Egypt, and Sudan, as posted on Albawaba.com June 20:
* Democratic Republic of Congo. Rail traffic along a 1,500 km stretch in eastern Congo from Lubumbashi (Katanga province) to Kindu (Maniema), and possibly beyond, resumed June 26 after a six-year interruption because of war damage to the line (1998-2003). A spokesman in the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa said the reopening would have a major impact on the region in terms of food security, since it connects food producing regions with urban centers. Repairs were mainly financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development ($1.3 million). AFP does not say whether the line would also serve to bring copper, cobalt, cotton, or other riches to market.
Egypt-Sudan. Egypt and Sudan have agreed to set up an joint company to develop the Nile River navigation course, said Egyptian Minister of Water Resources, Dr. Mahmoud Abu Zeid, according to MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Report June 20.
Work on a road linking Port Sudan on the Red Sea with Aswan on the Nile in Egypt will be completed in 22 months, Sudanese Roads Minister Mohamed Tahir Ailla said June 18, according to the same edition of MENA Report. The two governments are sharing the $18 million cost for the 144-km line.
Goma Fears Attack by Rwanda's General Nkunda
Rumors are flying in Goma of an imminent attack by Gen. Laurent Nkunda on behalf of Rwanda. Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, Congo, with a population of 300-400,000, is also on the border with Rwanda. Heritiers de la Justice, a Congolese NGO active in the area, reports that the population is in a state of "psychosis," according to Le Phare June 29. "In spite of repeated appeals to remain calm by the commandant of the 8th Military District, Gen. Obed Rwibasira, over Radio Okapi, dozens of residents have fled to Bukavu or the island of Ihusi in Lake Kivu. The provincial council for security had to remain in urgent session over the past weekend," according to Le Phare.
The Kinshasa opposition daily continues with a number of reports of Rwandan troops arriving at Nkunda's camp at Minova, other troop movements, recruitment of Tutsi youth across the province, the departure of disloyal officials in South Kivu for Goma, and an alleged clash between Nkunda's troops and the regular army at Nyabyondo (100 km west of Goma) about June 27.
The purpose of such an attack would be to secure Rwandan control over a city that is already under dual control, with the balance tilted in Rwanda's favor.
Earlier, on June 26, the independent Congolese biweekly Numerica claimed that a general Tutsi insurrection in Congo is planned for July 11. The article, by Andre Theophile Masudi, claims that according to concurring sources, Nkunda and Col. Jules Mutebusi will lead a grand offensive for "the definitive reconquest [sic] of North and South Kivu" on behalf of International Tutsi Power (ITP), Rwanda, and certain Western powers, commencing July 11. ITP is apparently an expression for the Tutsi diaspora.
Masudi writes, "Our sources report, in fact, the discreet presence of Condoleeza Rice at the Kigali [Rwanda] airport June 17. For five hours, the National Security Advisor to President Bush held talks with delegates of RCD-Goma, North and South Kivu reps of UDPS [U.S. puppet party in Congo], and two unidentified citizens of Uganda." The sources are convinced that the talks concerned the ways and means of bringing into being an African Republic of the Great Lakesthat is, a secession of the Kivus from the Democratic Republic of Congo. EIR has been able to ascertain that Rice was not, in fact, in East Africa on June 17, but has not yet ruled out her presence in the surrounding days.
Masudi continues that about 4,000 men, recruited from among the Banyamulenge (Congolese Tutsi), are said to be in training in Rwanda in the villages of Ruhwesera, Kingatare, Kihundwe, and Bugarama, among others. Meanwhile, Rwandan and Banyamulenge civilians in the Congolese cities of Goma, Bukavu, and Uvira are being evacuated to protect them from the massacres that would be perpetrated in a forced occupation of the Kivus, Masudi writes. There have been other reports of Banyamulenge being trained in Rwanda since Nkunda's seizure of Bukavu June 2.
