Africa News Digest
A North-South Accord in Sudan will Leave Two Time-Bombs Ticking
The North-South accord in Sudan, expected to be signed by Dec. 31, will leave at least two time bombs ticking: the unresolved question of Nile River water use, and SPLA leader John Garang's unrealistic promise to his soldiers (see next item) that all will get jobs. There is no real solution to either problem in a rapidly devolving world economy.
The East African (Nairobi) noted Dec. 3 that the issue of Nile water use was actually removed from the agenda of the Sudan North-South talks two years ago because it was too explosive. The newspaper quotes Yoanes Ajawin, Director of Justice Africa, who said the semi-autonomous SPLM/A regime in the South will be forced to negotiate with Egypt and Khartoum over the use of resources once the North-South agreement is signed. The existing regime governing use of the Nile's waters is based on the 1929 Nile Water Treaty which prohibits Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania from carrying out projects that use Nile water without the prior permission of Egypt. It was really an agreement between the British and Egypt, he says.
Ajawin was addressing "a conference on resource-based conflicts in the Horn of Africa being held in New Site, South Sudan."
The treaty needs to be renegotiated in any case, but the Anglo-American scheme is to steer the renegotiation such that southern Sudan, and possibly some of the upstream countries named above, emerge as choke-points to control Egypt and the rest of Sudan.
Algeria Replaces Morocco as Western Ally, Newspaper Claims
"Algeria has just replaced Morocco as strategic partner of the Atlantic Alliance on the southern rim of the Mediterranean," according to unnamed military experts cited in L'Expression (Algiers) Dec. 5. L'Expression claims that Morocco is not suitable as a base from which to fight drug trafficking and illegal immigration, because, it says, it is riddled with these activities. It also claims Morocco "is already exposed to a fever of terrorism that is profoundly sapping the strength of the throne of [Moroccan King] Mohammed VI."
It does not mention that Algeria is an oil state, and Morocco is not. And it certainly does not mention a very strong advantage, that Algeria is run by a secret government (not so secret since 2001) that crushed its population in the 1990s on behalf of the IMF, using the terrorist methods of the French special forces on display in the 1960s film, "The Battle of Algiers." Its original leaders, headed by Khaled Nezzar, were, in fact, an extension of French synarchist networks from the time of the Algerian war of independence: They fought on the French side, and changed sides at the last. This leadership organized the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) terrorist organization of expendables to discredit the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) and Islam itself.
The claim that Algeria has replaced Morocco as the Atlantic Alliance's strategic partner, while highly plausible, has not yet been confirmed by other sources.
The claim is, however, supported by the choice of Algiers for the seat of an all-Africa counter-terrorism center, funded by the U.S., European Union, UN, and African Union. The center, nominally run by the African Union, was inaugurated Oct. 13. U.S. European Command has expressed its high regard for Algeria because of its ostensible expertise in counter-terrorism.
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer visited Algiers Nov. 25 and said that NATO foresees a partnership with Algeria in which "nothing will be imposed [and] everything can be discussed." Five NATO battleships were expected to make a four-day call in the port of Algiers beginning Dec. 4.
U.S. European Command Assembles North African Army Chiefs
For the second time this year, the Sahel and other African governments' army chiefs of staff were assembled in Europe by U.S. European Command (EUCOM). The meeting opened Dec. 5 in Stuttgart, at the "invitation" of EUCOM chief Gen. James L. Jones.
The Algerian daily El Khabar Dec. 6 called the meeting one of a series being held on two levels. The first is between NATO and the countries of the Mediterranean, especially since NATO announced the enlargement of its counter-terrorism operations to encompass the entire Mediterranean. The second is between EUCOM and the Sahel and other North African countries, launched after the visit of EUCOM Deputy Commandant Gen. Charles F. Wald to Algeria earlier this year.
Wald, who had led U.S. air forces in Afghanistan, was described as spending "about half of his time on African-related issues" as far back as in a New York Times article of July 5, 2003.
The Times article, citing an interview the previous week, reported that "General Jones said he envisioned what he called a family of bases. In Africa, this would include forward-operating bases, perhaps with an airfield nearby, that could house up to a brigade, or 3,000 to 5,000 troops. 'It's something that could be robustly used for a significant military presence,' Jones said. A second type of base would be a forward-operating location, which would be a lightly equipped base where Special Forces, Marines or possibly an infantry rifle platoon or company could land and build up as the mission required."
An aspect of this is the recent establishment in Algiers of a facility for the so-called Mine Countermeasures Force Southern Europe (MCM Force South), described as an intervention force capable of "ultra-rapid deployment" by L'Expression Dec. 1.
At the first such EUCOM meeting with Maghreb military leaders, in late March, Algeria was represented by its then Chief of General Staff, Mohamed Lamari, one of the generals who imposed a secret government of general terror on the Algerian population in the 1990s for the IMF, including massacre and "torture on an industrial scale," as his former colleague, Mohammed Samraoui, has described it in his 2003 book, Chronique des Années de Sang (Chronicle of the Years of Blood). It was Lamari's third visit to EUCOM in two years, according to Le Quotidien d'Oran March 25.
Meanwhile on the NATO track, the second meeting of NATO foreign ministers with their Mediterranean counterparts, was to commence Dec. 8, with a focus on terrorism.
NATO, EUCOM Invasion of North Africa Based on Hoax
The justification for the NATO and U.S. European Command (EUCOM) invasion of the Maghreb is as phony as a $3 bill. It rests on what unnamed terrorist groups that are allegedly linked to al-Qaeda, or allegedly like al-Qaeda, could do, might do, or are expected to do. The only group that is ever named is the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), of Algerian origin, which obliged EUCOM by allegedly declaring its allegiance to al-Qaeda in September 2003. Alas, the Salafists in the Sahel are now down to less than 40 members. But, not to worry: They have links or even members all over Europe, or so it is claimed. It is not claimed that any definite members have been apprehended in Europe, but there is some hand-waving about their involvement in the March 11 Madrid bombing.
A briefing by EUCOM Deputy Commandant Gen. Charles F. Wald to Aviation Week Nov. 15 follows this pattern of unnamed groups that might conceivably do harm. It is a handy use of the pre-emptive principle. In an interview with the New York Times of July 5, 2003, Wald had gone so far as to say, "They're bad people, and we need to keep an eye on that." President Bush couldn't have said it better.
"Does the GSPC represent a serious threat to the security of governments?" someone asked J. Cofer Black, counter-terrorism chief for the State Department (and former CIA special ops man), at a press conference at the U.S. Embassy in Algiers Oct. 14. Black's response, according to El Watan (Algiers) Oct. 16: "In my opinion, so long as there is a single GSPC activist, he constitutes a threat." Black "didn't mince words," El Watan noted approvingly.
UN Demands Rwanda Withdraw from DR Congo
The UN Security Council demanded Dec. 7 that Rwanda withdraw "any forces it may have" in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It said there were multiple reports of Rwandan military operations, including from the UN Mission in Congo. Rwanda denies that it has invaded.
The European Union condemned Rwanda's invasion Dec. 3. The EU is sending its Commissioner for Cooperation and Development, Louis Michel (former Belgian Foreign Minister), to visit Rwanda, Congo, Burundi, and Uganda, beginning Dec. 15.
But the Anglo-American powers and their allies have yet to cut their aid to Rwanda, which amounts to half its annual budget.
Congo, Uganda Cooperate Against Rwandan Invasion
A Ugandan military delegation, led by Minister of Defense Amana Mbabazi, and including the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army, arrived in Kinshasa Dec. 2 for discussions with Congo's military leaders.
The Ugandan army clashed for a few hours Dec. 4 with "soldiers suspected to be members of the Rwanda Defense Forces, who were crossing to eastern Congo via Bunagana border post," according to the Monitor (Kampala) Dec. 7. This is the area north of Goma (capital of North Kivu) where Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda meet. Ugandan Defense spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza told the Monitor that "we are still verifying whether they were Rwandan troops or Congolese rebels of the RCD-Goma." The Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD-Goma) in North Kivu Province is an armed Rwandan puppet party.
The Monitor states, "Eyewitnesses at the border of sub-county Nyarusiza told the Monitor that hundreds of heavily armed soldiers have been crossing Bunagana border from the Rwanda side into the DR Congo since last week."
It continues: "Last week, the UPDF [Ugandan army] deployed troops along Uganda's border with the DR Congo to prevent incursions by 'negative elements' based in Congo," apparently referring to RCD-Goma and possibly to the generally lawless Rwandan Hutu militias who for years have taken refuge from the Rwandan government in Congo's Ituri Forest.
Red Cross: Genocide Committed in Invasion of Congo 1998-2002
The invasion of Congo by Rwanda and Uganda in 1998with Anglo-American complicityto preserve their control over the government of Laurent Kabila, killed more people than any other conflict since World War II. The latest report by the International Red Cross, presented in Geneva Dec. 9, assesses a loss of 3.3 million human lives for the period August 1998-August 2002, and 2.7 million persons displaced.
The figures are a conservative estimate. Independent experts speak of a much higher human toll, especially if one adds, as one should, the wars during the same period in neighboring states, to complete the picture.
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