Kabila-Kagame Summit Evades Central Problem
Congo's Laurent Kabila and Rwanda's Paul Kagame, under strong Anglo-American pressure, held a summit June 25 in Abuja, Nigeria, at which they agreed on a mechanism to guarantee that Rwandan troops are not in Congo, and that Rwandan Hutu refugees in Congo, hostile to the Kagame government, are disarmed. Congolese Foreign Minister Ghonda told AFP June 26, "If, for example, there is information on the presence of Rwandan soldiers in a Congolese locale, a mixed patrol will be formed immediately, consisting of Rwandan and Congolese soldiers and observers from the UN Mission and/or the African Union to go there and verify the facts." The mechanism is to be in place by July 3.
Even if the mechanism were able to function, it leaves unresolved the central problem of a Congolese-Tutsi leadership, the Congolese Rally for Democracy, and its army, which is committed to treason and secession, and can count on Washington, London, and Rwanda for support.
Museveni: Nkunda Will Be Arrested if He Enters Uganda
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni told Western diplomats in Kampala June 24 that Gen. Laurent Nkunda will be arrested if he dares to enter Uganda, Museveni's spokesman Onapito Ekomoloit told AFP June 26. It is not clear why the question came up. Ekomoloit said that Museveni told the diplomats that Nkunda was in violation of accords to end the war in Congo of 1998-2003. AFP adds that Kampala has recently improved its relations with Kinshasa. Italian Ambassador to Uganda, Maurizio Teucci, who attended the June 26 meeting, said that Museveni reaffirmed his support for the transitional government in Kinshasa on that occasion, according to AFP.
Meanwhile, "Highly placed sources at the State Department have told the Monitor [a Kampala daily] that the U.S. Embassy in Kampala 'raised concerns' with President Museveni 'over recent reports that Uganda wants to procure tanks and aircraft in former Soviet Bloc countries,'" according to the Monitor June 25. The embassy has advised Washington against giving military aid to Uganda. Ugandan army spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza told the Monitor, "They are giving an impression that Uganda buys and other will follow cue. No one is reporting what Rwanda and others are buying...." He said Uganda needs military equipment to fight the Lord's Resistance Army in northern Uganda, and that "we do not consider Rwanda our security threat and we are not buying arms on the basis of Rwanda."
Nigeria To Sell Refineries to U.S. Firm
There are moves afoot in Nigeria to sell its four oil refineries to a U.S.-based firm, Commerce Petrol. Obasanjo is said to be favorably disposed to the sale. Oil workers are very critical of the move. The refineries are located in Warri, Port Harcourt (two), and Kaduna.
The U.S. firm (not identifiable through an Internet search) is not among the 37 companies that initially expressed interest in the refineries, earlier slated for privatization.
The deal between the firm and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) may have been brokered by the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), which introduced the company.
The planned sale of the refineries does not go down well with the workers whose unions, National Union of Petroleum and National Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) described the move as a breach of the agreement they have with BPE.
The president of PENGASSAN, Louis Ogbeifun, and his NUPENG counterpart, Peter Akpatason, said they were told by BPE that Commerce Petrol "would buy, operate for some years and later divest 45 percent of shares to Nigerians."
"This oil is the mainstay of our economy; we are talking about oil and gas. Labour should be part of it, the host communities have to be involved, these are strategic national assets that ought to be handled with utmost care. They can't dispose of the refineries the way other companies are sold," the two labor leaders told the Daily Champion (Lagos) June 28.
Mbeki: No Mideast Peace Without Arafat
Speaking at the conference of the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, South African President Thabo Mbeki said: "Nobody should decide for the Palestinian people who their leaders should be.... No solution is going to be found without the participation of Yasser Arafat."
Mbeki said that Israel should stop targetting Arafat and allow him to carry out the role for which the Palestinian people elected him. He said he would bring up the Palestinian issue at the upcoming African Union summit, and added, "None of us can feel completely free when we are faced with the situation the Palestinians face. None of us can feel secure when we see so many people dying all the time."
In a taped presentation, Arafat said the Palestinian people are ready to discuss peace, but when the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon builds a wall on the West Bank, he is obviously not interested. "It will tear apart tens of cities, villages, and agricultural land. It will turn those areas into ghettoes and isolated prisons. It even threatens our water supplies.... Israel wants to change the demographic balance and create a new apartheid system, after it was destroyed by your long liberation struggle in South Africa."
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